Twentieth Century

Shostakovich’s Impromptu for Viola and Piano: Paul Neubauer and Wu Han

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In 2017, a previously unknown work by Dmitri Shostakovich was discovered in Moscow’s Central Archives among the documents of Vadim Borisovsky (the longtime violist of the Beethoven Quartet). It was a brief, unassuming piece entitled, Impromptu for Viola and Piano, Op. 33. The autograph on the title page was dated, May 2, 1931, and was dedicated to “Alexander Mikhailovich…in memory of our meeting.” It is assumed that this was actually Alexander Ryvkin, the …

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Piazzolla’s “Tangazo”: A Passionate, Unspoken Dialogue

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Originating in the working class neighborhoods of Buenos Aires during the mid-19th century, the tango grew out of a fusion of European, African, and native Argentine influences. When the composer, Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992), moved this sultry street music into the concert hall, at first, traditionalists objected vehemently. By the time the heckling and boos faded, Piazzolla had revolutionized the tango with a fusion of new elements, which included jazz and twentieth century …

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Prokofiev’s Fifth Piano Concerto: A Quirky Drama With a Mind of Its Own

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Usually, we assume that, when writing a piece of music, the composer is firmly in control of the process as musical ideas are organized, refined, and developed. Yet, on occasion, the music seemingly comes alive, takes on a mind of its own, and dictates to the composer what it wants to be. This was Sergei Prokofiev’s experience when composing the Piano Concerto No. 5 in G Major, Op. 55. “Having accumulated a …

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Sibelius’ “The Dryad”: A Fleeting, Impressionistic Tone Poem

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Jean Sibelius’ impressionistic tone poem, The Dryad (Dryaden), Op. 45, No. 1, is magical and fleeting. It begins with hushed, searching melodic strands which seem to drift over a dark, desolate, and frigid nordic landscape before coalescing into a high-spirited dance. At moments, the woodwinds erupt in cackling laughter and shrieks of merriment. Tonal colors capture the shimmering brilliance of sunlight on snow. The wood nymphs, upon which the piece is based, come …

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Scriabin’s Piano Sonata No. 5: Summoning Mysterious Forces

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Alexander Scriabin’s Piano Sonata No. 5 arrived amid a six day burst of creative energy in December of 1907. In a letter, the composer’s wife, Tatyana Schloezer, reported, Sasha has already managed… to compose a fifth sonata!!! I don’t believe my ears, it is unbelievable! The sonata flowed from him in a kind of stream. […] What you have heard is nothing, the sonata is unrecognizable, it cannot be compared with anything. …

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Scriabin’s “The Poem of Ecstasy”: The Spirit Takes Flight

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For the Russian composer, Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915), music formed a mystical passageway to a transcendent level of consciousness. In the final years of his short life, Scriabin, a virtuoso pianist, moved beyond the early influences of Chopin and Liszt to a series of boundary-pushing symphonic works which, in the words of the conductor Marin Alsop, “break down the traditional tonal structure and experiment with new methods of organizing sound.” For Scriabin, who experienced synesthesia, …

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Arvo Pärt’s “In Spe”: Building With Primitive Materials

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For eight years, beginning in the late 1960s, the Estonian composer, Arvo Pärt (b. 1935), entered into a period of compositional “silence.” When Pärt resumed his work, the music which emerged was far removed from that of his earlier modernist style. Ultra-complexity and dissonance were gone, replaced with a sense of timeless, meditative serenity. Pärt embraced the sanctity of a single note, or a glowing triad. “The complex and many-faceted only confuses me, …

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