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Alexandre Dossin - Sergey Prokofiev: Childhood Manuscripts; Old Grandmother's Tales; Six Pieces Op. 52 (2017)

Posted By: Designol

Date: 28 Jun 2025 16:31:10

Sergey Prokofiev was so musically precocious that no less a figure than Reinhold Gliere was employed as his live-in tutor. Gliere’s lessons proved to be both rigorous and inspiring and the young Prokofiev wrote a delightful sequence of works for the piano. Revealing an increasing command of harmony, these miniatures show why he was, at the age of thirteen, the youngest ever student to be enrolled at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire. ‘Old Grandmother’s Tales, Op. 31,’ written in New York in 1918 is suffused with nostalgia, while the ‘Six Pieces, Op. 52,’ are vivid arrangements of some of his earlier works.

As both pianist and composer Sergey Prokofiev was something of a child prodigy, so much so that Reinhold Glière was employed as the youngster’s live-in musical tutor. This arrangement seems to have worked well for Prokofiev, with Glière’s lessons not only building on what the boy already knew but also setting him new and complicated challenges which stretched the young Prokofiev.

The earliest piece on this disc is the Tarantella in D minor of 1901, a charming work that belies the composers tender age, there is a Spanish feel to the music and it depicts the dance rhythms well.

Prokofiev composed five books of Pesenki or Little Songs before he was sixteen and the 15 excerpts presented here, the earliest dating from 1903 when he was only twelve, display well Prokofiev’s mastery of the piano even at this early age. The pieces are hardly masterpieces, but they do show a mastery of the styles and musical language that he had been introduced to by Glière, whether the March of Series 3, the Minuet from Series 4 or the charming Waltz from Series 5, they all show a depth of knowledge and understanding.

The final two works from his early period are the Examination Fugue in D of 1908, which shows a complete understanding of the idiom, and the Scherzo in D, date unknown, which when presented to Myaskovsky, we are told, were received favourably, the older composer declaring that “I never suspected what a little viper we had nursing in our bosom.”

The disc actually opens with the Old Grandmother’s Tales, a series of four pieces dating from 1918, and showing a great advancement in Prokofiev’s musical technique. They are still, however, set in an older - one could say more conservative - idiom, an advancement on the early student pieces but still not the style that the composer would become famous for.

The most substantial work on this disc is the series of pieces that the composer adapted from earlier works. The Six Pieces Op 52 present music taken from The Prodigal Son, Songs Without Words Op. 35, the String Quartet No. 1 and the Sinfonietta. These are, for me, the real interest on this disc; this is the more mature composer, music that although harking back to an earlier period, clearly shows Prokofiev in his prime.

Alexandre Dossin rises to every challenge posed by this music, all too often juvenile music can be glossed over, but not here as Dossin plays it with the same respect that he gives to the later works. The sound is good as are the booklet notes, making this a valuable addition to any Prokofiev collection.

Review by Stuart Sillitoe, MusicWeb-International.com

A hugely gifted and precocious child, both as a pianist and composer, Sergey Prokofiev completed five books of Pesenki (Little Songs) before he was sixteen. On this new recording entitled ‘Childhood Manuscripts’, Alexandre Dossin plays fifteen of the pieces contained therein. Don’t expect some great revelations, but already in these miniatures we have that fertile ability to create attractive melodies linked with a harmonic language passed down from the world of Grieg and his contemporaries. That he was a gifted pianist is evidenced in the three fast and vivacious excerpts from the Third Book. As each book is spaced by a year, you can follow his progress, and the brief and rather cheeky Allegretto in C minor, from his fourteenth year, is a little jewel. Go one further year and the great composer, who was yet to come, becomes more obvious in the Fifth Book with its quirky Waltz and an Etude-Scherzo that takes something from Chopin. Jump forward twelve years and he retains much the same ‘innocence’ in the four pieces that form Old Grandmother’s Tales. In the disc’s most extended and much later work, Six Pieces, he drew on material from previous works, including the ballet, The Prodigal Son, and we are in a totally different musical world. To this point the disc had posed few technical demands, but the Brazilian-born pianist, Alexandre Dossin, now has every opportunity to display his virtuosity in music requiring very subtle fingers. Excellent sound quality and much commended.

David Denton, David's Review Corner, October 2017

Sergey Prokofiev at Allmusic
Sergey Prokofiev at Wiki

Alexandre Dossin at Allmusic

Alexandre Dossin (piano)
Recorded: 6-8 July 2016
Recording Venue: Moon Mountain Studios, Eugene, Oregon, USA

Tracklist:

Sergey PROKOFIEV (1891-1953)

Old Grandmother's Tales, Op.31
01. I. Moderato (2:25)
02. II. Andantino (1:06)
03. III. Andante assai (2:46)
04. IV. Sostenuto (2:52)

Six Pieces, Op.52
05. I. Intermezzo (The Prodigal Son) (5:17)
06. II. Rondo (The Prodigal Son) (6:00)
07. III. Etude (The Prodigal Son) (2:24)
08. IV. Scherzino (Songs Without Words, Op.35) (1:48)
09. V. Andante (String Quartet No.1, Op.50) (10:40)
10. VI. Scherzo (Sinfonietta, Op.48) (3:54)

11. Tarantella in D minor (2:02)

Pesenki (Little Songs),
12. Series 2 - No.7 Melody in E flat major (4:34)
13. Series 3 - No.4 Presto in C major (2:21)
14. Series 3 - No.7 March IV in F major (2:08)
15. Series 3 - No.8 Vivo in G minor (3:39)
16. Series 4 - No.2 Romance III in D minor (3:10)
17. Series 4 - No.3 Allegretto in A minor (1:00)
18. Series 4 - No.5 Allegretto in C minor (1:02)
19. Series 4 - No.6 Allegro in A flat major (3:13)
20. Series 4 - No.11 Minuet in F minor (1:09)
21. Series 5 - No.2 Scherzo in C major (2:56)
22. Series 5 - No.4 Allegro non troppo in D minor (1:51)
23. Series 5 - No.5 Waltz in G minor (0:59)
24. Series 5 - No.6 March in F minor (3:55)
25. Series 5 - No.7 Prestissimo in C major (1:45)
26. Series 5 - No.12 Etude-Scherzo in C major (1:33)

27. Examination Fugue in D major (1:44)

28. Scherzo in D major (1:36)

EAC log

Exact Audio Copy V1.3 from 2. September 2016

EAC extraction logfile from 21. July 2018, 15:29

Alexandre Dossin / Prokofiev - Childhood Manuscripts

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DR log

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2018-07-23 06:22:26

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Alexandre Dossin / Prokofiev - Childhood Manuscripts
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR13 -1.00 dB -17.72 dB 2:25 01-Old Grandmother's Tales, Op.31 - I. Moderato
DR12 -1.00 dB -18.54 dB 1:06 02-Old Grandmother's Tales, Op.31 - II. Andantino
DR13 -1.00 dB -18.80 dB 2:46 03-Old Grandmother's Tales, Op.31 - III. Andante assai
DR16 -1.00 dB -22.03 dB 2:52 04-Old Grandmother's Tales, Op.31 - IV. Sostenuto
DR14 -1.00 dB -18.39 dB 5:17 05-Six Pieces, Op.52 - I. Intermezzo (The Prodigal Son)
DR14 -1.00 dB -19.29 dB 6:00 06-Six Pieces, Op.52 - II. Rondo (The Prodigal Son)
DR11 -1.07 dB -16.02 dB 2:24 07-Six Pieces, Op.52 - III. Etude (The Prodigal Son)
DR12 -1.91 dB -17.46 dB 1:48 08-Six Pieces, Op.52 - IV. Scherzino (Songs Without Words, Op.35)
DR14 -1.00 dB -19.68 dB 10:40 09-Six Pieces, Op.52 - V. Andante (String Quartet No.1, Op.50)
DR13 -1.00 dB -17.24 dB 3:54 10-Six Pieces, Op.52 - VI. Scherzo (Sinfonietta, Op.48)
DR14 -1.00 dB -17.94 dB 2:02 11-Tarantella in D minor
DR14 -1.00 dB -19.51 dB 4:34 12-Pesenki (Little Songs), Series 2 - No.7 Melody in E flat major
DR12 -1.00 dB -15.60 dB 2:21 13-Pesenki (Little Songs), Series 3 - No.4 Presto in C major
DR14 -1.00 dB -18.44 dB 2:08 14-Pesenki (Little Songs), Series 3 - No.7 March IV in F major
DR12 -1.00 dB -16.32 dB 3:39 15-Pesenki (Little Songs), Series 3 - No.8 Vivo in G minor
DR13 -1.00 dB -19.58 dB 3:10 16-Pesenki (Little Songs), Series 4 - No.2 Romance III in D minor
DR12 -1.48 dB -18.43 dB 1:00 17-Pesenki (Little Songs), Series 4 - No.3 Allegretto in A minor
DR12 -1.00 dB -18.43 dB 1:02 18-Pesenki (Little Songs), Series 4 - No.5 Allegretto in C minor
DR11 -1.00 dB -15.32 dB 3:13 19-Pesenki (Little Songs), Series 4 - No.6 Allegro in A flat major
DR11 -1.00 dB -15.79 dB 1:09 20-Pesenki (Little Songs), Series 4 - No.11 Minuet in F minor
DR12 -1.00 dB -15.94 dB 2:56 21-Pesenki (Little Songs), Series 5 - No.2 Scherzo in C major
DR13 -1.00 dB -16.87 dB 1:51 22-Pesenki (Little Songs), Series 5 - No.4 Allegro non troppo in D minor
DR11 -1.08 dB -18.41 dB 0:59 23-Pesenki (Little Songs), Series 5 - No.5 Waltz in G minor
DR14 -1.00 dB -18.95 dB 3:55 24-Pesenki (Little Songs), Series 5 - No.6 March in F minor
DR11 -1.00 dB -15.84 dB 1:45 25-Pesenki (Little Songs), Series 5 - No.7 Prestissimo in C major
DR12 -1.00 dB -15.87 dB 1:33 26-Pesenki (Little Songs), Series 5 - No.12 Etude-Scherzo in C major
DR12 -1.00 dB -16.29 dB 1:44 27-Examination Fugue in D major
DR13 -1.00 dB -17.58 dB 1:36 28-Scherzo in D major
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 28
Official DR value: DR13

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 439 kbps
Codec: FLAC
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