ALSOP CONDUCTS CHOPIN & PROKOFIEV
biographical details of his life , notably in his rejection of the tsar ’ s offer to make him “ Pianist to the Imperial Russian Court .” ( Chopin defiantly responded : “ Even if I did not take part in the Revolution of 1830 , my sympathies were with those who did .”) His grief manifested in music , too . In 1831 , when news reached Chopin , then in Stuttgart , of Imperial Russia ’ s bloody defeat of the Polish in the Battle of Warsaw , he poured his emotions into the Op . 10 , No . 12 étude , later given the title “ Revolutionary ” ( though not by the composer ).
Żal takes two forms in Chopin ’ s Second Piano Concerto , composed shortly after the composer ’ s graduation from Warsaw ’ s High School for Music in 1829 . ( The “ Second ” piano concerto was actually the first composed , second only in publishing order to the later E Minor concerto .) Here , Chopin “ longs ” for both a romantic and a pianistic ideal .
First , the romantic : In his late teenage years , Chopin was infatuated with a young singer at the Conservatory named Konstancja Gładkowska . Writing of Gładkowska , Chopin effused : “ I have already found my ideal , whom I have served faithfully for six months , though without saying a word to her about my feelings .” Gładkowska inspired the concerto ’ s central Larghetto movement .
Second , the pianistic : Chopin conceptualized pianism through his ideal of the human voice . A lifelong lover of opera , Chopin took inspiration from the great composers for the voice , like Bellini and Rossini , notably urging his students , “ You have to sing if you wish to play .” Accordingly , Chopin ’ s pianistic compositions long to sing like the voice . It is significant that , when Chopin published the concerto years later , he re-dedicated it to yet another singer — his pupil and friend Countess Delphine Potocka , who would sing to the composer on his deathbed .
Chopin was no impassioned orchestral writer , his focus always on the piano ( an instrument on which he was virtually selftaught ). In the concerto , the orchestra yields to the piano , as to a singer . In the opening
Maestoso , the orchestra recedes to provide the accompaniment to Chopin ’ s virtuosic pianism , by turns majestic and delicate . In the singing central Larghetto , the piano is similarly exposed , as in a Mozartian aria , its vulnerability divine . The final Allegro vivace is replete with the playful , dancelike rhythms of the waltzes of Vienna and the mazurkas of Chopin ’ s native Poland , interspersed with lithe , forward-moving music .
Instrumentation : Two flutes , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons , two horns , two trumpets , trombone , timpani , and strings , in addition to the solo piano .
Sergei Prokofiev
Born April 23 , 1891 in Sontsovka , Ukraine ; Died March 5 , 1953 in Moscow , Russia
SYMPHONY NO . 4 IN C MAJOR [ 1929 – 30 , REV . 1947 ]
The metamorphosis of Prokofiev ’ s Fourth Symphony — from the “ well-received ” ballet Prodigal Son , premiered in Paris in 1929 ; to a tepidly-met symphony ( Op . 47 ) on the ballet ’ s themes , premiered in Boston in 1930 ; to a reworked symphony of more “ Soviet ” nature ( the present Op . 112 ), completed in 1947 but not premiered in the composer ’ s lifetime — reveals the tragic arc of Prokofiev ’ s career .
In 1918 , Sergei Prokofiev departed Russia , newly a Soviet state , and sailed for America . During the next nine years in America and Europe , his music faced mixed receptions , lambasted in one country while lauded in another , with success elusive . Before leaving , Prokofiev had conferred with Anatoly Lunacharsky , Soviet Minister of Culture : “ You are a revolutionary in music ,” Lunacharsky said , “ as we are in life . We should work together , but if you want to go to America , I will not stand in your way .” By 1936 , Prokofiev had made up his mind : better the certainty of celebrity than chasing after the fickle European and American publics . How ill-fated his return to Russia would be .
Like the prodigal son , Prokofiev arrived in Russia to a warm embrace . But he soon witnessed the dangers to which he ’ d exposed himself and his family . In January 1936 , a composer 15 years Prokofiev ’ s junior was attacked in the Party-controlled newspaper Pravda : “ Muddle Instead of Music .” His name was Dmitri Shostakovich . If Prokofiev ’ s transformation from youthful enfant terrible to self-described advocate of “ new simplicity ” ( aligning with Soviet ideals ) was self-motivated , it was certainly also driven by a survival instinct .
Arriving on the heels of his first “ Soviet ” symphony ( the Fifth ), Prokofiev ’ s reworking of his Fourth Symphony was likewise swelled with the broad musical gestures of the patriotic Soviet style . Yet , since the original symphony ( Op . 47 ) and ballet aligned with Prokofiev ’ s “ new simplicity ” — less biting irony , a sedating of the raw rhythmic drive that characterized earlier works — Prokofiev retained much original thematic material . The first movement is almost an embarrassment of riches ( though not quite ), drawing from the ballet ’ s second episode , the Prodigal Son ’ s raucous meeting with friends . The subsequent Andante tranquillo evokes its tranquility from familiar love — the Prodigal Son ’ s return home — closing triumphantly . The third movement sinuously develops material from the encounter with the Seductress in dance-like fashion . The final Allegro risoluto returns to the ballet ’ s inciting episode , the Prodigal Son ’ s departure .
Prokofiev never enjoyed a premiere of his reworked symphony . In 1948 , his music fell victim to Stalin ’ s cultural purges . More bitter still , his estranged wife , Lina , was unjustly arrested and sent to the gulag , perhaps as an example . Prokofiev died on March 5 , 1953 , fifty minutes before the death of Stalin .
Instrumentation : Piccolo , two flutes , two oboes , English horn , three clarinets , bass clarinet , two bassoons , contrabassoon , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , percussion , piano , harp , and strings .
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