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Notes from the road, upcoming performances, thoughts on classical music
A recent group of seminars I gave at the Curtis Institute focused on character, style and tempo in Mozart. Here is a session that might be of particular interest, dealing in specific detail with the problems of tempo in Mozart finales.
Prof. Ignat Solzhenitsyn | Tempo in Mozart’s Finales
Recently I was asked by my distinguished colleague Ieva Jokubaviciute to lead a group of Duke University students (both graduate and undergraduate) through the fascinating Preludes, Op. 34 cycle of Shostakovich (not to be confused with his later Preludes & Fugues, Op. 87). Here below are videos of this masterclass, then their group performance a few weeks later, and finally my own recent performance on the E-flat major prelude, Op. 34, No. 19.
5 April 2021 | Solzhenitsyn teaches Shostakovich masterclass at Duke
Duke University students performing the complete Shostakovich Preludes, Op. 34 (1933)
Ignat Solzhenitsyn | Shostakovich Prelude in E-flat major, Op. 34, No. 19
Looking forward to returning to Philadelphia virtually here at the Jewel Box on Apr 25th 2021 at 4pm Eastern.
Вот рецензия Бэлы Гершгорин на недавнюю интернет-передачу моего сольного концерта в Хьюстоне.
“Солженицын играл блистательно, силой ледокола ворочая прокофьевские громады, но оставаясь изумительно лиричным: так играют любимейшую классику.
...А потом Игнат Александрович и Сара Ротенберг вели утонченную беседу интеллигентов, говорили о высоте человеческого духа — и о вечно грохочущем мире, где нет конца насилию, а оно, как водится, прикрыто ложью. И, в который уж раз, становилось понятно, что красоте еще биться и биться, что-то там спасая... Но слушать этих двоих было сродни новому восприятию музыки «века-волкодава» — которая обесцениванию не подлежит.”
Below, my recent livestream premiere of Prokofiev Sonatas 7 & 8 from DaCamera in Houston, and a post-concert discussion with my wonderful colleague and presenter Sarah Rothenberg.
In a recent interview with Jonathon Van Maren, I was asked, given my life background, about the meaning of home. Part of my answer is below.
“To go back home really was going home, even though for us children, we also had the home where we grew up and the country to which we were grateful and of which we also felt a strong part, so there is a duality there. These questions to do with home and belonging are fascinating and difficult ones to identify and verbalize, because they seem to go right to our subconscious; to some innermost area that is not open for easy examination.””
Interesting re-post at Voegelin View of Jay Nordlinger’s survey of the classical scene, a long time before COVID. Some quotes worth re-reading today from David Shifrin, Joe Polisi, Marilyn Horne, and yours truly.
“They’re marketing singers as opera singers who aren’t opera singers! Andrea Bocelli, Charlotte Church …Whatever else they are – and a person may like them – they’re not opera singers. I let out a yell the other day, because I was doing the crossword puzzle, as I do daily, and one clue was ‘Tune for Bocelli.’ It turned out to be ‘aria,’ and I went, ‘&*@!’ I wish him well, and he has a place, but please don’t call him an opera singer”
Here’s a discussion I recently had with my young colleague, cellist (and writer) Justin Hall, on his delightfully named Notion Club podcast. We range across many big topics, and you can also hear some of the greatest F#-minor music: a snippet of my live performance with Mariinsky Orchestra of Shostakovich Fifth, and, at the end, my recording of Beethoven’s cosmic Hammerklavier.
Première stream tomorrow: Solzhenitsyn plays Prokofiev Piano Sonatas 7 & 8
SOLZHENITSYN AND PROKOFIEV: THE WAR YEARS
IGNAT SOLZHENITSYN, PIANO
New post-concert conversation with Ignat Solzhenitsyn
Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 7 in B-flat Major, Op. 83; Piano Sonata No. 8 in B-flat Major, Op. 84
In the intimate Menil Collection, renowned pianist Ignat Solzhenitsyn performs two of Sergei Prokofiev’s monumental sonatas, written after the composer’s return home to Stalinist Russia following 18 years of exile. Solzhenitsyn joins Sarah Rothenberg in a post-concert discussion about growing up Russian in Vermont, the life and career of Prokofiev, and the life and work of the pianist’s father. Alexander Solzhenitsyn was the Nobel prize-winning author of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, the historic publication that revealed life in the Stalinist gulag to the western world.
“Mr. Solzhenitsyn played with fearlessness and command.” – The New York Times
“In Solzhenitsyn’s hands, [Prokofiev’s sonatas] are varied and nuanced, with influences from Chopin to Poulenc contributing to some of Prokofiev’s most compelling moments.” – Philadelphia Inquirer
How it works: This event is free and registration is required. Several days before the stream, and again on the day of the event, you will receive the link to watch on YouTube live. Watch on demand for one week following the premiere. Members get an additional week of on-demand viewing, so join today, starting at $100.
Listen here or below, starting at 13.58, to the Learning Curve education podcast, where I am the guest on today’s episode. Here is their episode description:
This week on “The Learning Curve,” Cara and Gerard talk with Ignat Solzhenitsyn, a pianist, conductor laureate of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, principal guest conductor of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, and son of the Nobel Prize-winning Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. They discuss his father’s legacy, his courageous work to debunk the Soviet Union’s utopian myths, and key lessons American educators and students should draw from his life, writings, and battle with Soviet communism. They also explore his warning to Western democracies in his historic “A World Split Apart” Harvard Commencement speech, about their own crippling “short-sightedness,” “loss of will,” and crisis of spirit. Ignat describes his family’s 20-year exile in rural Vermont, recounted in his father’s newly released memoir, Between Two Millstones, Book 2, in which Solzhenitsyn expounds on the vital importance of local self-government, the rule of law, liberty, and what he called “self-limitation.” Ignat describes the education he and his brothers received at home, his own impression of the strengths and weaknesses of American education, and what inspired him to become a classical musician and conductor. He concludes with a reading from one of his father’s works.
