Russian modernism
 

Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and so much more...

Some would say this belongs in "classical", to which I say no, this music remains challenging and inspiring today.

Everyone remembers that Kathleen Brennan introduced Tom Waits to Beefheart (who he somehow didn't know although he had already toured with Zappa at that point), but she also made him listen to Stravinsky and Prokofiev.


To anyone interested in the expansion of TW's sound palette and harmonic vocabulary (see in particular some of the quieter, more "impressionistic" moments in Swordfishtrombones), I would recommend

1) the bit in the above video of Stravinsky starting at 15.45

2) Prokofiev's Visions fugitives (1917)

Frank Zappa was a huge Stravinsky fan and it shows in his orchestral music especially.

Compare something like The Yellow Shark* to Histoire du soldat:





*Zappa last and (arguably) best album, about which Tom Waits said the following: "The ensemble is awe-inspiring. It is a rich pageant of texture in colour. It's the clarity of his perfect madness, and mastery. Frank governs with Elmore James on his left and Stravinsky on his right. Frank reigns and rules with the strangest tools."

Not gonna tie it to anything else, just a brilliant, haunting work in its own right, esp the opening movement known as "wind in the graveyard"

God-tier piano playing

This is what the great Sviatoslav Richter had to say about the premiere of Prokofiev's 3rd symphony:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvl5...=tomekkobialka

The only parts I like are the ones that resemble good old-fashioned tonal music.

I told this my professor more than 40 years ago at the Conservatory of Music and I still mean it. Nevertheless, mighty interesting, the score.

Hey jadis, thanks for this! I only have a shallow knowledge of russian modernism, but it's a subject I've wanted to delve more into for years and years. What first caught my attention is I'm a huge Zappa fan, so of course that made me check out Stravinsky.

Later on, I heard Prokofiev's sonata no. 7, particularly the first movement as played Valentina Lisitsa in the embedded youtube below.



I've probably posted about it before (sorry if I bore someone), but I found the music utterly striking and also read a little about the background of it and of Prokofiev's life in general. It's fascinating stuff.

Since then, I've wanted to explore more but haven't quite gotten started. I'll listen through the stuff you've posted.

My pleasure!

Prokofiev is really as good as it gets. Gorgeous melodies, tantalizing dissonances, percussive erm heaviosity...

That opening allegro of the 7th sonata (and the sonata as a whole) is one of his great moments. The harmonic progression is breathtaking.

She's so hot


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn6K53W_Nu0

They should've boosted the AC.

There'd be no shortage of volunteers to lick the sweat off her

I don't know her, but she's too annoyingly overcompensating for my taste,
but, I'm guessing, that's what the new "classical" paradigm is these days.

I know what you mean but I'm 1) stupidly horny for her 2) know too little about violin playing to judge whether the extraversion indeed indicates something she needs to "overcompensate" for, i.e. not being good enough. Seems to me that she's great tbh.

Normally this kind of thing annoys me among younger pianists.

This is what, too often, goes for classical performance - unnatural exuberance.
That’s what I mean about “overcompensating.” They can no longer just be extra
proficient at what they do, they have to be entertainers first and foremost and
pretty much look like fools on stage. I can’t watch crap like that.
Actually, I’ve long gone not being able to listen to it either.
If I’m ever forced to do such a thing, I can pretend I’m at some kind of
Fluxus performance or watching a Python sketch (often the same thing).

I was looking online about her and no wonder she had to cancel some
upcoming concerts a few years back due to tendinitis!

Yeah classical concerts today are, with rare exceptions, a sad pantomime

Re tendinitis though, it's more surprising to me when violinists don't get it. Physically it's such a punishing instrument... Dunno if it has anything to do with economy of gesture and lack thereof, probably does.

When you're trained to be a flamboyant catgut scraper, it has its downsides.
(talk about rushin' "modernism"!)

This is just awesome. I love what she does with a flute and with all the other things

The tea cups, such a nice touch

THE most important precursor of the troika of Strav, Prokofiev, Shostakovich


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCEDfZgDPS8

Speaking of Shosta, this is him at his most fiery


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rniK...ilGilels-Topic

I wonder if the Russian term for MODERNISM triggers the suspicions of todays cultural authorities who have a long history of punishing composers who strayed from the official line.

https://www.mdc.edu/wolfson/academic..._modernism.htm

Yeah from what I can tell Zhdanovshchina is very much back in force

I think Alexander Scriabin deserves a shout in this thread. Might seem strange to describe him as a "modernist" since he belonged to the pre-WW1 generation of Russian composers, but many of his works are really innovative, especially the late ones that flirt with polytonality and even atonality.

Absolutely. The late Scriabin comes closer to atonality than most of Prokofiev's or Shostakovich's works that I know. These preludes are another great example


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MApCm3UO6nQ

The only thing Alcan has in common with Scriabin is that they both feature prominently in the repertoire of Marc-André Hamelin.

Nice one! I'm also into a lot of Scriabin's earlier stuff but it's maybe not so relevant for this thread
I've actually been meaning to check out more from Alkan but have heard very little so far. Feel free to start a dedicated thread for him if you would like to share some of his music, because I don't think we have an Alkan thread on MB yet.
__________________
On-topic:
One of my favourites from Shostakovich's output: Begins with a prelude in his familiarly sardonic style and then goes absolutely insane in the following fugue and it is something to behold

Love it. This is another of my favorites (the third one of the three, at 11 min 13 sec in case the time code in the embed doesn't work)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24febc3IBjg&t=673s

Some of Beethoven's sonatas pose formidable technical difficulties, as do Ligeti's etudes.

"Eccentricity" entails different things for a French Jew born in 1813 and a Russian nobleman born 60 years later. Too general to be meaningful.

What does Alkan's originality consist of exactly? What new sonorities did he introduce? The world record for the most octaves and arpeggios? He has so much more in common with someone like Thalberg than with the actually original composers of his generation, such as Chopin. Not to mention an early 20th century innovator such as Scriabin.

If you want to keep discussing this, do me a solid and open a thread on Alkan. This is to discuss and enjoy whatever can be more or less plausibly filed under "Russian modernism."

Given Alkan a French Jewish composer and virtuoso pianist. OK, so when you say 'This is to discuss and enjoy whatever can be more or less plausibly filed under "Russian modernism.” ‘
I presume ‘this’ refers to the Russian Modernism thread.
I’ll therefore leave well alone.

Back to Shostakovich's preludes and fugues, this is the closer of the cycle and one of the greatest. Godlike piano playing, too


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JZf7GRKddI