Search - Sergey Prokofiev, Alexander Zakin :: Prokofiev: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2

Haunting Performance

C. Darrouzet | Half Moon Bay, CA United States | 03/22/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The first sonata contains some of Prokofiev's most haunting, cerebral music. Stern and Zakin's interpretation reaches deeply into this questioning music. In the first movement the tension builds on itself until suddenly you arrive at the violin's ascending scales that define the work's dark beauty -- if "beauty" is enough for it -- it's as viscerally existential as any of his other more psychological-anthropological works in small format. The recording has a very low hiss -- for it is an older one -- and though I often find such a very low level white noise line distracting -- here it disappears as you listen in to the playing. I have not owned other versions of these two pieces, so I cannot compare it with others -- but if you are a lover of Prokofiev's deeper, haunting cerebral pieces, you will not be disappointed with this recording. I give it five stars for performance and interpretation, but only four as a caution about the quality and age of the recording -- which again, is truly four star's worth -- this is not some old hacked recording -- far from it."