Ruth Leon recommends… Sergei Prokofiev – The Unruly Child of Russia

Sergei Prokofiev

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A musical genius with human failings…both sides of this prolific composer are revealed in this striking account of his 1936 return to Russia and its tragic consequences. Director Oliver Becker takes as his starting point a diary, recently discovered, which Prokofiev kept during his trip to Russia in 1927.

In 1927, Sergei Prokofiev returned to the Soviet Union for the first time after almost ten years in self-imposed exile. In 1936, he re-settled there, bringing with him his wife and sons. During the difficult years that followed, Prokofiev experienced a slew of professional and personal problems only to be resolved with his death in 1953.

The film includes interviews with Aram Khachaturian’s son, Karen, Tichon Chrenikov, who dominated Soviet cultural bureaucracy for decades and who still lives in Moscow today, Prokofiev’s son, Sviatoslav, and many others.

Oliver Becker also showcases extensive footage of performances by living artists like Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Valery Gergiev, Alexander Melnikov, and Vadim Repin as well as late greats like Van Cliburn, Yevgeny Svetlanov and David Oistrakh. Prokofiev himself is also seen in a performance from the end of his life, playing the waltz from Cinderella.

Sergei Prokoviev died 72 years ago this week on 5th March 1953, coincidentally the same day as Joseph Stalin died.  He had composed seven completed operas, seven symphonies, eight ballets, five piano concertos, two violin concertos, a cello concerto, a symphony-concerto for cello and orchestra, and nine completed piano sonatas.A musical genius with human failings…both sides of this prolific composer are revealed in this striking account of his 1936 return to Russia and its tragic consequences. Director Oliver Becker takes as his starting point a diary, recently discovered, which Prokofiev kept during his trip to Russia in 1927.

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