Prokofiev, Sergei

Sergei Prokofiev – Puschkiniana, Suite for Orchestra

(b. Sontsovka, 27 April 1891 – d. Moskow, 5 March 1953)

Preface
Compiled from three unfinished projects by Sergei Prokofiev based on works by Alexander Pushkin, Gennady Rozhdenstvensky’s collection Puschkiniana speaks to the timelessness of Prokofiev’s ingenuity and musical spirit. For the six-part work, Rozhdenstvensky used two movements from The Queen of Spades, two movements from Eugene Onegin, and one from Boris Godunov, creating around 17 to 18 minutes worth of music. While the work was originally written in 1960, it was not premiered until 1980, even then only on radio. Nevertheless, the story of the work’s elements reads as a mini-study on Prokofiev’s creativity and the high  regards to which Pushkin was held in the composer’s mind. A brief introduction to the creative personality of Prokofiev will prime our way towards understanding the unfinished works at the heart of Rozhdestvensky’s posthumous piece.

Best remembered for his expansive neoclassical imagination, exceptional adroitness towards innovative technique and keen awareness of the arduous demands upon the composer, Prokofiev’s musical career speaks to a speaks to a ‘will to create’ which did not capitulate to outside forces, no matter how strong they were. Throughout Prokofiev’s life, his modernist tastes fed on techniques like chromatic clusters, moves away from traditional understanding of vertical harmony towards linear expressions, more unconventional rhythmic movements, and increasingly complex polyphonic language. His use of folk music was in-line with his predecessors, that is to say he embellished and creatively reimagined forms like the “urban romance” and Russian “chanson,” along with more ethnographic fidelities, casting an image of Prokofiev rich in depth. …

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