Voices of Revolution: Workers & the State

Voices of Revolution: Workers & the State

After the horrors of the Russian Civil War, the 1920s was a period of recovery for the nascent Soviet Union, and of industrial growth, which is reflected by Alexander Mosolov in his famous ‘machine music’, The Iron Foundry.

Culturally, the Bolsheviks made use of composers for propaganda. Mosolov’s teacher, Reinhold Glière, composed the first Soviet ballet with a revolutionary theme – The Red Poppy, with its famous ‘Sailor’s Dance’, which is the culminating movement in this orchestral suite.

Prokofiev fled the turmoil of post-revolutionary Russia in 1918. His virtuoso Third Piano Concerto, composed soon after, is a kaleidoscope of colours and compositional invention, seemingly removed from the chaos at home.

Vladimir Ashkenazy conductor
Behzod Abduraimov piano
Nadezhda Gulitskaya soprano

Mosolov The Iron Foundry
Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3
–interval–
Glière Concerto for coloratura soprano and orchestra
Glière Suite, The Red Poppy (Op. 70a)

This concert is part of the Voices of Revolution: Russia 1917 series