Classical Music | Violin Music

Recorded on 07/10/2016, uploaded on 09/29/2016

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

When the war engulfing the rest of the European continent came to the Soviet Union with Nazi Germany’s brutal hammer stroke in 1941, Sergei Prokofiev, along with many other artists, were evacuated away from the major cities and the Nazi’s ruthless advance. In August of that year, Prokofiev was taken to Nalchik, the capital city of the Kabardino-Balkar Republic in the North Caucasus, some nine hundred miles south of Moscow. While Stalin’s focus was fixed on the threat from the Nazis, the Soviet regime temporary relaxed the restrictions that they had placed on their artists, leaving them to indulge their true creative impulses. Many of the works that flowed from Prokofiev’s pen during this time, as well as those that followed, resonate with “darkly tragic ironies.” On the surface, one may associate these foreboding works with the presence of war in his homeland, but delving deeper, it becomes more apparent that they are artistic outlets for the composer’s critiques of Stalin’s brutal and repressive regime.

Perhaps the most startling of these works is the Violin Sonata No. 1 in F minor, op. 80. Composed between 1938 and 1946, which actually places its completion after the Second Violin Sonata, it is one of the composer’s darkest and most brooding compositions. Prokofiev dedicated the work to his friend, the violinist David Oistrakh, who also premiered the work with pianist Lev Oborin. Oistrakh later performed the sonata’s first and third movements at Prokofiev’s funeral. About half an hour in length, the First Violin Sonata is cast in four movements. An ominous and foreboding Andante assai opens the work, which is followed by a diabolical and harsh Allegro brusco. A brief moment of relief comes with the otherworldly opening theme of the Andante third movement, but even its ethereal glow is paled by repressive shadows. The ensuing Finale attempts to bolster the sonata’s spirits and impart a sense of playfulness, but ultimately the ending of the first movement returns to finish the sonata in utter despair.       Joseph DuBose

The Steans Music Institute is the Ravinia Festival's professional studies program for young musicians.