Symphony No. 1 (Prokofiev)

The Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 25, also known as the "Classical" was Sergei Prokofiev's first numbered symphony. He began to compose it in 1916 and completed it on September 10, 1917.[1] It was composed as a modern reinterpretation of the classical style of Franz Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The symphony's nickname was bestowed upon it by the composer. It premiered on April 21, 1918 in Petrograd, conducted by Prokofiev.[1] It has remained one of his most popular works.

Background

The symphony is composed in a style based on that of Haydn and Mozart, but does not follow them strictly. Although the work has often been described as "neoclassical,"[2][3] Prokofiev denied it, adding that he disliked what he called "Bach on the wrong notes."[4] The work was partly inspired by his conducting studies at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, where the instructor, Nikolai Tcherepnin, taught his students about conducting Haydn, among other composers.

Prokofiev wrote the symphony on holiday in the country, using it as an exercise in composing away from the piano.[5]

Movements
External audio
Performed by the Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan
I. Allegro
II. Larghetto
III. Gavotta (Non troppo allegro)
IV. Finale (Vivace)

The symphony is in four movements and lasts about sixteen minutes:

History

On December 18, 1916, Prokofiev wrote in his diary, "I look forward with joyous anticipation to the Piano Concerto No. 3, the Violin Concerto, and the Classical Symphony."[6] Six months later in May 1917, he took the "important decision" to compose without the aid of a piano. "For some time," he wrote, "I contemplated composing my Classical Symphony away from the piano, and all the work I had so far done on it I had done in my head. Now I resolved to finish it. It seemed to me that composing with or without a piano was purely a matter of habit, and it would be good to gain more experience with a work as uncomplicated as this symphony."[7] That same month he continued in a later entry that he had sketched out the symphony, but had yet to pen a final draft in orchestral score. His entry continued: "When our classically inclined musicians and professors (to my mind faux-classical) hear this symphony, they will be bound to scream in protest at this new example of Prokofiev's insolence, look how he will not let Mozart lie quiet in his grave but must come prodding at him with his grubby hands, contaminating the pure classical pearls with horrible Prokofievish dissonances. But my true friends will see that the style of my symphony is precisely Mozartian classicism and will value it accordingly, while the public will no doubt just be content to hear happy and uncomplicated music which it will, of course, applaud."[8] The following month, June 1917, Prokofiev wrote in his diary that he had scrapped the original finale for the symphony, which he felt had seemed "too ponderous and not characterful enough" for a symphony in the classical style: "Asafyev put into my mind an idea he was developing, that there is no true joyfulness to be found in Russian music. Thinking about this, I composed a new finale, lively and blithe enough for there to be a complete absence of minor triads in the whole movement, only major ones. From my original finale I salvaged only the second subject. . . this kind of finale is quite appropriate to Mozartian style."[9] By the end of summer 1917, Prokofiev wrote that he had finally embarked upon the orchestration of the symphony, but that work was moving slow at first on account of his unfamiliarity with the music's style.[10]

Originally, the Classical Symphony was intended to be premiered in Petrograd on November 4, 1917 with the Violin Concerto No. 1.[11] However, this was postponed. On January 18, 1918, Russia adopted the Gregorian calendar, bringing it into line with the Americas and Western Europe.[12] This meant that Prokofiev's diary entry for April 5 was actually April 18 under the new calendar, which is now the date accepted as the premiere for the Classical Symphony. On April 18, Prokofiev wrote in his diary: "Rehearsal of the Classical Symphony with the State Orchestra, I conducted it myself, completely improvising, having forgotten the score and never indeed having studied it from a conducting perspective. I thought it might be a complete debacle, but nothing happened and in any case the parts has so many mistakes in them that the session turned mainly into one for making corrections. In Kislovodsk, I had worried that there would be some antagonism from a 'Revolutionary Orchestra' playing my new works, but the opposite was the case: the State Orchestra, infused with much new young blood, was flexible and attentive, and played the Symphony with evident enjoyment."[13]

Instrumentation

The symphony is scored for a Classical period-sized orchestra consisting of two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings.

Recordings

Prokofiev recorded a piano arrangement of the "Gavotte" in 1935.

Complete recordings of this symphony include:

Orchestra Conductor Record Company Year of Recording Format
Boston Symphony Orchestra Serge Koussevitzky RCA Victor 1929 CD
NBC Symphony Orchestra Arturo Toscanini RCA Victor 1951 CD
The Paris Conservatory Orchestra Ernest Ansermet London Records 1964 LP
New York Philharmonic Leonard Bernstein Columbia 1968[14] CD
London Symphony Orchestra Walter Weller Decca 1974 CD
London Symphony Orchestra Vladimir Ashkenazy Decca 1974 CD
London Symphony Orchestra André Previn EMI Classics 1978 CD
Berliner Philharmoniker Herbert von Karajan Deutsche Grammophon 1981 CD
Chicago Symphony Orchestra Sir Georg Solti Decca 1982 CD
Scottish National Orchestra Neeme Järvi Chandos 1985 CD
Orchestre National de France Lorin Maazel CBS Masterworks 1985 CD
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (none) Deutsche Grammophon 1987 CD
Orchestre National de France Mstislav Rostropovich Erato 1988 CD
Berliner Philharmoniker Seiji Ozawa Deutsche Grammophon 1989 CD
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra Stephen Gunzenhauser Naxos 1989 CD
Soviet State Orchestra Nikolay Tiomkin Discover The Classics 1990 CD
Philadelphia Orchestra Riccardo Muti Philips Classics Records 1990 CD
Chicago Symphony Orchestra James Levine Deutsche Grammophon 1994 CD
St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra Ravil Martynov Sony 1994 CD
London Symphony Orchestra Valery Gergiev Philips 2004 CD
National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine Theodore Kuchar Naxos CD
National Orchestra of the O.R.T.F. Jean Martinon Vox CD
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Zdeněk Košler Supraphon CD
USSR Ministry of Culture State Symphony Orchestra Gennadi Rozhdestvensky CD/LP
Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra Gennadi Rozhdestvensky Melodiya/Quintessence LP
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Kirill Karabits Onyx Classics 2014 CD

References
  1. Steinberg, Michael. "The Symphony: a listeners guide". p. 429-433. Oxford University Press, 1995.
  2. "Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra — Concert Library". content.thespco.org. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
  3. (PDF) https://nyphil.org/~/media/pdfs/program-notes/1920/Prokofiev-Symphony-No-1.pdf?la=en. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber (2020-04-15). "Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1,". Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
  5. Listen to Discovering Music from 1:00 to 3:40
  6. Prokofiev 2008, p. 157.
  7. Prokofiev 2008, p. 194.
  8. Prokofiev 2008, p. 196.
  9. Prokofiev 2008, pp. 207–208.
  10. Prokofiev 2008, pp. 218–219.
  11. Prokofiev 2008, p. 238.
  12. Prokofiev 2008, p. 246.
  13. Prokofiev 2008, p. 269.
  14. Prokofiev - Classical Symphony - Bernstein (back cover). New York Philharmonic.CS1 maint: others (link)

Further reading
  • Prokofiev, Sergey (2008). Diaries 1915–1923: Behind the Mask. Translated and annotated by Anthony Phillips. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-22630-6. OCLC 502286665.
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