MUSIC
T he Music Department, together with boys from across the College, eagerly seized the opportunity to explore the politics of music during Dulwich Political week in the Michaelmas term. Mrs Kelly, together with her husband, Niall Kelly, and his band, gave a stunning concert of protest songs, from Elvis Costello’s ‘Shipbuilding’ to Billie Holiday’s heart-wrenching ‘Strange Fruit’, which was sung solo by Mrs Kelly to a hushed and receptive audience in the Old Library. Mention must also go to Louie Carrigan (Year 12) for his extraordinary and original rendition of the Sex Pistols’ ‘God Save the Queen’, sung sotto voce , to a single acoustic guitar accompaniment. Equally spellbinding was the event held in the Auditorium on the politics of music and the role of the composer, focusing on the works of Soviet composers Shostakovich and Prokofiev. The Dulwich College Chamber Orchestra was joined, for this concert, by the JAGS Chamber Orchestra, with Lesley Larkum conducting them in a spirited rendition of Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony opus 110a. Luis Parés gave an astonishing performance of Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata opus 83, and Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet opus 57 was played with extraordinary panache by Luca Franchi (Year 11), Chyaro Hylton (Year 13), Ben Miller (Year 13), Lucas Miller (Year 13) and Darren Wei (Year 10). Dr Pyke introduced the pieces and their political context, exploring the composers’ responses to Soviet reality. An extract of his talk follows. war machine against the Nazi invader, and was even known as the ‘Stalingrad’ Sonata after the German defeat of 1943. It was a brilliant display piece for Soviet pianists to perform; this music is superhuman, the embodiment of Soviet man. But there is more to the Scherzo than we might hear at first. In several places Shostakovich cheekily changes the time signature, and some of the effects are satirical, vulgar, and humorous, using glissandi and pizzicato , for example. In his later Symphony no.13, Shostakovich set the words of Yevtushenko: ‘Humour will walk through everything and everybody.’ Unlike Shostakovich, Prokofiev had spent most of the 1920s outside Russia and made the decision to return in 1936, at the height of the purges. Why he did this is a debated issue: was it a question of nostalgia, naivety or ambition — or a combination of all three? His music had yet to be attacked,
Political strains
Music during Dulwich Political week
Living as a creative artist in the Soviet Union brought great opportunities. If one conformed, one’s work was promoted over an entire continent, and this yielded a variety of personal benefits: accommodation, evacuation far behind the front line when the Nazis invaded in 1941, and holidays in ‘rest homes’. Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev both enjoyed privileged status at points in their careers. They both had apartments in the heart of Moscow, and received Stalin Prizes and cash for particular pieces — Prokofiev for his Piano Sonata no.7 and Shostakovich for his Piano Quintet. The Scherzo from Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet, a sparklingly brisk waltz based on a simple melody, expresses the joy of living in a Socialist paradise, rudely interrupted by the Nazi invasion — a common theme in Soviet films and literature of the day. By contrast, Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata no.7 is heroic: it embodies the determination of the Soviet
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