Sergei Rachmaninoff in 1910
Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev: Russia has provided us with some of the most exciting and original music in the repertoire today. Vibrant colors, explosive energy, and passionate emotional drive characterize the works of these composers. Yet this tradition seemed to spring from nowhere barely 150 years ago, expanding meteorically in breadth and national confidence over an amazingly short period. As she explores the riches of Russian concert works, popular speaker and concert pianist Rachel Franklin combines lecture and piano demonstrations to also trace the turbulent historical movements that acted both as backdrop and engine for this fascinating musical evolution.
British-born Franklin has been a featured speaker for organizations including the Library of Congress and heard on NPR, exploring intersections among classical and jazz music, film scores, and the fine arts.
January 9 Mikhail Glinka and the Ancient Soil He Sprang From
Mikhail Glinka almost single-handedly laid the foundation for the Russian concert music tradition. Franklin leads a lightning survey of ancient Russian folk song and chant, exploring how he incorporated those styles into such important works as his delightful Kamarinskaya, and his opera Ruslan and Lyudmila. She also examines the Piano Concerto No. 4. by Russian piano virtuoso Anton Rubinstein, whose political activism laid the practical foundations for the mighty Russian musical institutions of today.
January 16 The “Mighty Fistful” vs. Pyotr Tchaikovsky
The nascent nationalism of such composers as Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Mussorgsky was beginning to shape the future of Russian concert music.
Meanwhile, Tchaikovsky strove to keep all his colleagues happy while negotiating the tricky diplomacy of new ethnic-influenced styles versus old European classicism. His Piano Concerto No.1 was excoriated by Anton Rubinstein’s brother Nicholas, but now is a cornerstone of the concert repertoire. Franklin compares Tchaikovsky’s “Little Russian” symphony with such works as Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherazade and Borodin’s gorgeous Polovtsian Dances.
January 23 From Mussorgsky to Rachmaninoff and Scriabin
Modeste Mussorgsky was rough-hewn, barely trained, and obsessed with the rhythms of the Russian language, while Sergey Rachmaninoff was supremely polished and an international concert pianist of titanic genius. Yet both formed their styles directly from ancient Russian traditions. Franklin showcases Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and Rachmaninoff’s piano concertos. Meanwhile, the highly eccentric Scriabin was creating his own language colored by synaesthesia and powered by his bizarre mystic beliefs, as exemplified by his tone poem Prometheus: Poem of Fire.
January 30 The Ballet Masters: Igor Stravinsky and Sergey Prokofiev
Commissioned by the great impresario Serge Diaghilev, Stravinsky’s ballets crossed the fault line between Romanticism and Modernism and changed forever the way audiences understood dance. Hear samples of Petrushka and The Rite of Spring. Prokofiev composed his Romeo and Juliet under the malign supervision of Soviet apparatchiks but still produced a work of sublime romance and beauty. Franklin also explores his piano and symphonic masterpieces.
February 6 Dmitri Shostakovich and His Colleagues
Despite the fearsome pressure of the Stalinist state, Dmitri Shostakovich was prolific, producing a wide range of symphonic works, operas, concertos, solo works, choral and chamber music for the 20th-century canon. Along with works of fellow Soviet composers such as Kabalevsky and Khatchaturian, Franklin offers a selection of his masterpieces including symphonies, operas, and film music.
February 13 More Masterpieces from the Russian Tradition
The final session of the series is devoted to listening to a variety of great works not yet explored. Selections include the opera Boris Godunov by Mussorgsky, ballets by Tchaikovsky, orchestral works by Rachmaninoff, chamber music by Shostakovich, and other composers.
6 sessions
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