Prokofiev Symphony No 4

London Symphony Orchestra
Gianandrea Noseda
LSO Live LSO0396
lsolive.lso.co.uk


Prokofiev's Symphony No 4 occupies an uncomfortable place in the composer's catalogue. Originally completed in 1930, it drew heavily on material from his ballet The Prodigal Son, composed around the same time. Yet despite Prokofiev's ability to navigate Soviet cultural politics with relative success, the Fourth Symphony received a decidedly lukewarm reception at its premiere.

The composer subsequently returned to the Soviet Union, pressing ahead with his Fifth and Sixth Symphonies—works of grander scale and more straightforward rhetoric. This stylistic shift represented a calculated attempt to align himself with the cultural demands of his homeland. Optimism, however, proved misplaced: Prokofiev's music was eventually banned in Stalinist Russia, and the 1947 revision of the Fourth Symphony, produced just as his fortunes collapsed, was never performed in the Soviet Union during his lifetime.

On this new release from LSO Live, Gianandrea Noseda conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in that revised version, capturing the work's dark ambivalence with remarkable clarity. While this is not among Prokofiev's best-known scores, Noseda's performance makes a persuasive case for its place in the symphonic repertoire, drawing out the lyricism and dramatic intensity that lie beneath its troubled surface.

The orchestra generates tremendous rhythmic energy throughout, with the third movement offering a particular showcase for the LSO's exceptional woodwind playing. The symphony's close builds to a tremendous climax, brass and percussion combining to deliver that final, electrifying chord. It is an elegant performance from all sections, one that firmly embeds this ambivalent masterwork in the listening consciousness.