Under Construction Journal Issue 6.1 UNDER CONSTRUCTION JOURNAL 6.1 | Page 10

Another Way: 'Classical Turntablism' and a Concerto for Turntables
Philip Hateley • PhD in Music, Keele University
Gabriel Prokofiev's compositional output epitomises a catholic and technologically
adroit practice, exuding an innate fervour for classical, electroacoustic, electronic
dance music, hip-hop and Grime. Drawing upon his Concerto for Turntables No. 1
(2006, rev. 2011), this paper analyses Prokofiev's compositional approach when
coalescing the strict conventions of these distinct and dissimilar musical worlds, in this
case his conceptualising of 'Classical Turntablism'. Contextualised by recent
ethnomusicological research into the experiences of first-time classical audience
members, and the frustrations aimed towards the classical music world by Prokofiev's
peers, this paper then delivers a close personal reading of the concerto's premier
performance during the 2011 BBC Proms concert series. Ultimately, this paper
demonstrates that, despite the classical tradition's 'high-art' and archaic perceptions,
ingrained social rituals, and restrictive categorisations of space and genre revealed via
ethnomusicological research, there remains a flexibility: a creative space for the more
Promethean composer to liberate its strict conventions and re-engender a mutually
gratifying and collaborative relationship between themselves and their audience.
Keywords: Ethnomusicological, Concerto for Turntables, Modern Classical, Prokofiev, 'Classical
Turntablism'
Prelude
On Saturday 6 th August 2011, London's Royal Albert Hall was spiritually relocated from its exalted
Kensington Gore-Hyde Park locale to the more impoverished neighbourhood of Morris Heights, West
Bronx, New York. For that evening's BBC Proms performance of Gabriel Prokofiev's Concerto for
Turntables No. 1 the stage of this lavish and unrestrained monument to the Western classical tradition
was transformed; re-imagined as the urbanised thoroughfare outside the sky-scraping, densely populated
apartment block at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue; an address written into the folklore of American popular
culture; an address attributed as the birthplace of hip-hop.
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