This first third of this piece works with a rigid rhythmic motif (dotted crochet, crochet, quaver, dotted crochet, crochet quaver etc) that is transformed through pitch. The interesting thing to note with this repetitive rhythmic idea is that, pitch-wise, it is hard to determine where the start of the phrase is and where the end is, as the motif spirals down and then up again continuously, often with no gap in between – it is continuously looped for the first section of this piece. When the rhythm does vary (for instance, in bar 23 we have duplets), the previous pitch ideas that the rhythmic theme has previously adopted are kept in tact, which provides a relief from this repetition, as well as interest for the listener. The pitch material is then broadened out, into a slower version, and is syncopated. This eventually draws to a halt, concluding this section with a plagal cadence in the relative major.
The second section reverts to the minor, and uses similar pitch material (except in minor) of the first section, as it spirals up and down in fast-paced quavers. This section modulates easily through many keys, at first going into D minor, E minor etc, but there are so many different mixture chords within every key, that there seemed to be almost no point in changing the key signature with that many written accidentals. This section also features the use of large, extravagant chords, spanning more than an octave in one hand, whilst there were often simultaneously octaves in the left hand. This section is also extremely busy (though having said this, the majority of this piece is extremely busy), great for a young virtuoso to display his obvious technical ability, but for an audience, at least from my perspective, there is no aural respite – it left me wanting a break from all the busyness. An interlude for sensitivity would have been nice in this section, and whilst an attempt at this was made at the meno mosso, I still felt that it was too busy – furthermore it only lasted a short period before Prokofiev returned to the constant and manic spiral of fast paced quavers.
Whilst I have criticised this piece rather heavily, I really did like the return to the original theme, I thought it lead there fantastically. I also really enjoyed the rituendo section, it really broadened out this motif. As well as this I also liked the dramatic chords in the last few bars that syncopated from the piano’s upper register to extreme lower register – the left and right extremes (it was kind of like an earlier idea of studio panning). Overall, I really liked this piece, though some clearer breaks in material would have been nice, instead of the constant showing-off that Prokofiev brings to the piece.
Alex
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