Prokofiev! His 7th Piano Sonata, the middle of the trio of War Sonatas, is one of the most stupidly magnificent things written for piano. It’s got a really interesting large-scale schema: it’s unified not only by a prominent “fate” motif and the interval of a minor 9th, but also by a large-scale narrative structure where the progression of the movements presents a movement from instability (rhythmic, tonal, structural) to stability. So Mvt 1 is only just about tonal and has a thoroughly ambiguous structure (nobody agrees on where the development begins and ends) in which the recapitulation (most people think) leaves out the first theme group, saving it instead for the coda. Mvt 2, in a key a tritone away, has a more standard extended ternary (A-B-A) structure, and is considerably more tonal than Mvt 1, though it modulates freely. Mvt 3, however, is a toccata with a perfect, straightforward archlike structure (ABCBA), a motoric, addictive rhythm, and the whole thing clings ferociously to its Bb resolutions (count the number of times you get hammered with passages of functional dominant harmony like 15:14) like its life depends on it. This large-scale patterning means that sonata, despite many passages that are bleak or acrid, is quite an optimistic one.
There are also lots of wonderful textures here: the crushing ostinato motif of Mvt 1, the overripe, decaying sweetness in Mvt 2 (alongside bell-like textures + a passage lifted right out of the 4th movement cadenza of the Second Piano Concerto) and the playful bitonality of Mvt 3’s inner sections. (Sometimes people say that the implacable rhythm of the last movement is meant to represent Nazi tanks rolling into Russia, but this seems kind of implausible to me - the mood of the movement, no matter what tempo you take it at, is some variation of triumphant.)
MVT I, Allegro inquieto (“restless/anxious”)
EXPOSITION
00:00 - Theme Group 1, Theme 1, containing motifs (a) (m.1), (b) (m.2-3), and (c) (m.5, the “Fate motif” from Beethoven’s 5th). At 0:06, transition containing canon, based on intervallic augmentation of (a)+(b)
00:15 - Ostinato motif (b*), based on (b)’s rhythm, leading to return of T1. at 0:23, (a) developed and them fragmented
00:29 - Theme Group 1, Theme 2 (note use of minor 9ths)
00:41 - Theme Group 1, Theme 1 restated
00:44 - Transition Theme 1, containing motifs (d), a chromatic figure beginning with a minor 9th leap, and (e), the broken-chord figure entering immediately after. At 0:51, (c) enters, after which (d) and (e) are developed.
01:01 - Tr. Theme 2, based on (e)
01:11 - Tr. Theme 3, rising figure in RH
01:33 - Theme Group 2, Theme 1, featuring (c) prominently
DEVELOPMENT
03:22 - (c). The RH melody at 3:28 is derived from (d) - listen for all the minor 9ths
03:40 - Hints of (a). At 3:42, (d) developed, building to climax with chords built around minor 9th dissonance. Note that descending arpeggios at 3:52 and similar are built from (b*), whose RH features a G maj and B maj chord in succession: the same progression is used here, with an added Eb min chord.
04:00 - (b*), leading into TG1, T1. Cascade at 4:06 emphasises minor 9ths. At 4:10, back to (d), with (b*) in LH. At 4:21, (b*) stated explicitly again, leading into fragment of TG1, T1.
04:29 - TG1, T2, punctuated by development of (a).
04:40 - Tr. T2, leading into Tr. T3 in form of grotesque march.
04:55 - (b*), eerie, punctuated with bitonal scales. At 5:06 TG2, T1 is stated in LH twice as chant
05:21 - Apparently new material derived from (b), TG1, T2’s bass and Tr. T2. At 5:42, Tr. T3.
RECAPITULATION
06:04 - TG2, now even more fragmented and tonally unstable.
CODA
07:24 - TG1, T1, with (a) and (c) especially prominent.
07:52 - Repeated statements of (c) close the movement. At the very end a mocking V-I cadence in Bb marks the first time we properly encounter this tonality in the whole movement.
MVT II, Andante caloroso (“warm/hearty”)
08:05 - A Section
10:04 - B1 Section, highly improvisatory and fantasy-like. At 11:10, an oscillation between the E and C minor chord in first inversion is introduced.
11:21 - B2 Section, bell-like and monstrous, with three ideas all based on oscillation: between E/C min, a diminished 3rd (A#/C), and a minor 3rd (G#/B, bass). At 12:04 this oscillation becomes a beautiful transition that leads to a restatement of the bell-like idea at 12:34, now in a magical anti-climax (and distorted invervals). (Berman: "A lone belfry in a burned-out village.")
14:02 - A* Section, truncated (stated simply, without internal ternary structure). The bells still haunt this movement to its close.
MVT III, Precipitato
15:00 - A Section. Note presence of (c) in inverted and original form throughout
15:47 - B Section, bitonal. Note major 7ths at 16:07 in bass (A#/B) filling in an "expanded" minor 9th (minor 17th, C-B)
16:16 - C Section, in E min, a tritone from Bb, mirroring the overall Bb/E/Bb scheme of the sonata
16:43 - B Section
17:04 - A Section
12 июл 2024
