Post by erik on Jul 17, 2021 12:09:41 GMT -5
Sergei Prokofiev left his native Russia for a time in the 1920's, following the death of the tsarist regime and the emergence of Communism; and during a brief stint in America, he composed the work that is in this week's Classical Works Spotlight.
Prokofiev: OVERTURE ON HEBREW THEMES, OP. 34
As one of the most important composers to come from Russia since Tchaikovsky, Sergei Prokofiev was often considered as much of a maverick as his older contemporary Igor Stravinsky. Indeed, prior to 1915, and his First Violin Concerto, Prokofiev was considered even more of an enfant terrible than Stravinsky. But then the popularity of the concerto, followed by the Haydn/Mozart-inspired Classical Symphony of 1917-18, showed that he could stay melodic and also contain his modern-day musical witticisms. Following his country’s transformation from a czarist regime to a Communist one, however, Prokofiev left Russia to live abroad, particularly in America, Germany, and France, from 1919 to 1929. During that first year of 1919, when he was living in America, he was commissioned by a visiting Russian chamber ensemble called the Zimro Enseemble to compose a short work for the sextet based on Hebraic themes. Although no known Hebraic themes can be detected in this eight minute-long work, the instrumentation, which includes clarinet and piano, has the influence of klezmer. It remained in this sextet form until 1934, when Prokofiev arranged it for an orchestra not a whole lot larger than what he needed for the Classical Symphony. The vacillations between the keys of C Minor and D Minor mark this as a fairly modernistic work. Both the sextet and orchestral versions of this concert overture, while popular in Prokofiev’s time (except among the tin-eared Commissar named Joseph Stalin), are not often played with the same regularity as either the Classical Symphony or “Peter And The Wolf”, which Prokofiev composed the same year he arranged the Overture On Hebrew Themes for orchestra.
Piano: STEFAN VLADAR
Chamber Orchestra of Europe/CLAUDIO ABBADO (Deutsche Grammophon)
Included:
MARCH IN B FLAT MAJOR, OP. 99
PETER AND THE WOLF (Narrator: Sting)
SYMPHONY NO. 1 IN D MAJOR, OP. 25 (CLASSICAL)
Prokofiev: OVERTURE ON HEBREW THEMES, OP. 34
As one of the most important composers to come from Russia since Tchaikovsky, Sergei Prokofiev was often considered as much of a maverick as his older contemporary Igor Stravinsky. Indeed, prior to 1915, and his First Violin Concerto, Prokofiev was considered even more of an enfant terrible than Stravinsky. But then the popularity of the concerto, followed by the Haydn/Mozart-inspired Classical Symphony of 1917-18, showed that he could stay melodic and also contain his modern-day musical witticisms. Following his country’s transformation from a czarist regime to a Communist one, however, Prokofiev left Russia to live abroad, particularly in America, Germany, and France, from 1919 to 1929. During that first year of 1919, when he was living in America, he was commissioned by a visiting Russian chamber ensemble called the Zimro Enseemble to compose a short work for the sextet based on Hebraic themes. Although no known Hebraic themes can be detected in this eight minute-long work, the instrumentation, which includes clarinet and piano, has the influence of klezmer. It remained in this sextet form until 1934, when Prokofiev arranged it for an orchestra not a whole lot larger than what he needed for the Classical Symphony. The vacillations between the keys of C Minor and D Minor mark this as a fairly modernistic work. Both the sextet and orchestral versions of this concert overture, while popular in Prokofiev’s time (except among the tin-eared Commissar named Joseph Stalin), are not often played with the same regularity as either the Classical Symphony or “Peter And The Wolf”, which Prokofiev composed the same year he arranged the Overture On Hebrew Themes for orchestra.
Piano: STEFAN VLADAR
Chamber Orchestra of Europe/CLAUDIO ABBADO (Deutsche Grammophon)
Included:
MARCH IN B FLAT MAJOR, OP. 99
PETER AND THE WOLF (Narrator: Sting)
SYMPHONY NO. 1 IN D MAJOR, OP. 25 (CLASSICAL)