Description
Book SynopsisRethinking Prokofiev looks at the background, context, and musical mechanics of Sergei Prokofiev's work, revealing much of what makes this composer an idiosyncratic genius and his music intriguing, often dramatic, and almost always beguiling.
Trade Reviewthe reader is left with a thorough illustration of the vibrant world of Prokofiev research at the start of the third decade in the twenty-first century * Daniel Elphick, Transposition *
This book is an important contribution to the literature on Prokofiev...Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. * D. Arnold, University of North Texas, CHOICE *
It deserves a place in all serious libraries and on the shelves of music lovers everywhere. * Arnold McMillin, Slavonic and East European Review *
the editors set out to complicate and contextualize a general perception of the composer as an ambition-compromised victim of Soviet power. The volume's list of contributors ranges in terms of both geography and professional focus; a refreshing number of the authors are practicing musicians ... There's a useful glossary of fundamental cultural and musical terms, but biographical identifications are in the texts. A foreword points readers to a website, on which more musical examples, illustrations and substantial appendices will appear -- a responsible, realistic scholarly model. * David Shengold, Opera News *
This rich and insightful collection is essential reading for anyone interested in Prokofiev and the world in which he lived. The essays in Rethinking Prokofiev offer new insight into unfamiliar aspects of Prokofiev's work and fresh and compelling looks at some more familiar ones. * Kevin Bartig, Professor of Music, Michigan State University *
A compelling reassessment of Prokofiev's career from start to finish that raises a poignant question: When we hear his music, do we hear what he heard? The answers here, derived from painstaking archival research, make plain a stark truth: Prokofiev was the most harrowed composer of the 20th century, and his music bears the marks of compromise, resistance, and resilience. * Simon Morrison, Professor Music and Slavic Languages and Literatures, Princeton University *
Table of ContentsList of Contributors Acknowledgments About the Companion Website A Note on Archival Sources Rita McAllister Preface Simon Morrison Introduction: Why Re-Assess Prokofiev? Rita McAllister and Christina Guillaumier Part I Prokofiev and the Russian Models 1 Prokofiev and the Russian Tradition Marina Raku 2 Prokofiev and the Development of Soviet Composition in the 1920s and 1930s Patrick Zuk 3 Prokofiev and the Soviet Symphony Daniel Tooke Part II Prokofiev and his Contemporaries 4 'Monsieur Prokofieff': Prokofiev in the French Context Marina Frolova-Walker 5 Prokofiev and Shostakovich: A Two-Way Influence Ivana Medic 6 Prokofiev and Atovmian: The Story of a Unique Friendship Nelly Kravetz Part III Music and Text: Prokofiev's Relationship with his Literary Sources 7 The Sun-Sounding Scythian: Prokofiev's Musical Interpretation of Russian Silver-Age Poetry Polina Dimova 8 Editing Prokofiev's Seven, they are Seven: A Case Study Nicolas Moron 9 From Film Score to Art Music and Back: Prokofiev's Film Music in the Context of Text-Based Genres Julia Khait 10 Semyon Kotko and War and Peace: Prokofiev and His Collaborators Terry Dean Part IV Drama and Gesture 11 Staging Prokofiev's Early Ballet Jane Pritchard 12 Drama, Theatre and Gesture in the Operas of Prokofiev Christina Guillaumier 13 Audio-Visual Montage in Ivan the Terrible: Understanding Prokofiev's Film Score through Eisensteinian Sound Theory Katya Ermolaeva 14 'Yea, Though I Walk Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death..': An Introduction to Prokofiev's Thanatology Natalia Savkina Part V Identity and Structure 15 A Genealogy of Prokofiev's Musical Gestures from the Juvenilia to the Later Piano Works Christina Guillaumier 16 The Five Piano Concertos: The Pianist's Perspective Boris Berman 17 'Things in Themselves': An Analytical Study of Prokofiev's Music Notebooks Rita McAllister 18 Towards an Analysis of Prokofiev's Middle Period Works Konrad Harley Part VI The Reception and After-Life of the Music 19 Prokofiev's Reception in the United Kingdom: A Case Study Joseph Schultz 20 Prokofiev, Soviet Influence, and the Music World in Stalinist Central Europe David G. Tompkins 21 Prokofiev in the Popular Consciousness Peter Kupfer 22 Prokofiev's Problems - and Ours Richard Taruskin Glossary Index
