According to the ancient Greek legend, Prometheus brought fire and culture to mankind, thus saving the world from being destroyed by Zeus. Through the ages, this story has inspired countless artists, poets and musicians to some of their grandest creations.
Christopher Swann’s film is based on a 1993 televised concert from Berlin’s Philharmonic Hall.
The program features music by Beethoven, Liszt, Skriabin and Nono based on the legend of Prometheus. The four compositions could not be more diverse in style and conception, representing highly different approaches: from the Prometheus as bringer of plague and destruction to the punished Prometheus chained to a rock.
In this film, Christopher Swann stresses a visual approach to this variety of ideas, using a number of modern film techniques to underscore and illustrate the musical presentation.
Performances by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Claudio Abbado are first-rate, although it is the presence of Argerich that will make this DVD an obligatory purchase.
For the first time in over nine years, Arcadi Volodos has agreed to record an entire concert for TV again. Indeed, his recital at Vienna’s Musikverein, for which he has chosen works by Skryabin, Ravel, Schumann and Liszt, features a line-up of Romantic to early 20th-century heavyweights, which Volodos renders with his inimitable blend of ethereal lightness and forceful vigor. The recital begins with a selection of pieces by Alexander Skryabin, in which Volodos displays his phenomenal technique, culminating in the White Mass. Under Volodos’ hands, Maurice Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales becomes “a kaleidoscope of transparent, gossamer colors” (Die Presse). While Volodos’ account of Schumann’s Waldszenen flashes with startling harmonic echoes of the Ravel piece, his rendition of Liszt’s Après une lecture du Dante from the Années de pèlerinage “radiates modernity” (Der Standard). The keyboard sensation provides a further example of his artistry in his encores, in which he demonstrates his talent for creating his own dazzling piano transcriptions of works by other composers.
