Although it wouldn’t be completed until 1957, his new symphony honoring the heroes of the Revolution quickly became the composer’s greatest popular success since his 1941 Leningrad Symphony, earning him the Lenin Prize in 1958.
Read MoreWhile we may never know whether Scriabin’s music possessed the power to end existence as we know it, we can experience his less ambitious magic in Le Poème de l’extase.
Read MoreBoth showed a natural attraction to the theater and narrative music. Both showed a fascination with reinventing neglected baroque and classical forms. Both spent a lifetime walking the tightrope between innovation and tradition.
And each managed to achieve the great contradiction of becoming the iconic symbol of their national musical establishment while somehow remaining a rebel and social outcast
Read MoreClassical music is filled with pieces that depict stories and historical events— fairy tales (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice), autobiography (Ein Heldenleben), even hallucinations (Symphonie fantastique) and battles (the 1812 Overture). But only one has been composed while under fire from the very artillery it portrayed.
Read MoreAn exploration of music for string quartet spanning 10 centuries.
Read MoreThe score for Pulcinella was something new— not an original composition, but more than just an arrangement.
Read MoreAs difficult as it may be to believe, The Firebird was Igor Stravinsky’s first large-scale work for orchestra.
Read MoreWe’re all familiar with the ending of Shakespeare’s most famous play: Romeo, discovering the seemingly lifeless body of his bride, drinks a lethal poison. Juliet, awakening from her faked death, finds him and, heartbroken, stabs herself with his dagger. This wasn’t how Sergei Prokofiev thought it should end.
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