Russian Futurists

Russian Futurists

Alexander Mosolov: The Iron Foundry, from the ballet Steel Op. 19 (1928)
Dmitri Shostakovich: Incidental Music from The Bedbug, Op. 19 (1929) US Premiere
Gavriil Popov: Symphonic Suite No. 1, Komsomol–Patron of Electrification (1932)
Arthur Lourié: Chant funèbre sur la mort d’un poète (1921) US Premiere
Vladimir Shcherbachov: Symphony No. 2, Blokovskaya (1926) US Premiere

Music of five Soviet masters, composed during a brief moment of forward-looking artistic freedom before the repression of Stalin.

Mosolov’s “The Iron Foundry”, from his 1928 ballet Steel, fuses music, rhythm, and the triumph of the Soviet worker. Arthur Lourié shared in that initial optimism (before defecting), as demonstrated by his early Chant funèbre sur la mort d’un poète. Shcherbachov, an influential teacher and a fiery composer, sets the great poet Alexander Blok’s words to music in his sprawling, frenzied Second Symphony of 1926.

Enjoy an illuminating pre-concert talk with American Symphony Orchestra Composer-in-Residence Richard Wilson, at 6:30 p.m. in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, Rose Building, Tenth Floor, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza.