Alexander Nevsky

We heard the Chicago Symphony this afternoon perform Prokofiev's Cantata "Alexander Nevsky", conducted by Ricardo Muti.  It was thrilling.   The music was arranged by Prokofiev from his score for the film "Alexander Nevsky", made with Sergei Eisenstein in 1938.  The music, which Andre Previn once characterized as the greatest film score ever trapped in the worst recording of a film score in history, was composed in close collaboration with Eisenstein as the film was being made.  The strange thing about the score is that it was made at the height of Stalin's purges, when paranoia was rampant, and both Prokofiev and Eisenstein were certainly in danger of being exiled to Siberia or worse.  The plot is a simple one about a great Russian hero, Alexander Nevsky (i.e.Stalin), who leads the Russians to grand victorious battle against the evil Germanic invaders.   In spite of this pressure, both Eisenstein and Prokofiev were interested in the theoretical concepts of the relationship between music and moving image.  Eisenstein wrote an extended and mostly incomprehensible essay about their work.   And apparently, when the film was almost finished and the score wasn't properly recorded, Stalin requested a viewing and pronounced it excellent, and after that, nothing could be changed. For example, one of Prokofiev's experiments was to record the brass close up and distorted, so as to simulate how horrible and harsh the Germans were.   A number of years ago, the score was rerecorded in modern sound and synced with the film and its original dialogue and released on laser disc, but for some reason this version has never shown up on DVD.

I have taught this score many times when I was teaching a film music course, but I have never heard it live.  Hearing the inventive details of the dissonant orchestrations played by the Chicago Symphony was ear opening; this is really amazing music.  And the famous Battle On the Ice was truly spectacular, with the famous Chicago brass section rattling the rafters in Carnegie Hall.   I don't know why this isn't a regular repertory showpiece; with a true crowd pleasing and rousing finale with great choral writing.   Perhaps because it is, after all, a paean to Russian heroism.     And, of course, after the Stalin pact with Hitler, it suddenly became "unfashionable", and later international audiences were not necessarily predisposed towards celebrations of Stalin.

The hero:

Imaginary instruments, designed by Eisenstein, which inspired Prokofiev:

Eisenstein's analytical chart of music and images in the opening of the Battle on the Ice:

Evil German soldiers:

Decadent German, with suspicious insignia on the hat:

Battle formations:

Eisenstein:

The concert began with Scriabin's "Symphony No 1",  50 minutes long, with a final movement with vocal soloists and chorus.   To my ears, aside from a few interesting harmonic clashes, this was largely generic late romantic music, wandering from one beautifully sounding moment to another, with little sense of direction, and largely devoid of memorable themes or ongoing sense of movement.  It in fact reminded me of some of the neo-romantic symphonies one hears composers write today in an attempt to please some audience which wants that kind of thing.   I don't really understand why Muti would be interested in that music.   But, needless to say, the orchestra sounded wonderful.