Linda Finnie (contralto)
Scottish National Orchestra
Scottish National Chorus
Neeme Järvi, conductor


In this re-issue Chandos brings together Prokofiev’s epic and colourful cinematic cantata Alexander Nevsky (referring to the original disc, CD Review called it ‘the greatest performance and recording of this I have ever heard, live or on disc’), the powerful Scythian Suite (derived from the composer’s mythological ballet Ala et Lolly, written for Diaghilev) and the suite from the ballet The Steel Dance.


“Järvi catches the icy bitterness of the Russian winter snows at the very opening and is pungently overwhelming in the “Battle of the Ice”… It’s difficult to envisage anyone quite matching Järvi’s intimidatory SNO brass in this score’s more savage pages… a terrific display, excitingly engineered.” Gramophone Magazine

“Listening to this has been a little like running some Technicolor, super-Panavision, Dolby stereo remake of Eisenstein’s 1938 black-and-white classic through one’s head. Such is Järvi’s graphic and wonderfully evocative sense of the visual and cinematic… and once again Järvi is handsomely served in his epic endeavours by some quite spectacular Chandos engineering”
Hi-Fi News

“Time has proved Järvi's 1988 recordings of film score suites by Prokofiev uncontested, which explains their re-release. Time also reminds us what a stunning contralto the Scot Linda Finnie was. Here she soothes the Russian Army with a sad folk melody in the Alexander Nevsky Suite, excised from the score for Eisenstein's eponymous patriotic film. Strength, not age gave Finnie those voluminous low notes - too little was made of her career. Järvi, conducting the Scottish National Orchestra and Chorus, achieves a quivering sheen in the Battle on the Ice and a passionate noise from the singers as they undiplomatically name their enemy (the Swedes).”
The Times, 16th August 2008