Kolja Blacher

Schnittke: String Trio - Prokofiev: 5 Melodies - Violin Sonata No. 1

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Phil.Harmonie
UPC: 4250317416193
Catnr: PHIL 06019
Release date: 05 November 2021
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Label
Phil.Harmonie
UPC
4250317416193
Catalogue number
PHIL 06019
Release date
05 November 2021
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN
DE

About the album

The composer Alfred Schnittke felt at the same time German, Russian and Jewish. He himself saw a connection between his 'poly identity' and the orientation of his works. His string trio in two movements was created as a commission for the Alban Berg-Society in 1985 for what woulkd have been the 100th birthday and 50th anniversary of Berg's death. It is structurally based on seven thematic components, that range between changing colours and forms. At the same time the moods vary from friendly to gloomy, from sensous to shocking. Next to estactic-sensous broken chords and funeral march-allusions, a slow waltz motif becomes great importance, that can be understood as a homage to Vienna. Sergei Prokofiev's Violin Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op 80 is one of the darkest and most brooding of the composer's works. He started notating the initial themes in 1938, but the invasion of the Germans, and the evacuation interrupted his work on the project. Meeting David Oistrakh, the leading violin virtuoso in the USSR, put him back on track. In the autumn of 1946, Oistrakh, to whom the first Sonata is dedicated, and his regular piano accompanist Lew Oborin presented the work, the result of a turbulent 8-year incubation period, under direction of the composer. The 'Five Melodies' Op. 35a were initially vocal pieces, 'songs without words' literally. Prokofiev made use of the opportunity to experiment with the techniques and tonalities of a human voice, which would be treated like an instrument.

Der Komponist Alfred Schnittke fühlte sich gleichzeitig als Deutscher, Russe und Jude und sah selber einen Zusammenhang zwischen seiner „Poly-Identität“ und der poly-stilistischen Ausrichtung seines Schaffens mit Collage- und Zitattechniken, Verfremdungen und Überblendungen von Vergangenem und Gegenwärtigem. Davon geprägt ist auch sein zweisätziges Streichtrio, das 1985 als Auftragswerk der Alban-Berg-Gesellschaft zum 100. Geburtstag (und 50. Todestag) des Wiener Komponisten entstand. Strukturell basiert das Streichtrio auf sieben thematischen Bausteinen, die es in wechselnder Farbe und Gestalt durchziehen. Parallel dazu variieren auch die Stimmungslagen von freundlich bis düster, von schwelgerisch bis schockierend. Neben rauschhaft-sinnlichen Akkordbrechungen und Trauermarsch-Allusionen erlangt ein langsames Walzermotiv große Bedeutung, das als Huldigung an Wien zu begreifen ist. Prokoviews Sonate Nr. 1 für Violine & Klavier, op. 80 ist eins der düstersten und grüblerischsten Werke in dessen Schaffen. Erste Themen notierte er schon 1938, Entwürfe zu den Anfängen der Sätze. Andere Aufgaben, der Zweite Weltkrieg, der Einmarsch der Deutschen, die Evakuierung brachten ihn von seinem Vorhaben ab - und erst die Begegnung mit David Oistrach, dem führenden Geigenstar der UdSSR, wieder zurück zum Vorhaben. Oistrach, dem die 1. Sonate gewidmet ist, und sein ständiger Klavierbegleiter Lew Oborin stellten das Fazit aus acht Jahren turbulenter Inkubationszeit im Herbst 1946 der Öffentlichkeit unter Leitung des Komponisten vor. „Fünf Melodien“ op. 35a – das waren zuerst tatsächlich Gesangsstücke, „Lieder ohne Worte“ im buchstäblichen Sinn: textlose Vokalisen für eine Singstimme zur Begleitung des Klaviers. Melodien zu erfinden, die nicht an Wortbedeutungen und Versmaße gebunden sind, mochte für einen russischen Komponisten und nach internationaler Resonanz strebte, ein willkommenes Vehikel zur Allgemeinverständlichkeit sein. Zudem nutzte Prokofiew die Gelegenheit, Techniken und Farbwerte einer menschlichen Stimme zu erproben, die – weltweit kompatibel –wie ein Instrument geführt wurde.

Artist(s)

Kolja Blacher (violin)

Composer(s)

Alfred Schnittke

Alfred Schnittke was the son to German-Jewish father and Volga-German mother from Frankfurt am Main. His musical education started in 1946 in Vienna, where his father worked as a journalist and translator, and from 1948 he continued his studies in Moscow. From the 1970s, he would fully dedicate himself to composing.  Schnittke's style was initially avant garde, strongly influenced by the Western composition techniques such as serialism and aleatorism. Like so many of his generation, Schnittke found these techniques to be unsatisfactory, and so he created his own style which he called polystylism, inspired by Charles Ives, Luciano Berio and Bernd Alois Zimmermann, but also Gustav Mahler,It is characterised by the parodic combinations of styles from different periods, by some recognised as postmodernism.   
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Alfred Schnittke was the son to German-Jewish father and Volga-German mother from Frankfurt am Main. His musical education started in 1946 in Vienna, where his father worked as a journalist and translator, and from 1948 he continued his studies in Moscow. From the 1970s, he would fully dedicate himself to composing. Schnittke's style was initially avant garde, strongly influenced by the Western composition techniques such as serialism and aleatorism. Like so many of his generation, Schnittke found these techniques to be unsatisfactory, and so he created his own style which he called polystylism, inspired by Charles Ives, Luciano Berio and Bernd Alois Zimmermann, but also Gustav Mahler,It is characterised by the parodic combinations of styles from different periods, by some recognised as postmodernism.


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Sergei Prokofiev

Sergei Prokofiev was born in the countryside of Ukraine. He studied from 1903 at the conservatory of St Petersburg, under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Anatoli Liadov among others. He was educated as a composer, pianist and conductor. Initially, he made a name for himself as a pianist. In 1918, he left the Soviet Union for the USA, but wasn't able to succeed, and he decided to move to Paris in 1920. His concert tours brought him back to the Soviet Union in 1927, who lured him back for good in 1936. Prokofiev died in march 1953, on the same day as Joseph Stalin. Prokofiev is considered as one of the greatest Russian composers of the twentieth century, even though he wasn't a...
more
Sergei Prokofiev was born in the countryside of Ukraine. He studied from 1903 at the conservatory of St Petersburg, under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Anatoli Liadov among others. He was educated as a composer, pianist and conductor. Initially, he made a name for himself as a pianist. In 1918, he left the Soviet Union for the USA, but wasn't able to succeed, and he decided to move to Paris in 1920. His concert tours brought him back to the Soviet Union in 1927, who lured him back for good in 1936. Prokofiev died in march 1953, on the same day as Joseph Stalin.
Prokofiev is considered as one of the greatest Russian composers of the twentieth century, even though he wasn't a great innovator. He generally applied the strict classical forms and structures to his works and focused on a classical tonality, with a few exceptions of expressive dissonants and incidental bitonality. Yet, he is only explicitly neoclassicistic in his popular 'Classical Symphony', his first symphony composed in 1917. Many of his works show his humour, while his later works presented his darker, more serious side. One of his best known works is the musical fairytale Peter and the Wolf, which is popular among children all over the world.
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