I was reminded quite recently of the auction of Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony. It brought me back to thinking about the role of artefacts in my research practice. Over the past decade, I have done extensive archival research into Prokofiev as well as the music of Stravinsky, and that of Alexander Tcherepnin. I’ve spent countless hours looking over faded
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Prokofiev’s ‘Fiery Angel’ and modernism
I was recently asked to deliver a paper on Prokofiev’s opera The Fiery Angel within the context of contemporary aesthetic views on modernism. I’ll be exploring this topic further as I’m working on a big project focussed on the composer’s operas but I thought I would put down some initial ideas here. I think Prokofiev’s relationship with
Read on »Prokofiev’s early manuscripts
The music of Prokofiev’s juvenile period (although there is really nothing juvenile about it!) spans around c. 1896 – c. 1908. The works he wrote at this time can be broadly categorised into three types: works for solo piano; theatrical works; miscellaneous works. My PhD traces the composer’s development of a distinctive compositional voice using
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