Peter J. Schmelz
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- June 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190653712
- eISBN:
- 9780190653750
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190653712.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
A focused point for the two soloists, the Cadenza movement of Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso no. 1 further engages with its themes of autonomy and control, motion and arrest, consonance and ...
More
A focused point for the two soloists, the Cadenza movement of Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso no. 1 further engages with its themes of autonomy and control, motion and arrest, consonance and dissonance. This chapter considers the first performances of the Concerto Grosso no. 1, focusing on those by Gidon Kremer and Tatiana Grindenko in both the Soviet Union and Europe, specifically the 1977 European tour of the two soloists with the Lithuanian Chamber Ensemble conducted by Saulius Sondeckis. The chapter also discusses the early performances of the composition by violinists Oleh Krysa and Liana Isakadze, who first recorded it in the Soviet Union in the early 1980s. Schnittke was embarrassed by how well the composition did, telling Kremer that he now would need to write something unpopular, for “it is too dangerous to ride a wave of success.”Less
A focused point for the two soloists, the Cadenza movement of Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso no. 1 further engages with its themes of autonomy and control, motion and arrest, consonance and dissonance. This chapter considers the first performances of the Concerto Grosso no. 1, focusing on those by Gidon Kremer and Tatiana Grindenko in both the Soviet Union and Europe, specifically the 1977 European tour of the two soloists with the Lithuanian Chamber Ensemble conducted by Saulius Sondeckis. The chapter also discusses the early performances of the composition by violinists Oleh Krysa and Liana Isakadze, who first recorded it in the Soviet Union in the early 1980s. Schnittke was embarrassed by how well the composition did, telling Kremer that he now would need to write something unpopular, for “it is too dangerous to ride a wave of success.”
Peter J. Schmelz
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- June 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190653712
- eISBN:
- 9780190653750
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190653712.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This book provides for the first time an accessible, comprehensive study of Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso no. 1 (1977). One of Schnittke’s best-known and most compelling works, the Concerto ...
More
This book provides for the first time an accessible, comprehensive study of Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso no. 1 (1977). One of Schnittke’s best-known and most compelling works, the Concerto Grosso no. 1 sounds the surface of late Soviet life, resonating as well with contemporary compositional currents around the world. This innovative monograph builds on existing publications about the Concerto Grosso no. 1 in English, Russian, and German, augmenting and complicating them. It adds new information from underused primary sources, including Schnittke’s unpublished correspondence and his many published interviews. It also engages further with his sketches for the Concerto Grosso no. 1 and contemporary Soviet musical criticism. The result is a more objective, historical appraisal of this rich, multifaceted composition.
The Concerto Grosso no. 1 provided a utopian model of the contemporary soundscape. It was a decisive point in Schnittke’s development of the approach he called polystylism, which aimed to contain in a single composition the wide range of contemporary musical styles, including jazz, pop, rock, and serial music. Thanks to it and his other similar compositions, Schnittke became one of the most-performed and most-recorded living composers at the end of the twentieth century. The novel structure of this book engages the Concerto Grosso no. 1 conceptually, historically, musically, and phenomenologically: the six movements of the composition frame the six chapters. The present volume thus provides a holistic accounting of Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso no. 1, its influences, and its impact on subsequent music making in the Soviet Union and worldwide.Less
This book provides for the first time an accessible, comprehensive study of Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso no. 1 (1977). One of Schnittke’s best-known and most compelling works, the Concerto Grosso no. 1 sounds the surface of late Soviet life, resonating as well with contemporary compositional currents around the world. This innovative monograph builds on existing publications about the Concerto Grosso no. 1 in English, Russian, and German, augmenting and complicating them. It adds new information from underused primary sources, including Schnittke’s unpublished correspondence and his many published interviews. It also engages further with his sketches for the Concerto Grosso no. 1 and contemporary Soviet musical criticism. The result is a more objective, historical appraisal of this rich, multifaceted composition.
The Concerto Grosso no. 1 provided a utopian model of the contemporary soundscape. It was a decisive point in Schnittke’s development of the approach he called polystylism, which aimed to contain in a single composition the wide range of contemporary musical styles, including jazz, pop, rock, and serial music. Thanks to it and his other similar compositions, Schnittke became one of the most-performed and most-recorded living composers at the end of the twentieth century. The novel structure of this book engages the Concerto Grosso no. 1 conceptually, historically, musically, and phenomenologically: the six movements of the composition frame the six chapters. The present volume thus provides a holistic accounting of Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso no. 1, its influences, and its impact on subsequent music making in the Soviet Union and worldwide.
