Petersburg Conservatory, where he was known as an iconoclastic, cheeky, arrogant young man who dared to and enjoyed breaking the rules. Petersburg Evenings of Contemporary Music, dazzling some and horrifying others.
In fact, he was following his own voice which he had formulated as a child. He was a bold little musician, and at age eleven even tried to write a symphony. This boldness was not to be quelled. His mother had provided traditional musical training for her son throughout his life; therefore, he was well acquainted with the standard classical musical forms and content, but often found them corseting and unsuitable for his imagination.
Commemorative ceremonies are continued in Russia to this day by the descendants of those who were killed. Nikolai Rubinstein, head of the Moscow Conservatory, was enlisted to conduct the orchestra of the Russian Music Society, and he in turn asked Tchaikovsky to contribute a new piece to the event.
Tchaikovsky had little interest in political affairs, but the situation in the Balkans drew from him surprisingly strong feelings. It is at once terrifying and gratifying that our beloved country has at last decided to uphold its honor.
Serbia became independent in The score calls for woodwinds, horns and trumpets in pairs, percussion, and strings.
Duration is about 26 minutes. When Prokofiev returned to Russia late in after his long residency in the West, full of allegiance to the socialist cause, he dedicated his art to fulfillment of the dream of the Revolution.
Such is the immutable code as I see it. It is not easy to find the right idiom for this music. To begin with, it must be melodious; moreover, the melody must be simple and comprehensible, without being repetitive or trivial. Many composers have difficulty in composing any sort of melody; all the harder is it to compose a melody that has a definite function.
The same applies to the technique and the idiom: they must be clear and simple, but not banal. We must seek a new simplicity. The commission for the Concerto came from a group of admirers of the Belgian violinist Robert Soetens just at the time Prokofiev was considering such a work, and the proposal was accepted quickly.
The work was an immediate success at its premiere in Madrid late in , and so moved the Boston audience when Jascha Heifetz first played it in America two years later that many wept openly at the sentiment of the slow movement. The orchestra supports the impressive work of the soloist with a full complement of percussion instruments, requiring three players.
German impresario Johann Peter Salomon, who was living and working in London, proposed that Haydn visit the city.
Haydn made two visits to London —92 and —95 , and for each, he composed six symphonies. Tonight we present the ninth of this dozen, Symphony No. The work begins with a slow introduction in a minor key, an opening gambit that Haydn used to build anticipation. This strategy creates an incredibly effective contrast, as from this mysterious haze emerges a major-key Presto, bringing with it a new driving clarity.
The colors of the orchestra are rich and full, including brass and drums. This movement is so lively and enthusiastic, one might be forgiven for mistaking it for a rousing finale. Haydn—always one to delight in surprises—offers contrast in the form of a stormy section in G minor.
This sort of thing does not happen with real talents. Prokofiev went on to play the same piece two years later at his graduation from Saint Petersburg Conservatory, on which occasion he was awarded high honors and the coveted Anton Rubinstein Prize, which included a new grand piano. He would shortly embark on a dual career as a touring pianist and a composer, and he managed to balance the competing demands of those domains adeptly.
He alludes to polytonality—through the close and witty juxtaposition of scales of C major and D-flat major—without going much farther with the idea, and rhythmic audacity similarly plays itself out strictly on the surface.
But Modernism is crouching tensely in this piece, waiting to spring forth with the exuberance of the Prokofiev scores that would follow shortly, such as the Scythian Suite —15 , Violin Concerto No. An earlier form of this note originally appeared in the program books of the Juilliard Symphony. Program Notes.
0コメント