Prokofiev: Violin Concerto, Symphony No.3 – Vadim Repin

   in Classical Music (Sep, 2018)
Luxury casting in Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto pays off: Repin has a superb sense of line and a wonderful cantabile. Tensile and lyrical, his playing is mesmeric. The LPO are also on form, the Scherzo stunning in every respect. A brilliant performance.

This account of Prokofiev’s Third Symphony (with material from The Fiery Angel) follows closely on the heels of Vladimir Jurowski’s Pentatone recording with the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia. The LPO has all of the fervent belief of their Russian counterparts and Lazarev’s LPO reading is more cumulative, making the finale shattering.

The performance of the fairytale Chout (The Buffoon; translated as ‘fool’) is involving, not least …