Russia

Mily Balakirev | Islamey (Boris W. Berezovsky, piano)

“Reputed to be the hardest work for piano, Balakirev’s 1869 work Islamey saved many a pianist’s weary wrists when it was orchestrated in 1907 by Alfredo Casella,” (Interlude.hk). “Its reputation ensured that both Rubinstein and Liszt had the piano work in their concert repertoire.

… The work as a piano piece is important in Russian musical history because it was the first Russian work to become established in the mainstream repertoire other than as a salon piece. Putting it on the European stage under the fingers of Franz Liszt made the work one of the stars of the new exoticism coming out of Russia. Making it into an orchestral piece extended its reach … Islamey, taking its themes from the Caucasus and Armenia, again brings the remote reaches of Russia back to its main cities. The dedicatee of the piano work, Nikolai Rubinstein, gave the premiere of the work in St. Petersburg in late 1869.”

This landmark composition undergoes many changes in key. But perhaps the most profound occurs at 7:44, when the modulation is also accompanied by a transition in both tempo and time signature — from a frantic 12/16 to to a luxurious Andantino in 6/8.

Sergei Prokofiev | Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor

“Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor begins with a lonely, lamenting statement in the solo violin,” (The Listeners Club). “It’s a strangely solitary voice which opens the door to an unsettling drama filled with chilly anxiety and occasional raw terror. In his program notes, the American violinist Stefan Jackiw … provides the following descriptive analysis of this opening:

‘Prokofiev puts the listener ill at ease right from the start. The piece opens with the solo violin alone, playing a foreboding melody in G minor that is based on a 5‐beat motive. We are used to hearing musical ideas that fall neatly into 2, 3, 4, or 6‐beat patterns. Five beats don’t feel comfortable. Furthermore, since the violin is alone, the orchestra gives the listener no additional context to find his bearings. When the orchestra finally comes in several bars later, it enters in a completely different tonality, further throwing the listener off balance and compounding the sense of unease. The movement closes with one of the most nihilistic statements in music I know: two short, dry pizzicati thuds from the entire orchestra, like a falling guillotine.’

Prokofiev wrote this music in 1935 as he was preparing to resettle in his native Russia after years abroad in Paris and the United States. In order to be repatriated, he needed to appease Stalin and his restrictive artistic ideals of ‘Soviet Realism.’ For Prokofiev, this meant abandoning the “decadent formalism” of his earlier enfant terrible years.”

Beginning in G minor, the first movement progresses through several phrases before shifting to C# minor at 0:57. Many other shifts in tonality follow, as this score-based video shows!

Marina Manafova | “Viva Italia” Fantasy for Piccolo on Themes by Rossini and Verdi

The “Viva Italia” Fantasy for piccolo on themes by Rossini and Verdi, by Marina Manafova, is performed here by the Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra; Kuelyar Ksenia is the soloist. The Orchestra has performed for 239 years and “is one of the oldest in Russia. Its history dates back to the first orchestra of the St Petersburg Imperial Opera Orchestra. Information on Manafova, a Russian composer, is nearly impossible to find, but this 2018 performance was the world premiere of the Fantasy.

Italian composers Giuseppe Verdi and Gioachino Rossini are often linked due to their shared focus on opera. WQXR’s blog illuminates the relationship between the two colleagues: “The two men met in Bologna in June 1842, and Verdi quickly admired his older colleague. Verdi was able to discuss with Rossini his many operas and it seems that he particularly came to learn a lot about L’Italiana in Algeri, Il Barbiere di Siviglia and what was known in Italian as Guglielmo Tell. He later said that ‘I cannot believe that there is another opera that has a greater abundance of musical ideas, comic verve and truthfulness of declamation than Il Barbiere di Siviglia, which must be the greatest comic opera there is. I admire Tell, but how many other sublime things there are in his other operas.’”

The piccolo soloist, Kuelyar Ksenia, was the winner of the All-Russia competition in 2000. She “is a regular (flute and piccolo) soloist with St. Petersburg Philharmonic orchestra …. participates in projects organized by Ensemle of Modern Music under Pro Arte Foundation … (and) gives master classes in Russia, Germany and Spain … ” She has worked as a teaching assistant “at the St. Petersburg Conservatory named after Rimsky-Korsakof.”

Ksenia’s mastery of the diminutive woodwind is evident at all times, but never moreso than when the highest arpeggio notes sail gracefully out into the crowd, strongly stated but sometimes somewhat quieter than the low notes. This excellent technique is no small feat for a flutist, but a near-miracle on piccolo! After starting in D major, 2:18 brings a transition to A major, followed by several other modulations throughout (the music begins at the 0:40 mark).

Frédéric Chopin | Prelude for Piano #8 in F-sharp minor (Op. 45)

Chopin’s “Prelude in F# Minor” is the 8th in his Op. 28, a collection of 24 preludes for piano — one set in each major and minor key. More virtuosic and demanding of the pianist than the others, the piece features a continuous string of rapid thirty-second-note figurations in the right hand set against a sixteenth-note triplet polyrhythm in the left hand.

Chopin pushes the boundaries of the home key throughout the brief work, but clearly emerges into F# major towards the end before ultimately resolving to the original minor on the final chord. Performed here by acclaimed Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov.