Sergei Prokofiev - Meeting Of The Volga And The Don

- Composer: Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (23 April 1891 -- 5 March 1953) - Orchestra: Academic Symphony Orchestra of St. Petersburg Philharmonic - Conductor: Anton Lubchenko - Year of recording: 2010 (?) Festive poem “Meeting of the Volga and the Don“ for orchestra Op. 130, written in 1951. In the video: Stamp illustration of a lock on the Volga--Don Canal with motor ship “Joseph Stalin“ (1953). Prokofiev wrote the ’festive’ tone poem “The Meeting of the Volga and the Don“ to celebrate the completion of the opening of a canal between the two Russian rivers the Volga and the Don, with the energetic assistance of cellist Rostropovich. As a state commissioned work, one would expect a certain amount of banal melodies. Prokofiev, however, introduced some of his satiric/ironic nature into the music making it somewhat reminiscent of his early works, and especially of the cantate ’Zdravitsa’ (see my upload of that piece for information).