Ruggiero RicciJulius Katchen

L’Orchestre de la Suisse RomandeErnest Ansermet

PROKOFIEVViolin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2

Piano Concerto No. 3

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SERGEI PROKOFIEV (1891-1953)

Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 191 I Andantino 9’092 II Scherzo. Vivacissimo 3’363 III Moderato 7’25

Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 634 I Allegro moderato 10’025 II Andante assai 8’396 III Allegro, ben marcato 6’29

Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 267 I Andante – Allegro 8’258 II Tema con variazione 8’509 III Allegro ma non troppo 8’33

Ruggiero Ricci, violinJulius Katchen, piano

L’Orchestre de la Suisse RomandeErnest Ansermet

Total timing: 71’56

In 1924, critic Olin Downes wrote the following:‘Prokofiev, the front of whose head is bald,whose face, nevertheless, seems incrediblyyoung and very cerebral, like a being who hascome from another planet, groomed anddressed in the style of today – comes to examinea world upon which he may have sinisterdesigns! A queer fellow, who seems to bedelving, musically, in a certain hinterland of thehuman consciousness, listening to what he hasdiscovered there, with as much calmness anddetachment as if he had been a scientistdiscussing the theory of evolution.’ Downes’sportrait of the composer as a young alienmeshes well with the mysterious sound-worldsof the Piano Concerto No. 3 and especially theViolin Concerto No. 1, which were premiered in1921 and 1923, respectively.

Prokofiev’s first two piano concertos werewritten before he left his homeland, which, by1918, was too caught up in political upheavalsto pay as much attention to the composer ashe probably would have liked. He believed thatthe situation soon would settle down and thathe would return to Russia and continue hiscareer as before. As it turned out, the politicallynaïve Prokofiev would live abroad for the betterpart of the next seventeen years, and manyimportant works, including the Piano Concerto

No. 3, would be composed during his self-imposed exile.

After leaving Russia, Prokofiev traveled to theUnited States, and then to Paris and London.The new opera house in Chicago commissionedan opera – The Love for Three Oranges – andin Paris, Sergei Diaghilev asked Prokofiev torevise the ballet Chout (The Buffoon) for aproduction by the Ballets Russes. Furthermore,although his original compositions might nothave been completely understood, this virtuosic‘Bolshevik’ – as some Americans grumblinglyreferred to him – created a sensation whereverhe played the piano.

During the summer of 1921, Prokofiev took amuch-needed vacation. He wrote to a friend: ‘Iget up at 8:30, put on a collarless shirt, whitepants and rope-soled sandals. I knock on[friend and traveling companion] Boris Verin’sdoor, who answers with an “ooo” or “eee”and gets up an hour and a half later. Afterdrinking hot chocolate, I look to see if thegarden is still where it’s supposed to be. Then Isit down to work: I’m writing the Third PianoConcerto’ [quoted in Sergei Prokofiev byHarlow Robinson]. Another friend from Russia,poet Konstantin Balmont, lived close by.Balmont, after hearing excerpts from thenearly-finished concerto, wrote a sonnet, which

includes the memorable line ‘the invincibleScythian beats on the tambourine of the sun’.Balmont became the concerto’s dedicatee.

In truth, many of the concerto’s themes hadbeen composed in Russia, as early as 1911. Allthat was required of Prokofiev in 1921 was thesubordinate theme of the opening movementand the third theme of the finale, and the neatdevelopment and assembly of a decade’s worthof ideas. By autumn, he had returned to Chicagofor the delayed premiere of The Love for ThreeOranges, as well as for the premiere of the newpiano concerto. Chicagoans greeted both newworks with warmth if not great enthusiasm, butwhen they were given in New York later thatwinter, the critics reacted so negatively thatProkofiev soon must have wondered if leavingRussia had been worth all the trouble. It wasonly later that the new concerto’s criticalreputation caught up with its worth.

The soloist here is American pianist JuliusKatchen (1926-69). Today, Katchen isremembered primarily for his recordings ofBrahms’s piano music, but his repertory waswide-ranging, and he made many LPs for Decca– including two different recordings of thisconcerto. This earlier one, which dates from1953, showcases the pianist’s Brahmsianrichness of tone, particularly in the middle

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movement, although there is no shortage of thebrighter, more metallic colours one also expectsin this work. Overall, Katchen’s is a disciplined,controlled reading, and one that is consistentwith Ansermet’s typically detailed andthoughtful interpretation. Even as the finalmovement hurtles to its climax, Katchen andAnsermet remain coolly confident while nearingthe finish line.

As with the piano concerto, some of the themesfrom the Violin Concerto No. 1 predatedcomposition of the work per se in 1917 byseveral years. Early in the year, after havingsketched the new concerto, Prokofiev wrote tohis friend and fellow composer NikolaiMiaskovsky that he had taken up astronomy asa hobby. Later that spring, he traveled by boatfar into the Russian interior. Prokofiev wroteenthusiastically about the untamed beauty ofthe river and the forests he saw. That summer,he visited the Caucasus.

Perhaps it is not too presumptuous to supposethat the composer’s interest in the physical worldthat surrounded him came out in the score ofthe Violin Concerto No. 1. Its melodies seem tospeak not of human passions, but of unchartedand eerily beautiful worlds. Writing in this‘poetic, daydreaming’ vein apparently gaveProkofiev pleasure, as he claimed to regret time

spent on other works that year, which includethe ‘Classical’ Symphony, two piano sonatas,and Visions fugitives.

The concerto’s premiere came shortly after amore personal premiere for the composer: hehad married the soprano Lina Codina, whosestage name was Lina Llubera. By that time,Prokofiev had relocated to Paris. The Parisianaudience, which included artistic luminaries suchas Picasso and Anna Pavlova, expected that theconcerto would be motoric and modernistic, asProkofiev’s more recent works had been, and itdid not appreciate the concerto’s dreaminess.The Moscow premiere, in an arrangement forviolin and piano, was given by no less thanNathan Milstein and Vladimir Horowitz. There,the concerto was received more warmly.

Prokofiev was on the verge of returning to hishomeland for good by the time he came to writehis Violin Concerto No. 2. Again, the concerto’sapproachability, conservatism and what issometimes called ‘new simplicity’ met with morefavour in the political and cultural milieu of thepre-World War II Soviet Union than in WesternEurope. Even so, in his best works – and thisconcerto is a very fine work indeed – Prokofievseemed to be writing from the heart, and if hehappened to please political functionaries in theprocess, then that was a welcome bonus he was

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The new concerto was of a truly internationalorigin. (The composer wrote that it reflected his‘nomadic’ existence as a musician.) It wascommissioned by a French violinist namedRobert Soetens, composed in Paris and theSoviet Union, and first performed in Madrid.(Could the castanets in the finale be a tip of thecomposer’s hat to that last city?) While theprevious violin concerto – but for its icily brilliantmiddle movement – spends much of the timefloating in the melodic stratosphere, the SecondConcerto, hardly less lyrical, is more human anddown to earth. The seraphic middle movementis irony-free – quite an achievement for such acerebral and urbane composer.

Ruggiero Ricci (b. 1918) also collaborated withAnsermet on the Lalo Symphonie espagnoleand played the violin solos in his recordings ofthe Third and Fourth Suites of Tchaikovsky. Hewas born in the United States to Italianimmigrant parents – his father was his firstteacher. He was a child prodigy who in his adultlife became famous not only for his virtuosity,but also for his rediscovery of forgottenrepertory. While many violinists favour a clean,cool sound in the two Prokofiev concertos, Ricci’stone has more grit, and he digs into the musicwith a passion that is more Mediterranean than

Russian. Ricci’s musical personality is a large one,but Ansermet doesn’t fade into the backgroundhere; one can hear him controlling the contoursand the orchestral colours from one moment tothe next. These are subjective readings and notbeloved by everyone, but they demonstrateAnsermet’s considerable skill as a concertopartner, as well as his willingness to questionconventional wisdom, where tempos andinterpretation are concerned.

Raymond Tuttle

Swiss conductor ERNEST ANSERMET was bornin Vevey on 11 November 1883 and died aged85 in Geneva on 20 February 1969. He wasinclined to music from an early age, learning theviolin and the clarinet. He was also interested inmathematics and taught the subject. Ansermetstudied music in Paris and Geneva and made hisconducting debut in 1910. Although Ansermetis particularly associated with the Geneva-basedL’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, he also guest-conducted throughout his career – including inAmerica (with numerous top orchestras thereand in 1962 conducting Debussy’s Pelléas etMélisande, an opera Ansermet twice recorded,at the Metropolitan, New York) and England(with London orchestras and not least when heconducted the première of Benjamin Britten’sopera The Rape of Lucretia at Glyndebourne in1946). Ansermet had previously made his debutat the Salzburg Festival, conducting the ViennaPhilharmonic in 1942.

Ansermet’s relationship with the SuisseRomande Orchestra lasted for 50 years – from1918, when he founded the orchestra, to 1967when he stood down as its conductor (andhanded the reins to Paul Kletzki). Ansermetcontinued to work in Geneva until his death; hisfinal concert was in December 1968 andconsisted of a typically eclectic mix of composers

– on that occasion it was J.S. Bach, Bartók,Debussy and Honegger. In his early days(between 1911 and 1927) Ansermet heldappointments in Montreux and Buenos Airesand also conducted for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russescompany. It is however the Ansermet/SuisseRomande association that remains an indivisiblepartnership – one kept alive by the manyrecordings they made for Decca and whichdocument Ansermet’s highly-regardedinterpretations of Debussy, Ravel and Stravinsky(he knew all three composers) as well as lucidand satisfying versions of symphonies byBeethoven, Brahms (both complete) and Haydnas well as copious further examples of French,German and Russian repertoire, both core andless familiar. LP collectors have long treasuredthese recordings, which fully exploit the splendidacoustics of the Victoria Hall in Geneva, and theycontinue to grace the catalogue on compact discfor their musical and audiophile excellence.

Ansermet prepared performances notable fortheir clarity and intelligence; he took all heneeded from the composer’s score and saw noneed to add his own gloss (or vanity) but tofocus on the composer’s intentions and – asAnsermet himself said – ‘to touch the heart ofthe music so as to make its heart-beats heard bythe listener’. Thus Ansermet’s art is not only

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authoritative it is also timeless and cuts throughfads and fashions.

Criticism has been levied on the technical qualityof the Suisse Romande Orchestra. While it is truethat the ensemble was not super-virtuoso orimmersed in centuries-old tradition, what isalways apparent in these recordings is that theorchestra consisted of dedicated andknowledgeable musicians very much attuned toAnsermet’s direction and leaving the listener inno doubt as to their candid commitment tomusical truth. Sometimes fallible in execution,maybe – but also capable of inspiration – thereis a musical focus that engrosses, illuminates and sustains.

Colin Anderson

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Recording producers: James Walker (Violin Concertos); Victor Olof (Piano Concerto)Recording engineers: Roy Wallace (Violin Concertos); Gil Went (Piano Concerto)Recording location: Victoria Hall, Geneva, Switzerland, October 1953 (Piano Concerto),May 1958 (Violin Concertos)Eloquence series manager: Cyrus Meher-HomjiArt direction: Chilu Tong · www.chilu.comBooklet editor: Bruce Raggatt

Ernest Ansermet’s complete Prokofiev recordings for DECCA:

Romeo and Juliet; CinderellaThe Prodigal Son; Scythian SuiteThe Love of Three OrangesDecca Eloquence 480 0830

Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2Piano Concerto No. 3Ruggiero Ricci · Julius KatchenDecca Eloquence 480 0837

Symphonies Nos. 1 (two versions), 5 & 6Decca Eloquence 480 0834

480 0837