Topic

Featured Works

Week 1 - Rachmaninov

Early studies with Zverev. Conservatory days. Tchaikovsky’s patronage.

First piano concerto. Songs op. 4. Elegiac trio in d minor. First symphony. Aleko.

Week 2 - Rachmaninov

Psychological crisis.

Second piano concerto. Preludes op. 23 and op. 32. The Miserly Knight.

Week 3 - Prokofiev

Childhood as a prodigy. Conservatory days. Formation of a unique temperament.

Early piano works. First piano concerto.

Week 4 - Prokofiev

Years in the west. The traveling virtuoso.

Ballets esp. Romeo and Juliet. Opera: The Flaming Angel, Love for Three Oranges.

Week 5 – Rachmaninov

Travels in US, Germany, Switzerland.

Etudes tableaux. Third piano concerto. Isle of the Dead.

Week 6 – Rachmaninov

Years in America. Rachmaninov the pianist. Composing drought. Master of the variation.

Variations on a Theme by Corelli, Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini. Symphonic Dances.

Week 7 - Prokofiev,

The Soviet years. Lyricism and propaganda.

Film music. Symphony number 6.

Week 8 – Prokofiev

War and Peace: the novel and the opera.

Analysis with DVDs.