Alexander Nevsky, Op. 78
Lieutenant Kijé Suite, Op. 60 (version for voice and orchestra)

Despite having been conceived and composed as film scores, these two key works by Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) stand perfectly well on their own, and are prime examples of the Russian musical landscape during the Soviet era. Written in 1939 and 1934 respectively, they are perfect entry points within Prokofiev's output. Alexander Nevsky is a stirring dramatic cantata of epic proportion, scored for mezzo-soprano, chorus and orchestra, which depicts fearsome struggles and battles by Alexander Nevsky to defeat the Knights of the Teutonic Order. The movement titled "The Battle on Ice" is quite impressive as it portrays one of the fiercest confrontations. The booklet notes explain: "The Teutons, in fierce-looking armour, were engaged by Alexander's forces on the ice over Lake Chud (known in the West as Lake Peipus), near Pskov; the fighting went on until the ice cracked under the weight of the knights and their heavily armoured horses, and the entire invading force perished in the lake." It's a tour de force in orchestral writing, and conductor Leonard Slatkin and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra capture and project all of its brutal magnificence.

On the other hand, Lieutenant Kijé presents Prokofiev's lighter side, as it depicts in a tongue-in-cheek fashion, the life and times of a fictional or nonexistent army officer. It opens with a highly haunting reveille type solo bugle call that sets the mood for the whole work. It's most famous and memorable section is titled "Troika" and as the booklet notes point out: "A humorous evocation of the post-nuptial sleighride, makes use of an animated tavern song, sung to the young couple by the driver as his whip cracks and the sleighbells jingle." Bass-baritone Arnold Voketaitis well conveys the drunken joy of the ride in this recording. It's good to hear the rarely performed or recorded original version with voice for a change. Slatkin and the orchestra musicians fully convey a fictional life well spent, during the closing "Burial of Kijé" segment.

During the early years of stereo recordings Vox Classics, along with Mercury Living Presence, Everest and Vanguard Records, had a notable reputation for producing audiophile quality recordings. This 1977/79 recording is one of them. This is a new 192 kHz / 24-bit high definition transfer of the original Elite Recordings analogue master tapes. The Elite Recordings for Vox by legendary producers Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz are considered by audiophiles to be amongst the finest sounding examples of orchestral recordings. In my opinion, they deliver a somewhat more tangible and realistic sound than most of the recent digital productions.