Prokofiev- Ivan the Terrible

The oratorio Ivan the Terrible, which derives from the soundtrack written by Sergej Prokofiev for Eisenstein's film, is on stage at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, with the Orchestra and Choir of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia conducted by maestro Daniele Rustioni.

The oratorio op. 116 for narrator, soloists, choir, children's choir and orchestra, based on the music composed for a two-part film made between 1943 and 1945 by the director Sergeij Eizenstein (1898 – 1948) in fact, it is a posthumous cantata comprising 20 to 25 songs, composed not by Prokofiev himself, but after his death, in 1962 by the musicologist, his friend and collaborator Abram Stasevich.

The score written between 1942 and 1945 was to include a trilogy on the life of Ivan IV of Russia and the struggles for power in Russia in the 1500s; the choice of this topic was due to Stalin's strongly propagandistic policy in the face of enemy threats during the Second World War; in perfect artistic symbiosis with the great director, Prokofiev composed an impressive sound fresco adopting a musical language that combines a measured expressive modernity with moments of intense lyricism and solemnity together with dramatic nuances that flow into the pathos of an extraordinary narrative force. His work therefore recounts, with vivid and spectacular effectiveness, salient and crucial moments of Russian history, while the music, sometimes epic, sometimes intensely poetic and characterized by popular accents, makes the whole story even more compelling.

With Alexander Roslavets (bass), Orlin Anastassov (reciting voice); Orchestra and Choir of the National Academy of Santa Cecilia directed by Daniele Rustioni, choirmaster Andrea Secchi.

Photo credits: the Auditorium Parco della Musica official site