Prokofiev - Ivan the Terrible - Stasevich

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)

Ivan the Terrible
Music to the film, Op. 116

Screen script by Sergei Eisenstein
Lyrics of songs by Vladimir Lugovskoy
Arrangements into the form of an
oratorio by Abram Stasevich

Moscow State Chorus
Vladislav Sokolov, Director
USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Abram Stasevich, Conductor

Valentina Levko, Mezzo-Soprano
Anatoli Mokrenko, Baritone
Alexander Estrin, Narrator

(Melodiya, c. 1965)
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I don't mean to put musically "sensitive" people off with something that has "Terrible" in the title, but...

Since 1967 - after encountering a 4 x 6-inch hand-made booklet of stills from Eisenstein's masterpiece "Ivan the Terrible" - this film (consisting of two parts) continues to be my favorite of all films. I don't remember who expertly printed the booklet of stills from a copy of Part 1 of the film - but I found it on the coffee table of an actor acqaintance about 10 years my senior. A biography of Nikolai Cherkasov, who performed the roles of Ivan the Terrible and Alexander Nevsky in the respective films was also found on this actor's bookshelves. It would be a number of years before I would finally see "Ivan the Terrible" and hear the recording offered here. But I had never seen - nor have I seen since - anything as visually powerful as the contents of that very small, hand-made coffee table booklet.

In the 1973 edition of his Eisenstein biography, Yon Barna states the matter simply and directly:

"The collaboration between Eisenstein and Prokofiev constitutes a notable phenomenon in art history: two artists of genius synchronizing their talents so perfectly that a single mind might have been at work."

The music has remained with me as inseperable from the films. And so, when I first heard this recording from Melodiya (after seeing the films), I felt transported back into the films much as I'd hoped. No doubt this had much to do with the quality and singulartity of the performances on these discs - Abram Stasevich having originally conducted Prokofiev's scores for both film parts. The same can be said of Alexander Estrin's narration, which effectively conjours the presence of the incomparable Nikolai Cherkasov as Ivan. But while Stasevich's version is certainly not what Prokofiev himself would have accomplished had he been the author of the arrangement, the ability of this particular recording to render the atmosphere of the films should not be underestimated. There are perhaps other recordings of this music which have merit - but it's only possible for me to describe the two others in my possession, first issued as CD's, as disappointing when compared to the Melodiya recording. This is all I can say beyond urging anyone who has only heard the music to become familiar with the films as well, because there are none like them. Finally, one does not get many chances in a single lifetime to experience works in any medium on this level of collaboration.
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Excellent editions of Eisenstein's "Ivan the Terrible", Parts 1 and 2 are found at YouTube (English subtitles can be activated):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyGVNXC9yzo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEfDe4fvfFA
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Also included are scans of two short, overlapping essays by Sergei Eisenstein: "Twenty-Five and Fifteen" (written 1939 about Eisenstein's cameraman Eduard Tisse); and "P-R-K-F-V" (written 1946 about Sergei Prokofiev). The essays are taken from an English language edition (c. 1960 or earlier) of Eisenstein's "Notes of a Film Director", published in the Soviet Union.
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LP transfers of above material. Includes covers, label, notes, English and Russian texts, etc.