Maya Fridman & Artem Belogurov - The Fiery Angel (2018) [Official Digital Download 24/192]

In 1907 there appeared a book called “The Fiery Angel”, by the Russian autor Valery Bryusov. It’s an exciting story about an impossible love triangle between Renata, a passionate young woman; Ruprecht, a knight; and Madiel, the Fiery Angel.

Based on the novel, Sergei Prokofiev wrote the likewise-named opera The Fiery Angel, Op. 37, in 5 acts. The first version was finished in 1923, but unfortunately, Prokofiev never saw the complete performance of the opera, since it was performed one year after he died, in 1954.

In 2015, inspired by my new collaboration with Artem Belogurov, I came to an idea to arrange this opera for cello and piano. We recorded this arrangement in the end of the same year and were finally able to release it last Sunday, the 4th of February 2018.

The Fiery Angel. What’s in a name? The story of the Fiery Angel, written by Valery Bryusov, revolves around the love triangle between the beautiful but wicked Renata, the knight Ruprecht, and The Fiery Angel himself. The story is dark and occult, and so this arrangement by Maya Fridman of Prokofiev’s famous (infamous?) opera needed to be, as well. Since an entire orchestra and soloists needed to „fit“ in the keyboard and cello performance, the scoring was pretty dense. For this reason, we chose the beautiful MCO Studio 2, which has a relatively dry acoustic sound to it, making it perfect for a recording like this.

The 1880 Érard piano: Artem Belogurov’s weapon of choice for the recording was an 1880 Érard, owned by Diepenbrock and played on by Mahler. This straight-strung predecessor of the modern grand piano proved to be an excellent choice for this dense scoring, and the dynamic qualities of the instruments were simply captivating. Maya performed on an almost 200-year-old French cello.

Taking a large musical work such as an opera, and arranging it into a piece of chamber music, can be quite a daunting task, as you may imagine. But it had been done before, especially in the late 19th century. Taking Sergei Prokofiev’s masterpiece, The Fiery Angel, and recomposing – no, re-imagining – it into a half-hour story that completely conveys the story with just two instruments, that’s a monumental task. A task which Maya Fridman took upon herself in 2015, as part of her Master’s Degree in cello performance (for which she received the highest honors, cum laude).

To be able to create this arrangement, she needed to work out a way to portray all these different roles of the story with just two instruments, cello and piano. The hysterical, erratic Renata, the knight Ruprecht, Madiël, the Fiery Angel himself, and even figures such as the Village Witch and the people at the convent in Trier, all are portrayed wonderfully by Maya’s arrangement for these two instruments. Her famously expressive playing style came in perfectly to suit the various timbres her arrangement requires.

Tracklist:
1. The Fiery Angel: The First Chapter (08:33)
2. The Fiery Angel: The Second Chapter (08:09)
3. The Fiery Angel: The Third Chapter (04:06)
4. The Fiery Angel: The Final Chapter (07:26)

Personnel:
Maya Fridman, cello
Artem Belogurov, piano