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Title: Prelude from Ten Pieces - Prokofiev
Year: 2005
Zach's Role: Piano
Description: Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) demonstrated precocious talent as a pianist and composer, and thus became a serious student of music, studying under Gluer, Rimsky-Korsakov, Lyadov and Tcherepnin, and influenced by the works of Skryabin, Debussy, Strauss, and Stravinsky. He debuted as a pianist in 1908, creating a sensation as an enfant terrible, unintelligible and ultra-modern – an image he was happy to cultivate. But for much of his career, he was overshadowed by the political situations in his native Russia. Prokofiev struggled to find recognition for his compositions, trying one thing and then another, eventually dying on the same day as Stalin.
This Prelude is a sharp-edged and delicate arrangement reminiscent of crystalline ice formations. The bulk of the piece features high, clear arpeggios in the right hand, with a fairy-like melody moving in the left hand. In the middle of the piece, our beautiful but slightly dangerous scene is interrupted by a sarcastic movement, as though some creature came upon the crystals and remained unmoved by them, or better, became a threat to them. But soon it departs, and our ears hear once more the ringing of the crystals.