Prokofiev's Sixth Symphony was condemned by the 'Zhdanov decree' of February 1948, an official onslaught on music that did not accord with Soviet social and political aims.
Performer Biography
Marin Alsop, the conductor, made history in 2007 as the first woman to head a major American orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
Composition History
The Waltz Suite, written around the same time as the Sixth Symphony, recycles music from three separate works: the opera War and Peace, the ballet Cinderella, and the film Lermontov.
Performer Biography
Marin Alsop was the first conductor to be awarded a MacArthur Genius award in 2005 and the first female conductor of the BBC's Last Night of the Proms in London in 2013.
Historical Context
Prokofiev's final years were clouded by ill health, and his death in Moscow on March 5, 1953, went largely unnoticed as it occurred barely an hour before that of Stalin.
Recording & Production
The São Paulo Symphony Orchestra recorded this album at its own venue, Sala São Paulo, which was chosen in 2015 by The Guardian as one of the ten best concert halls in the world.
Composer Biography
Sergey Prokofiev, a Russian composer, was born in 1891 and showed precocious musical talents, composing his first pieces at age five.
