Prokofiev: Symphony-Concerto / Sonatas (SACD)

The three works collected here date from Sergei Prokofiev's final years. Despite his deteriorating health and the oppressive political climate, the composer was able to count on the support of great musicians, in particular the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. The relationship contributed to the composition of works for cello. The first was the Symphony Concerto, an improved revision of a much earlier cello concerto. As in all of Prokofiev's large-scale compositions, we find striking gestures of contrast and confrontation, unsettling mood contrasts, powerful rhetoric followed by sudden passages of delicate reflection. The Sonata for solo cello is an unfinished work: a broad and eloquent Andante can be heard here in its completion by Vladimir Blok. Finally, the solemn and poetic Sonata for Cello and Piano seems like an oasis of serenity in the midst of the Soviet dictatorship. In a clear form, free of anything that could have shocked the authorities, the sonata, which is very demanding in terms of playing technique, is one of Prokofiev's best works thanks to its wealth of melodies from beginning to end. These three works played by Christian Poltéra bear witness to Prokofiev's creative vitality at the end of his life, expressed in a simple, clear musical language, combined with a new sense of vitality despite all adversity.