Tuesday, September 29 @ 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm CDT
Guarneri Hall presents the complex world of Sergei Prokofiev through the lens of his nine piano sonatas. From biting modernism to wartime introspection, this three-part series traces a musical and cultural evolution, exploring the rarely discussed Russian Avant-Garde of the early twentieth century.
Echo and Image concludes our series with Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 5, which stands apart as his only piano sonata composed entirely abroad. Prokofiev wrote No. 5 in 1923, during his years touring internationally as a pianist and composer before returning to the Soviet Union despite the growing artistic censorship of Stalin’s regime.
In contrast, the expansive Piano Sonata No. 8 (1944) and the enigmatic Piano Sonata No. 9 (1947), both written after his return to the Soviet Union, reveal a markedly different artistic landscape: more introspective, complex, and shaped by the socio-political pressures of life back home. Together, these three works trace Prokofiev’s life from exile to return, as his compositional language and identity evolved in his final contributions to the piano sonata genre.
The program will be hosted by Tanya Landau, PhD candidate in the department of Musicology at Northwestern University with opening remarks from Inna Naroditskaya, Professor of Musicology at Northwestern University.
Program
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953): Piano Sonata No. 5, Op. 38
Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 8, Op. 84
Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 9, Op. 103
Artists: Adam Neiman, piano; Tanya Landau, host; Inna Naroditskaya, guest speaker
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