THE LEARNING CURVE Spring 2012
Art History, Archaeology, Astronomy, History, Literature, Philosophy, Music

Russian Musical Treasures: Pianists, Politics, & Power

Continue the exploration of the fascinating Russian cultural and musical landscape with emphasis on piano repertoire after the October Revolution of 1917. Great Russian artists - Sergei Rachmaninoff, Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Diaghilev, Feodor Chaliapin, Yasha Heifetz, Misha Elman, Vladimir Horowitz, left Russia forever and settled in the West. Sergei Prokofiev lived in Europe between 1918 and 1935 and finally chose to return back to Russia finding creative inspiration at home but facing disastrous consequences for his family. In 1926 Dmitri Shostakovich composed his wonderful First Symphony as a graduation piece at the St Petersburg Conservatory and found himself an internationally acclaimed composer at the age of nineteen. Consider the effect of Stalin on Russian composers and the struggle against “cosmopolitan formalism”. Learn about Prokofiev’s “War Sonatas” for piano and Shostakovich Symphony #7 “Leningrad” written during the siege of St Petersburg. We will conclude with the music by Alfred Schnittke, who carried on the great Russian music tradition creating innovative and visionary works in 1970-80.

Week 1: Russian Composers during the October Revolution of 1917. Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky.
Week 2: Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff abroad. Prokofiev’s Piano Concertos. Rachmaninoff as a pianist.
Week 3: Stravinsky’s ballets and his new neoclassical style. Prokofiev’s “Classical Symphony” and his collaboration with Sergei Diaghilev.
Week 4: Prokofiev’s return to Russia. Early works of Shostakovich: Symphony #1, Piano Concerto #1, Preludes Op. 34. “Pravda’s” article “Muddle Instead of Music” and its repercussions.
Week 5: Prokofiev’s Piano Sonatas. Shostakovich’s Symphony #7 “Leningrad” and his Preludes and Fugues for piano.
Week 6: Last works of Shostakovich. Symphony #15 and its enigmatic language. Alfred Schittke’s Piano Concerto and Concerto Grosso #1.
When: Wednesdays, Jan 18 – Feb 22, 1:00-3:00pm
Where: Rincon Congregational Church, 122 N. Craycroft Road.
Cost: $135 (6 sessions)

Instructor: Alex Tentser studied piano performance at the celebrated Gnessin Music Institute in Moscow.  In 1990 he immigrated to the United States and earned his doctorate in musical arts at the University of Arizona.  He made his debut with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra in 1993 and has served at Music Director for the Cochise College Chamber Orchestra in Sierra Vista and currently directs Pima Community College Orchestra producing a variety of programs including the works of Baroque, Classical, and Modern composers.

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