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Prokofiev: "Battle on the Ice" from "Alexander Nevsky" (cantata, 1939) - Russian State Symphony Orchestra, cond. Dmitry Yablonsky, Stanislavsky Chorus (12 min)
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"[Prokofiev] had already written music for films --Lieutenant Kije (1933) is the best known—when in 1938 he collaborated with the great Russian filmmaker, Sergey Eisenstein, on the film, Alexander Nevsky. It is the epic story of the defeat of the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century by the people of Novgorod, led by Alexander Nevsky. The climax of the film is the famous battle on the frozen Lake Chudskoe [5 April 1242]. The film was made at the specific request of Stalin to rally the Russian people against the looming German threat. So, the whole affair must be understood as thinly disguised propagandistic art. It is a great film, nevertheless, and well worth watching. The Teutonic knights are clad in grotesque helmets (originally it was planned to put swastikas on them) that appear to be a combination of Samurai, Science Fiction, and trashcan costuming—you never see their faces. The Russians, on the other hand, are human individuals, with very folkish, Viking-like costumes. The music is appropriately differentiated, with the Germans accompanied by dissonant, percussive—almost oppressive--music, and the Russians by a sympathetic musical style with traditional folkish elements.
"Unfortunately, just as the film was about to be released, Stalin signed the infamous pact with Hitler, and the film was not shown in the theatres until after the war with Germany had begun in 1941. The film was a rousing success, even though Prokofiev’s score suffered from a terrible soundtrack quality. Some scenes in the film were incorporated into Frank Capra’s American propaganda film, The Battle of Russia. In 1939, Prokofiev salvaged his work by turning the film score into a cantata for mezzo-soprano, chorus, and orchestra. Subsequently, it has become one of the composer’s best-known works, and one of the century’s important cantatas. Fundamentally, notwithstanding its origin as Soviet propaganda, the genius of filmmaker, Eisenstein, and Prokofiev’s vivid score, have made both the film and the extracted cantata important artifacts of the times."
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