Prokofiev: Suites from The Gambler & The Tale of the Stone Flower Lahti Symphony Orchestra & Dima Slobodeniouk

• Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953): The Gambler Suite, Op. 49:
• 1The Gambler Suite, Op. 49: I. Alexis05:11
• 2The Gambler Suite, Op. 49: II. La grand'mère06:26
• 3The Gambler Suite, Op. 49: III. The General02:59
• 4The Gambler Suite, Op. 49: IV. Pauline06:33
• 5The Gambler Suite, Op. 49: V. Dénouement04:38
• Sergei Prokofiev:
• 6Autumnal, Op. 806:33
• 7The Mistress of the Copper Mountain, Op. 12904:14
• Wedding Suite, Op. 126:
• 8Wedding Suite, Op. 126: I. Amorous Dance06:21
• 9Wedding Suite, Op. 126: II. Dance of the Fiancée's Girlfriends02:00
• 10Wedding Suite, Op. 126: III. Maidens' Dance03:28
• Gypsy Fantasy, Op. 127:
• 11Gypsy Fantasy, Op. 127: I. Introduction00:35
• 12Gypsy Fantasy, Op. 127: II. Gypsy Dance02:17
• 13Gypsy Fantasy, Op. 127: III. Severian's Dance01:38
• 14Gypsy Fantasy, Op. 127: IV. Dance of the Gypsy Girl02:01
• 15Gypsy Fantasy, Op. 127: V. Mass Dance01:39
• Wedding Suite, Op. 126:
• 16Wedding Suite, Op. 126: IV. Ceremonial Dance01:59
• 17Wedding Suite, Op. 126: V. Wedding Dance03:00
• Total Runtime01:01:32

Info for Prokofiev: Suites from The Gambler & The Tale of the Stone Flower

Throughout his career, Sergei Prokofiev wrote a large number of works for the stage – some of them highly successful, others less so. Whichever the case, Prokofiev would rarely miss the opportunity of recycling the score in one way or another – staying more or less close to the original in an orchestral suite or using it as material for a completely new work, such as the Third and Fourth symphonies (based on the ballet The Prodigal Son and the opera The Fiery Angel, respectively.) The present release combines suites created from Prokofiev’s very first opera (The Gambler, 1915–17) and his very last ballet (The Stone Flower, 1948–53). Based on a short novel by Dostoyevsky, The Gambler doesn’t have separate numbers that can easily be detached. Instead Prokofiev created ‘portraits’ of the four main characters, by re-assembling the music associated with them throughout the opera. The plot of The Tale of the Stone Flower was based on a collection of folk and fairy tales from mining communities of the Ural Mountains, and Prokofiev composed a 150-minute score in an idiom relying on folk elements and nineteenth-century musical traditions. While waiting for official permission to have the ballet performed, he planned a number of orchestral suites. On this recording, the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and their principal conductor Dima Slobodeniouk splice together two of these compilations: the Wedding Suite, Op.126 and the Gypsy Fantasy, Op.127, both of which were performed before the ballet itself, in 1951. The result is preceded by the opening of the actual ballet, entitled The Mistress of the Copper Mountain. These suites frame the brief Autumnal Sketch, one of the composer’s earliest acknowledged works for orchestra.

Lahti Symphony Orchestra
Dima Slobodeniouk, conductor

Dima Slobodeniouk
Lauded for his deeply informed and intelligent artistic leadership, Dima Slobodeniouk has held the position of Music Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia since 2013, which he combines with his more recent positions as Principal Conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director of the Sibelius Festival following his appointment in 2016. Linking his native Russian roots with the cultural influence of his later homeland Finland, he draws on the powerful musical heritage of these two countries.

Last season he gave his debut with the Het Concertgebouw Orkest, including a tour to Copenhagen, Gothenburg and Tallinn. He works with orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Radio Sinfonieorchester Berlin, ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, London Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Chicago, Houston and Baltimore as well as Sydney Symphony Orchestras.

Summer 2019 sees Slobodeniouk return to the Tanglewood Music Festival, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Yefim Bronfman, before he gives his debut in the orchestra’s main series in Boston in October this year. Further highlights are his debuts with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich with Simon Trpceski, with the Vienna Symphony, with the San Francisco Symphony with Sergey Khachatrian and with the Cleveland Orchestra. He returns to the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Houston Symphony with Kirill Gernstein. He opens the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia’s 19/20 season with the Symphony of Psalms by Stravinsky; on tour together, appearances include the Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical Madrid with Isabelle Faust as soloist. With Lahti Symphony he is excited to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Sibelius Festival with soloists such as Karita Mattila. Other soloists he works with include Nicolas Altstaedt, Leif Ove Andsnes, Khatia Buniatishvili, Vilde Frang, Vadim Gluzman, Johannes Moser, Baiba Skride, Simon Trpčeski, Yuja Wang and Frank Peter Zimmermann.

Slobodeniouk’s discography was recently extended by recordings of works by Stravinsky with Ilya Gringolts and Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia (BIS) and works by Aho with Lahti Symphony Orchestra (BIS), the latter received the BBC Music Magazine award 2018. He has previously recorded works by Lotta Wennäkoski with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Ondine) and works by Sebastian Fagerlund with Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (BIS). Moscow-born Dima Slobodeniouk studied violin at Moscow Central Music School under Zinaida Gilels and J. Chugajev, the Middle Finland Conservatory as well as the Sibelius Academy under Olga Parhomenko. He continued his Sibelius Academy studies with Atso Almila also under the guidance of Leif Segerstam and Jorma Panula, and has also studied under Ilya Musin and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Striving to inspire young musicians of the future, Slobodeniouk has worked with students at the Verbier Festival Academy over recent years and furthermore began a conducting initiative with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, providing an opportunity for students to work on the podium with a professional orchestra.

Booklet for Prokofiev: Suites from The Gambler & The Tale of the Stone Flower