It is quite the art to create a miniature — be it a small painting, a short story or piece of music. All the elements of balance, composition, colour and texture need to be there, but expressed as concisely as possible. One set of gorgeous miniatures we don’t get to hear live very often is Sergei Prokofiev’s 20 piano pieces known as Visions Fugitives.
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
Three of my six piano students decided to take Hallowe’en afternoon off, without warning. I had brought some piano work with me to the school, but when I got tired of that I sat down with a long-deferred project, to play through the Visions Fugitives from beginning to end.
The craft behind these pieces is impressive. Prokofiev was in his mid-20s when he wrote them during World War I.
They bristle with his trademark angularity, but there is also something sensual about them. They range freely and colourfully across tonalities. They are full of little technical hurdles, yet not completely daunting. They also display a keen sense of tension and release as the composer takes us through alternating dream states and wakefulness.
I thought it would be great to hear one of the old masters play the full set, so here is Heinrich Neuhaus (1888-1964) who, despite his name, was Russian. He studied with Leopold Godowsky in Germany, giving him a direct link to the great 19th century poets of the piano. Neuhaus went on to teach many of the great Russian pianists of the 20th century, including Sviatoskav Richter, Lev Naumov, Emil Gilels and Radu Lupu.
Here is Neuhaus breathing his own poetry into Prokofiev’s:
John Terauds
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
