Ustvolskaya - Piano Sonata No. 2

Piano Sonata No. 2 (1949)

"Three closely related aspects of this work are of particular interest to me. First there is the unusual relationship between the two movements. They have curiously similar yet distinct melodic ideas, the first at MM = 80, the second at a slightly more purposeful MM = 92, yet they follow very different courses. Their relationship is clearly pertinent as it is subtle, insofar as if they are heard in reverse order, the work as a dramatic entity totally collapses.

Next, the second movement, like the first, builds to a weighty climax, but then instead of falling away as convention might suggest, the music walks on into the intensity and, as if a hidden door had opened, we find ourselves moving on an elevated plain, which, with its endless procession of crotchets, might hold us for ever. My third observation is about this extended procession of crotchets: the music here is actually made up of individual contrapuntal strands which, despite their rhythmic unison, maintain a perfect clarity throughout. In other words, the composer has been able to deftly overturn one of the basic truisms of contrapuntal music."

Galina Ustvolskaya (1919-2006) was a relatively obscure 20th-century Russian composer. Before the 1970s she was virtually unknown to the West and only recently have scholars and performers taken an interest in her music. From 1939 to 1947 Ustvolskaya studied with Shostakovich, who praised her music and unique compositional voice; he even quoted some of her themes in his own music. It was later revealed that there was a romantic relationship between teacher and pupil, and that Ustvolskaya declined Shostakovich's proposal of marriage.

Although Ustvolskaya, like many composers operating in the Soviet regime, appeased the State by writing propaganda pieces, she also wrote modern absolute music "for the drawer." She has been called by one critic "the lady with the hammer" owing to her tendency for dissonant counterpoint and tone clusters. Many of her works reflect her fervent devotion to Christianity, and are characterized as austere, esoteric, declamatory, and without clear influences from other composers.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• galina
• ustvolskaya
• schnittke
• gubaidulina

[realself1]

trees growing in a wasteland

[kingofkillings]

Just an addition: the name of the critic who wrote the "hammer" remark is called Elmer Schönberger. Great post.

[galarius]

Fantastic

[lovesGenet]

if totalitarianism,oppression has a sound it can be found in her work esp.da violin sonata .What a soul!  This woman's resolve -all through these sonatas one sees the same strategies. minimalist resources but with a larger freer formal structure . she and sofia G. and sciarrino have made philosophy,movement, action,gesture tactility rel for me. I hope to use this vocabulary in setting black hymns and Rita Dove poetry .

[herma57]

incredible music, I have the miniature 12 "preludes", all together are 18 minutes complete length;same reserved power, questioning

[neiltassoni]

Well, Hexameron, you have done it again. Galina U_____ deserves to be much better known than she is here in the Far West, and you are on the path of encouraging the enlightenment of (hopefully) many. Let the discussion begin. Domo arigato gozaimasu, tomodachi-san.

neil t