Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953)
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Musical guide · Virtual Hall®
The Modern Period
Hearing the orchestra afresh.
c. 1900–1950 · approximate boundaries
In the early decades of the twentieth century, concert music readily broadened its rhythms, its colours and its forms. It could be sparkling, tender, dance-like or sharp-edged: “modern” does not automatically mean atonal or forbidding.
After the First World War, the orchestra became a laboratory of colour, while dance, radio and cinema brought music to new audiences. Prokofiev and Britten chose a lucid path: letting every family be heard without reducing the imagination.
Three milestones in the story
- 1695Purcell writes Abdelazer.
- 1936Peter and the Wolf premieres in Moscow.
- 1945–1946Britten writes the Guide; the film follows in 1946.
Three listening pointers
Characters
Peter: strings; bird: flute; wolf: horns.
Variations
Purcell moves through the families; a fugue follows.
Contrast
Brass, woodwind and percussion recast the light.
A flexible landmark: modernity contains many aesthetics, from melodic clarity to more adventurous experiments in sound.
Experience it in Virtual Hall® 1
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Coming soon to the catalogue
Benjamin Britten (1913–1976)
