Discovering The Hidden Prokofiev

Council Chamber, Deptford Town Hall
300, New Cross Rd, London SE14
(opposite New Cross Gate rail/tube station)
Centre for Russian Music
Goldsmiths, University of London
4.00pm, 29 April 2013
Free admission

On the 60th anniversary of the composer Sergey Prokofiev’s death, and on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Serge Prokofiev Archive founded by Noëlle Mann, three Goldsmiths scholars present their latest discoveries on Prokofiev’s life and work. Noëlle Mann scholar, Ondrej Gima, has been reconstructing the original 1920 version of Prokofiev’s “ill-fated” expressionist opera The Fiery Angel; this was the composer’s most ambitious work created during his years outside Russia, whose final form was to a certain extent changed by Prokofiev’s interest in the teachings of Christian Science. Gima will introduce Act I in its original form, followed by its UK premiere performed by students from the Music Department of Goldsmiths.

Fellow scholars Daniel Jaffé and Viktoria Zora will also present their findings on Prokofiev’s two Violin Sonatas, both well-established masterpieces whose creation has yet hitherto been something of a mystery. Jaffé will examine the documented evidence behind the First Violin Sonata’s protracted eight-year creation in Stalinist Russia, illuminating Prokofiev’s cryptic comment on its “wind in a graveyard” passages; while Zora will be looking in detail at the collaboration between Prokofiev and the legendary violinist David Oistrakh in creating the Second Violin Sonata.