PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 3, Scythian Suite, Autumnal Sketch

"[Marin Alsop] gets unfailingly good string‑playing, often more sensitively nuanced than that of her rivals…" --Gramophone, June 2015

"Alsop and the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra deliver the Third and the Scythian Suite with powerful, incisive rhythms and volatile dynamics, which makes for exciting listening, while their performance of Autumn offers smoother gradations of textures and a gentler feeling. Naxos provides adequate reproduction with good details and clear textures…" --Allmusic.com, May 2015 Editors' Choice

São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop

This fourth volume in Marin Alsop’s acclaimed Prokofiev symphonic cycle features two of his most viscerally exciting works. Using material salvaged from his opera The Fiery Angel, the Third Symphony was hailed by Serge Koussevitzky at its 1929 première as ‘the best symphony since Tchaikovsky’s Sixth’. Originally commissioned as a ballet by Sergey Dyagilev but rejected as un-danceable, the Scythian Suite has become a popular orchestral showpiece, while Prokofiev retained a lifelong fondness for his dark-hued early symphonic sketch Autumn.

Judging by the response to the previous volumes of this fruitful partnership with Marin Alsop and the excellent São Paulo Symphony Orchestra this new release will have no problems in becoming a market leader. The First and Second Symphonies disc (8573353) was an Allmusic.com ‘Editor’s Choice’ for its “first-rate performance”, and the Fifth Symphony was described as “an outstanding achievement” by BBC Music Magazine, which also regarded the Fourth Symphony (8.573186) as “compelling”. The Blu-ray releases have also been widely acclaimed, with NBD0031 made Audiophile Audition ‘Best Disc of the Year’ in 2012, and prompting BBC Music Magazine to write, “this exceptional account of Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony is partnered by a revelatory performance of The Year 1941, while the recording bursts out of the speakers.”

PROKOFIEV The Piano Concertos

"First the caveat-- Alexander Toradze and Valery Gergiev take perverse liberties with Prokofiev's scores here . . . But it's worth bearing with these "sins" for the character of much of these performances. Most successful of all is the Fifth, which sounds not merely pugnacious, but fun and even playful; trust Gergiev to whip up its "con fuoco" into a rapid tempo, creating a helter skelter riot of sound! And listen to how Gergiev and Toradze relish the cock-a-snook build-up of the First's finale." --Record Review / BBC Music Magazine (London) / 01. July 2015

“Toradze has a reputation for barnstorming playing of Russian warhorses...but is also capable of limpid tone...[his] playing is full of impish character.” --International Record Review, June 2012

PROKOFIEV & TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concertos

Maestro Antonio Pappano insisted he wanted to record with Beatrice Rana, the 22-year-old Italian pianist championed by Martha Argerich who shot to stardom when she claimed the Silver Medal and the coveted Audience Award in the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. On that occasion, Huffington Post described the seasoned competition winner’s performance as ‘an endlessly fascinating piece of humanity that had the orchestra riveted on every note’. Warner Classics signed this young piano sensation in mid-2015; the Italian virtuoso now makes her label debut with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under the baton of Sir Antonio Pappano.

Release date: 27th Nov 2015

Recorded in Rome, the formidable programme pairs two Russian masterpieces: a thrillingly fresh take on the warhorse of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 in B-flat minor – an indispensable repertoire benchmark and calling card for concert pianists all over the world – and Prokofiev’s stormy, emotionally charged Piano Concerto No.2. This coupling is a bold statement for a musician who ‘possesses an old soul that belies her twenty years, and more than a touch of genius’ (Gramophone), but the soloist believes she has ‘the right character’ for this kind of music: ‘People say that South Italians are very dramatic!’ 

RACHMANINOV & PROKOFIEV Cello Sonatas

“Capuçon's elegant, singing tone responds especially well to the Andante, with gentle exchanges between the instruments. Prokofiev's Sonata may seem an unusual coupling but it contrasts nicely, with it’s own latent lyricism and with the cheerful central Moderato that has all the harmonic wit and melodic charm of the composer at his best.” --Gramophone Magazine, February 2008