Prokofiev! (Random Reviews from the Overflow Room 11)

Thank you Dave for your wisdom, your closeness with viewers and your healthy sense of humor.

[@rogermilne8563]

Ah, I was wondering when you'd get to Järvi. I have them all. Fabulous stuff.

[@bbailey7818]

It is great to have the three Prokofiev R&J Suites as the composer arranged them and not reshuffled to conform to the ballet's plot order. Jarvi and Chandos are, for me, the way to go.

[@josefkrenshaw179]

A Jarvis Prokofiev box would do me well. I have much of it already but I had no idea he recorded the third Cinderella Suite.

[@Richard-b5r9v]

I love Battle on the Ice from Alexander Nevsky

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Don't we all?

[@Bobbnoxious]

Lina Prokofiev was a singer. She and the composer married in Germany in 1923 and separated in Moscow in 1941. After WWII their marriage was nullified under Soviet law because it had not been registered with Soviet authorities. Prokofiev married Mira in January 1948 and Lina was arrested one month later. Ugly business all around. To my knowledge Prokofiev's marriage to Mira was never recognized outside the USSR. When Lina emigrated to the UK in 1974 she was able to collect Prokofiev's international royalties as his legal widow.

[@HassoBenSoba]

Lina's sad fate in 1948 was, in a way, a result of Prokofiev's state of denial: his own egoism combined with his refusal to acknowledge the realities of existence in the Soviet Union. He was totally "conflicted" when it came to the Lina/Mira situation (he at least supported Lina financially after their separation). But Prokofiev suffered major pangs of conscience over Lina's fate; the shock and guilt he experienced after her arrest definitely contributed to his own deteriorating health for his remaining years. I'm not trying to excuse the guy for his shoddy treatment of Lina, but to say he didn't care paints the great composer as a monster, which he wasn't. An opinionated, snobbish, often callous jerk..yes..but not a monster. LR