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Program Notes for October 6, 1999 PROGRAM NOTES Bridge, Three Songs for Medium Voice, Viola and Piano Frank Bridge (1879-1941) was a British violist and composer whose is best-known today for being Benjamin Britten's composition teacher. According to William Everett, 'his intimate knowledge of the viola and its capabilities enabled him to write in an idiomatic fashion for his own instrument.' Bridge wrote in a wide variety of genres but excelled in chamber music.
Program notes by Dorothea Redepenning and performer biographical notes in German with English and French translations (19 p.: ports.)--inserted in container. / Sergei Prokofiev. Piano sonata no. 5 / Alexander Scriabin. User-contributed reviews Tags. Add tags for 'Piano sonata no. Be the first. Similar Items. Related Subjects.
Particularly noteworthy are his string quartets, piano quartets, and seven miscelleneous works that prominently feature the violaincluding his Three Songs (1906-7) for medium voice, piano and viola obbliggato. Bridge's Three Songs are all based on famous texts about death: 1. 'Far, far from each other' (text by Matthew Arnold) 2.
'Where is it that our soul doth go?' (text by Heinrich Heine, trans. By Kroecker) 3. 'Music when soft voices die' (text by P.
Shelley) The first song is dated 'November 1906', the second 'Xmas 1906), and the third '11 January 1907' (a revision of a setting written for high-voice, piano and cello obbligato in November 1903). The manuscripts of these songs reside at The Royal College of Music.
The set was premiered on 9 December 1908, as sung by contralto Ivy Sinclair (Bridge's sister-in-law), violist Audrey ffoulkes-Alston, and Bridge himself as the pianist (in a rare public appearance in this capacity). According to Everett, Although the three songs form a complete set, each song has its own character and possesses particular musical traits.
The three songs share similar harmonic language; however, the relationship between the voice and the viola differs in each song. In the first song, the viola and the voice share similar melodic material, while in the second song, their material is largely unrelated. In the final song of the set, the voice and viola share a rhythmic motive which provides unity in the song. Taken as a whole, the set demonstrates Bridge's concern for appropriate text setting: The first song 'Far, far from each other' is a prayer of consolation after the loss of a loved one: The memory of the deceased is quite close, and therefore, the musical setting is one in which the viola (perhaps the departed one who cannot respond verbally to the mournings of the bereaved) and the voice are closely related. In the second song 'Where is it that our soul doth go?,' separation and loss are the central themes of the textBridge's setting, with dissimilar material in the viola and voice, is fitting. Finally, resolution comes with 'Music when soft voices die.' Memories abound, and the shared musical motive in the voice and violawhile not a literal statement so as to emphasize the present but rather an echo to serve as a reminder of the pastagain emphasizes and amplifies the text.
Notes compiled by Daniel Jacobson from 'The Viola Music of Frank Bridge' by William A. Everett in The Journal of the American Viola Society, Vol. 2 (1996): pp. Prokofiev, Sonata Number 7 in B-Flat Major Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) was at once an innovator who delighted to offend and a traditionalist who sought simpler, clearer melodies; thus, he is less easily pigeon-holed than his great Russian contemporary, Igor Stravinsky. Prokofiev wrote his first piano piece at age five and his first opera ('The Giant') at age nine.
At age 12with a portfolio including four operas, two sonatas, a symphony and a large collection of piano pieceshe was accepted to the St. Petersburg conservatory. A pianist of remarkable dexterity, Prokofiev held great disdain for the classical repertoire; and when he would play the works of Mozart or Schubert, he would always include his own 'improvements.' It was not until his teacher, Anna Esipova, threatened him with expulsion that he began to accept the rigidity of a structured, conservatory training.
However, over time, this training broadened his playing ability and this significantly impacted his compositional style. Near the end of his conservatory training, Prokofiev set his sights on winning the coveted Rubinstein prize, the highest award offered to a student pianist. Typically, a student would perform one of the standard, classical concerti; however, Prokofiev insisted on performing his own piano concerto (No. Although the jury was far from unanimous with even his teacher Glazunoff voting against him, Prokofiev was awarded the grand prize (which included a grand piano). After graduation, Prokofiev made his way to London, where he met Diaghilev, Stravinsky and the Ballets Russe. (Though friends, Stravinsky and Prokofiev had a lifelong personal rivalry with each other). After a brief return to Russia during World War I, Prokofiev moved to the US in 1918.
His decision to permamently return to Russia in 1936 was made difficult by Stalin's political approach to controlling the arts. It was during this final Russian phase of his career that he wrote many of his most famous works, including Peter and the Wolf, the cantata Alexander Nevsky, the ballet Romeo and Juliet, and the opera War and Peace; however, he was now composing under a new government administration, the Union of Soviet Composers, which, in effect, allowed the government control over all musical affairs. After a time, like Shostakovich, Prokofiev's name was also added to a list of denunciated composers issued by reactionary Soviet Politicians. Prokofiev continued to compose, but many of his works were forced to undergo numerous revisions in order to secure a performance, some not being recognized until after the composer's death. During his last years, he was overcome by a number of illnesses and was separated from his wife as the result of his 'friendship' with a young writer named Mira Mendelson. His health ever failing, Prokofiev's last days were spent in Moscow where he could be in daily contact with his physicians. Finally, on March 5, 1953, he diedironically, on the same day as Stalin.
Notes on Sonata No. 7: In a memoir of Sergei Prokofiev, his second wife, Myra Mendelson Prokofieva, noted that in 1939 he had begun no less than three piano sonatas, working on all ten movements at the same time. Most composers would find such a method peculiar, even bizarre; but not Prokofiev, who tended to be relentlessly practical. Myra remembered that 'if he 'hit a snag,' as he used to say' in one movement, he would then 'pass on to the next without wasting time.' So strong are the resemblances of materials and formal procedures that Prokofiev's Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Sonatas (written from 1939 to 1944) can be viewed as a kind of trilogy. These so-called War Sonatas came almost two decades after the Fifth Sonata (1923) and are far richer in style than that linear and angular work.
The Sonata No. 7 in B-Flat Major, Op. 83, was begun in the summer of 1939 at Kislovodsk, in the Caucasus, andfinished on May 2, 1942, in Tbilisi, Georgia, where Prokofiev had been evacuated along with other artists to escape Nazi onslaught. The young Soviet pianist Sviatoslav Richter gave the world premiere in Moscow on January 18, 1943, and the Sonata was enthusiastically received, bringing Prokofiev a Stalin Prize. Richter himself found the music 'intensely fascinating' and claimed to have learned it in only four days.
He later wrote: 'The Sonata immediately throws one into the anxious situation of the world losing its equilibrium. Anxiety and uncertainty reign but ultimately the impetuous, advancing race, full of the will for victory, sweeps away everything in its path.'
The new piece caused considerable excitement among performers. Emil Gilels remembered 'how we rushed to get our hands on the Seventh Piano Sonata when this fine work appeared. I studied it from the printer's proofs - white notes on blue paper.' Vladimir Horowitz, who premiered the Sonata in the United States on March 14, 1944, at Carnegie Hall, told an interviewer that Prokofiev 'would not have been able to achieve this consummation in his music had it not been for the effect of the War and the spirit of the Russian people.' The ostinato-oriented opening movement (Allegro inquieto) was termed, not inaptly, 'a fiendish scherzo' by one Soviet biographer. Prokofiev himself described the generally dissonant harmony as 'atonal,' although it is not strictly speaking.
The first theme is agitated, the second (marked Andantino) pensive; the development section plays with motives and thematic fragments and is assaultive and barbaric in character. The harmonic world of the lyric second movement (Andante caloroso) is somewhat different from that of the first: triadic (E Major) - as opposed to 'atonal' - and, for Prokofiev, unusually luxuriant. The Sonata's brilliant, implacably motoric finale (Precipitato) has long been a favorite of pianists and audiences excited by its intense dynamism. The odd, hammerblow, 7/8 rhythm of this unique perpetuo-moto remains in the ear long after the Sonata ends. Biographical Notes by Daniel Jacobson, Program Notes on Sonata No. 7 by Phillip Ramey.
Recorded on, uploaded on Musician's or Publisher's Notes When the war engulfing the rest of the European continent came to the Soviet Union with Nazi Germany’s brutal hammer stroke in 1941, Sergei Prokofiev, along with many other artists, were evacuated away from the major cities and the Nazi’s ruthless advance. In August of that year, Prokofiev was taken to Nalchik, the capital city of the Kabardino-Balkar Republic in the North Caucasus, some nine hundred miles south of Moscow.
Late, he was in Perm in the Ural Mountains. While Stalin and the Soviets were forced to focus their attention on the threat from the Nazis, they temporary relaxed the restrictions that they had placed on their artists, leaving composers such as Prokofiev to indulge their true creative impulses.
Many of the works that flowed from the composer’s pen during this time may have perhaps been the expression of anti-Stalin sentiments. Yet, flying in the face of the tragedy of Stalin’s regime and a world engulfed in war, is the blithe and lyrical Second Violin Sonata. The Second Violin Sonata, however, was not originally composed as such. In 1942, Prokofiev composed his Flute Sonata in D major. At the urging of his friend, the violinist David Oistrakh, Prokofiev arranged the sonata for violin the following year. Both share the same opus number, and while the origins as a flute sonata are still present in the work’s inherent lyricism, it is the violin transcription that has become the most popular.
Oistrakh premiered the work on June 17, 1944 in Moscow. Comprising four movements, the sonata embodies a typical Romantic form. A lyrical and elegant opening sonata form is followed by a typical Prokofievian scherzo full of wit and energy.
The Andante third movement opens with an arching tune for the violin, but later indulges in jazz-inspired inflections during its middle section. Lastly, the Finale provides a joyous conclusion. Joseph DuBose Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano in D major, Op. 94bis Sergei Prokofiev Moderato; Presto; Andante; Allegro con brio Sergei Prokofiev's Violin Sonata No.
94bis was transposed by the composer himself from his flute sonata for David Oistrakh in 1943. Normally associated with the percussive effects and shocking dissonances of his piano compositions, Prokofiev distinguished this piece first of all by his selection of the flute, which demands a more lyrical, elegant, and airy compositional style, and secondly by the largely angelic accompanying harmonies. The first movement, Moderato is built upon a beautiful, floating melody and imaginative, dreamlike harmonies from the outset. A slightly military allusion then spirals into an intense (both rhythmically and harmonically) whirlpool of embroidered motifs. Finally, the listener is returned to the dream world of the beginning, but with a completely new perspective, having gone through the development.
The rhythmically energetic Scherzo: Presto (the main theme could be interpreted as waltzing) remains light and joking, true to the original sense of a scherzo. A reoccurring theme begins, as the second movement also contains a drastically differing middle section - a 'childish' recitative. The Andante remains comfortably sung from tempo (the sonata contains no real slow movement) with again an eerie contrasting second theme. A heroic last movement, Allegro con brio, brings the listener back to Prokofiev's more real, although still emphatically optimistic world with the strong repeated eighth-note motif so characteristic of his writing for piano. After the loving middle section, the return to the main theme is filled with even more joie de vivre and a real sense of pure enjoyment as the violin and the piano finally truly dialog to finish the piece in style.
Michael Cansfield.