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The Kansas City Symphony ends the season this upcoming weekend with one of the monumental works of the symphonic repertoire, the Prokofiev Symphony No. 5 and one of the great piano concertos ever written, the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1.  To round out the program, the orchestra plays another Russian work, the arely heard Overture to Colas Breugnon by Dmitri Kabalevsky.

Sergie Prokofiev (1891-1953) was a 20th century Russian composer who followed in the footsteps of his compatriot Igor Stravinsky in breaking musical molds.  His adventurous melodies and harmonies tweaked the ears of his day in somewhat unpleasant ways, but in the intervening years his music has acquired a more mellow sound because of the even more outrageous musical revolutionaries who followed.  Today we consider him one of the "classic" Russian orchestral composers.

Prokofiev's most popular symphonies are the No. 1, entitled the "Classical" because it is reminiscent of earlier symphonic forms, and the much more ambitious and aggressive No. 5, which contains some of the most dramatic Russian symphonic music since Tchaikovsky.  Written in 1944, it was composed when Russia was in the throes of World War II, battling the invading German forces.  Inspired by Russia's military successes as the tide of the war was turning, Prokofiev may have been trying to portray the heroism of the Russian troops in some of the vast, sweeping melodic lines which punctuate the work. 

As Prokofiev himself was conducting the January 15, 1945 world premiere, the audience inside the concert hall could hear the gunfire outside marking the final push of Russian troops to victory over the Germans.  The symphony seemed to almost accompany the victory, and such was the acclaim it brought its composer that America's Time Magazine put him on its cover the following week.

Trivia note: The opening of the third movement, an Adagio, features a triplet accompaniment similar to that of Beethoven's "Moonlight" sonata, Lenin's favorite piece. This oblique tribute may have paid off, for Prokofiev's Symphony was later awarded a Stalin Prize.

The critic Paul Serotsky has aptly said that Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 is "one of the defining works of the Twentieth century," and so it is.

Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 was written 70 years before Prokofiev's symphony and has none of the later composer's sometimes jarring tonalities.  It has, however, been one of the most popular concertos in that repertoire - although it hardly started out that way.

Tchaikovsky was still a young composer when he wrote his first piano concerto and showed the work to his mentor Nikolai Rubenstein, director of the Moscow Conservatory of Music.  To the composer's consternation, his professor heaped scorn upon the piece.  As Tchaikovsky later wrote in a letter to his patron Nadia van Meck, "a torrent poured from Nikolay Grigoryevich's mouth, gentle at first, then more and more growing into the sound of a Jupiter Tonana. It turned out that my concerto was worthless and unplayable; passages were so fragmented, so clumsy, so badly written that they were beyond rescue; the work itself was bad, vulgar; in places I had stolen from other composers; only two or three pages were worth preserving; the rest must be thrown away or completely rewritten."

Tchaikovsky rallied to his own defense, and according to his letter, " 'I shall not alter a single note,' I answered, 'I shall publish the work exactly as it is!' " And this he did.

Good thing, too, for the concerto is one of the masterpieces of the literature.  Its music is so ingrained in the modern concert audience member's mind that it is impossible for us to reconstruct what Rubenstein's complaints might possibly have been.

At any rate, Tchaikovsky turned next to the famed conductor and pianist Hans von Bülow, whose perception of the work was entirely different.  Von Bülow proclaimed the work "lofty, strong, and original." Von Bülow was planning an American tour in the fall of 1875, and he offered to learn the concerto for that trip. The premiere took place in Boston, followed shortly by one in New York. In both cities the work was tremendously popular with the audiences, who demanded a repeat of the finale. The music won the battle against the critics, and even Rubinstein eventually admitted his error, learned the concerto, and performed it many times.

The Symphony's soloist will be Russian pianist Vladimir Feltsman, who has a special affinity for the music of his countryman.  This season he has soloed with the New York Philharmonic, Caramoor Music Festival, London Symphony Orchestra, Kirov Orchestra and others, and also has given recitals in Chicago Detroit, Florida and Lincoln Center in New York.  He is also a noted conductor, performing especially with his ensemble the Moscow Virtuosi Orchestra. He is on the faculty of the Mannes College of Music in New York.  Feltsman will be back in Kansas City on October 1 to perform a recital as the opener for The Friends of Chamber Music's 35th Anniversary season. 

Dmitri Kabalevsky (1904-1987) saw his most creative years in mid-century. Working as he did in the midst of Stalinist Russia, where "deviant" composers were ostracized and punished, Kabalevsky attempted to hoe the Soviet line, producing music that generally met with official approval but was found by critics to be bland. 

Colas Breugnon, written in 1938, was the first of his six operas. Based upon a novel by the Frenchman Romain Rolland, it tells the story of a Robin Hood-like character, tinged with a bit of French decadence.  For the overture, according to one writer, Kabalevsky wrote "a gay, almost Mozartian piece, delicate, sophisticated, sentimental, ironical, and utterly delightful."

PREVIEW:

Kansas City Symphony
Season Finale: Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev
Friday, June 4 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, June 5 at 8:00 p.m.
Lyric Theatre
11^th and Central Streets, Downtown Kansas City, MO
and
Sunday, June 6 at 2:00 p.m.
Yardley Hall, Carlsen Center
12345 College Boulevard, Overland Park, KS
For tickets call 816-471-0400 or online at www.kcsymphony.org.

By Don Dagenais

City Classics Music and Dance Columnist; Classical Contributor

A lifelong classical music fan, Don Dagenais is a frequent preview speaker for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and has taught classical music and opera courses at several Kansas City venues. He has served on the boards of directors of a number of performing arts organizations including the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, the Lyric Opera Guild, UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance, Opera Volunteers International, the Civic Opera Theater of Kansas City, Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony, Octarium, and the Friends of the Symphony.  He has been the past president of most of these organizations and is current the president of the Friends of the Symphony. 

Dagenais co-authored a history of the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, published on the occasion of its 50th anniversary (2007) and has written books on the histories of both the Lyric Opera Guild and Opera Volunteers International, as well as an introductory book for opera novices (Your Passport to the Opera).  He has received several local and national awards for outstanding volunteer work for the arts, including a lifetime achievement award from The Coterie Theatre in 2000, the Kansas City Musical Club's annual award in 2001, a Partners in Excellence Award from Opera Volunteers International in 2002, a Bravo Award from Opera Volunteers International in 2004 and a community service award from the Daughter of the American Revolution in 2008 honoring him for his community service to the arts.

In addition to his music interests, Don is president of the board of directors for the Metropolitan Ensemble Theater and has served on the boards of The Coterie Theatre and the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, serving as president of each organization.  He publishes newsletters for seven arts organizations.  When not involved in the performing arts, Don is a senior real estate attorney with Lathrop & Gage LLP in Kansas City, Missouri, where he has practiced law since 1976 after graduating from the Cornell Law School.

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