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Prokofiev - Alexander Nevsky; Lieutenant Kije (Slatkin) 2444 HiRes

This hybrid SACD from the audiophile Mobile Fidelity label is a kind of enhanced reissue of an original Vox recording, but before going into technical details let me comment on the music.

Most readers will likely be at least somewhat familiar with the pieces here. The Alexander Nevsky cantata was created by Prokofiev from the film score he wrote in 1938 for Sergei Eisenstein's biographical epic about Alexander Nevsky (1220-63), Grand Duke of Vladimir and early Russian national hero. Although the original sound track exhibited severe distortion and a pinched frequency range, subsequent performances--both of the film score and of this cantata--by several fine groups do greater justice to the music, which Valery Gergiev has called "the best ever composed for the cinema." The seven movements offer a sweeping, evocative, and unforgettable sound picture of early Russia.

dank aan originele poster!