Poems (5) for voice & piano, Op. 23: No. 5. Kudesnik (The Sorcerer)
Poems (5) for voice & piano, Op. 27
Poems (5) for voice & piano, Op. 36: No. 4. Pomni menya (Remember Me! - A Malayan spell)
Lieutenant Kijé, 2 songs from the film score for voice & piano, Op. 60bis: No. 1. Stonet sizïy golubochek (My grey dove is full of sorrow)
Choruses (2) with piano, Op. 66a: No. 2. Anyutka (version for voice and piano)
Children's Songs (3) for voice & piano, Op. 68: No. 1. Boltunya (The Chatterbox)
Alexander Nevsky, 3 songs from the film score for voice & piano, Op. 78bis: No. 2. Otzovitesya, yashï sokolï (Mark, ye Bright Falcons) (The Field of the Dead)
Romances (3) for voice & piano, Op. 73: No. 2. Rumyanoy zareyu (The rosy dawn is colouring the east)
Prokofiev, especially during the major part of his career when he lived outside of the Soviet Union, was oriented toward the large public forms of ballet, symphony, concerto, and opera. His songs, quite Russian on the whole, date mostly from the beginning and end of his career, and they're not often performed, at least outside Russia. This is a shame, for the melodicism of Prokofiev's ballets is on full display here as well, and many of these songs are charming in the cheeky manner of Prokofiev's early years, or the broadly ...
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Prokofiev, especially during the major part of his career when he lived outside of the Soviet Union, was oriented toward the large public forms of ballet, symphony, concerto, and opera. His songs, quite Russian on the whole, date mostly from the beginning and end of his career, and they're not often performed, at least outside Russia. This is a shame, for the melodicism of Prokofiev's ballets is on full display here as well, and many of these songs are charming in the cheeky manner of Prokofiev's early years, or the broadly neo-Romantic style of his later life. Several are ostensibly for children -- sample the opening The Ugly Duckling, Op. 18, which has a delightful edge perfectly caught by mezzo-soprano Margarita Gritskova and accompanist Maria Prinz -- but there is nothing childlike about them. For pure melody, pieces like "My Grey Dove is Full of Sorrow," one of the two independent songs from Lieutenant Kijé, Op. 60bis, can stand with anything in Prokofiev's oeuvre. Everything is sung with delicacy...
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