Russian modernism

jadis · 08-22-2021, 05:44 AM

Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and so much more...

Some would say this belongs in "classical", to which I say no, this music remains challenging and inspiring today.

jadis · 08-23-2021, 05:30 AM

Everyone remembers that Kathleen Brennan introduced Tom Waits to Beefheart (who he somehow didn't know although he had already toured with Zappa at that point), but she also made him listen to Stravinsky and Prokofiev.

To anyone interested in the expansion of TW's sound palette and harmonic vocabulary (see in particular some of the quieter, more "impressionistic" moments in Swordfishtrombones), I would recommend

1) the bit in the above video of Stravinsky starting at 15.45

2) Prokofiev's Visions fugitives (1917)

jadis · 08-26-2021, 02:39 PM

Frank Zappa was a huge Stravinsky fan and it shows in his orchestral music especially.

Compare something like The Yellow Shark* to Histoire du soldat:

*Zappa last and (arguably) best album, about which Tom Waits said the following: "The ensemble is awe-inspiring. It is a rich pageant of texture in colour. It's the clarity of his perfect madness, and mastery. Frank governs with Elmore James on his left and Stravinsky on his right. Frank reigns and rules with the strangest tools."

jadis · 08-31-2021, 11:24 AM

Not gonna tie it to anything else, just a brilliant, haunting work in its own right, esp the opening movement known as "wind in the graveyard"

jadis · 09-01-2021, 06:44 PM

God-tier piano playing

jadis · 09-11-2021, 08:53 AM

This is what the great Sviatoslav Richter had to say about the premiere of Prokofiev's 3rd symphony:

Quote:

Never before had I felt anything like it when listening to music. The impression was staggering; it was like the end of the world. Prokofiev uses extraordinarily intense expressive devices in this work. In the third movement — a Scherzo – the strings play a flickeringly jerky motif from which plumes of asphyxiating smoke seem to issue, as though the air itself were on fire. The final movement opens with a sort of sombre march – a grandiose orchestral tumult, a veritable apocalypse followed by a brief lull before starting up again with redoubled force in a swirl of tocsin-like bells. I sat there as though turned to stone. I wanted to hide. I glanced at my neighbour, who was crimson and sweating profusely. Even during the interval, shivers still ran up and down my spine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvl5...=tomekkobialka

Minx · 09-16-2021, 05:54 AM

The only parts I like are the ones that resemble good old-fashioned tonal music.

I told this my professor more than 40 years ago at the Conservatory of Music and I still mean it. Nevertheless, mighty interesting, the score.

Guybrush · 09-16-2021, 06:06 AM

Hey jadis, thanks for this! I only have a shallow knowledge of russian modernism, but it's a subject I've wanted to delve more into for years and years. What first caught my attention is I'm a huge Zappa fan, so of course that made me check out Stravinsky.

Later on, I heard Prokofiev's sonata no. 7, particularly the first movement as played Valentina Lisitsa in the embedded youtube below.

I've probably posted about it before (sorry if I bore someone), but I found the music utterly striking and also read a little about the background of it and of Prokofiev's life in general. It's fascinating stuff.

Since then, I've wanted to explore more but haven't quite gotten started. I'll listen through the stuff you've posted.

jadis · 09-16-2021, 11:42 AM

My pleasure!

Prokofiev is really as good as it gets. Gorgeous melodies, tantalizing dissonances, percussive erm heaviosity...

That opening allegro of the 7th sonata (and the sonata as a whole) is one of his great moments. The harmonic progression is breathtaking.

jadis · 04-01-2022, 01:45 PM

She's so hot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn6K53W_Nu0

08-22-2021, 05:44 AM	#1 (permalink)
jadis Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2021 Location: dont ask Posts: 1,353	Russian modernism Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and so much more... Some would say this belongs in "classical", to which I say no, this music remains challenging and inspiring today.

09-16-2021, 06:06 AM	#8 (permalink)
Guybrush Juicious Maximus III Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Scabb Island Posts: 6,525	Hey jadis, thanks for this! I only have a shallow knowledge of russian modernism, but it's a subject I've wanted to delve more into for years and years. What first caught my attention is I'm a huge Zappa fan, so of course that made me check out Stravinsky. Later on, I heard Prokofiev's sonata no. 7, particularly the first movement as played Valentina Lisitsa in the embedded youtube below. I've probably posted about it before (sorry if I bore someone), but I found the music utterly striking and also read a little about the background of it and of Prokofiev's life in general. It's fascinating stuff. Since then, I've wanted to explore more but haven't quite gotten started. I'll listen through the stuff you've posted. __________________ Something Completely Different Last edited by Guybrush; 09-16-2021 at 11:52 AM.

09-16-2021, 11:42 AM	#9 (permalink)
jadis Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2021 Location: dont ask Posts: 1,353	My pleasure! Prokofiev is really as good as it gets. Gorgeous melodies, tantalizing dissonances, percussive erm heaviosity... That opening allegro of the 7th sonata (and the sonata as a whole) is one of his great moments. The harmonic progression is breathtaking. __________________ "In postwar Europe, on the whole, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and equally absurd hatreds rooted in ancient religious texts became a disgraced and dead relic buried in the ruins of the Third Reich. But in the postwar Middle East, these notions persisted in elements of radical nationalist and Isl?mist politics."

08-23-2021, 05:30 AM	#2 (permalink)
jadis Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2021 Location: dont ask Posts: 1,353	Everyone remembers that Kathleen Brennan introduced Tom Waits to Beefheart (who he somehow didn't know although he had already toured with Zappa at that point), but she also made him listen to Stravinsky and Prokofiev. To anyone interested in the expansion of TW's sound palette and harmonic vocabulary (see in particular some of the quieter, more "impressionistic" moments in Swordfishtrombones), I would recommend 1) the bit in the above video of Stravinsky starting at 15.45 2) Prokofiev's Visions fugitives (1917)

08-26-2021, 02:39 PM	#3 (permalink)
jadis Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2021 Location: dont ask Posts: 1,353	Frank Zappa was a huge Stravinsky fan and it shows in his orchestral music especially. Compare something like The Yellow Shark* to Histoire du soldat: *Zappa last and (arguably) best album, about which Tom Waits said the following: "The ensemble is awe-inspiring. It is a rich pageant of texture in colour. It's the clarity of his perfect madness, and mastery. Frank governs with Elmore James on his left and Stravinsky on his right. Frank reigns and rules with the strangest tools."

08-31-2021, 11:24 AM	#4 (permalink)
jadis Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2021 Location: dont ask Posts: 1,353	Not gonna tie it to anything else, just a brilliant, haunting work in its own right, esp the opening movement known as "wind in the graveyard"

09-01-2021, 06:44 PM	#5 (permalink)
jadis Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2021 Location: dont ask Posts: 1,353	God-tier piano playing

09-16-2021, 05:54 AM	#7 (permalink)
Minx Groupie Join Date: Sep 2021 Posts: 7	The only parts I like are the ones that resemble good old-fashioned tonal music. I told this my professor more than 40 years ago at the Conservatory of Music and I still mean it. Nevertheless, mighty interesting, the score.

04-01-2022, 01:45 PM	#10 (permalink)
jadis Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2021 Location: dont ask Posts: 1,353	She's so hot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn6K53W_Nu0