1969 LP text:
In the summer of 1968, the Queen Elisabeth International Piano Competition took place in Brussels. Among the young musicians representing Soviet piano art was Ekaterina Novitskaya, a student at the Moscow Conservatory. Her program included études by Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, and Prokofiev, sonatas by Scarlatti, Bach’s Prelude and Fugue, Prokofiev's "Sarcasms," Tchaikovsky’s First Concerto, and a specially composed concerto by Belgian composer Gaston Brenta. In this extremely challenging competition, Ekaterina Novitskaya won the highest award: the jury awarded the sixteen-year-old Soviet pianist the First Prize.
Ekaterina Novitskaya is a graduate of the Central Music School, where she studied under teacher E.M. Timakin and later with Professor L.N. Oborin. At the age of ten, she gave her first solo concert, performing works by Bach, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, and Kabalevsky. At fifteen, she graduated from school with a silver medal. Since 1967, Ekaterina Novitskaya has been studying at the Moscow State Conservatory under the guidance of Professor L.N. Oborin.
Prokofiev completed his cycle of five pieces "Sarcasms," Op. 17 in 1914. The realm of malicious mischief and grotesque dominates these pieces, with the first, third, and fifth standing out for their particular wildness and intense emotional expression. In the second and fourth pieces, ghostly fantasy and eerie grotesque twists prevail. Boris Asafiev wrote: "The five sarcasms are five of the most acute and insightful reflections of the dark forces of life, its evil, its poison."
Among Prokofiev's piano sonatas, the Fifth stands somewhat apart – it is the only sonata written by the composer abroad and for a long time did not gain recognition from listeners. It was created by Prokofiev in 1923, first performed by the author on March 9, 1924, in Paris, and, by his own account, was received very "reservedly" by the public. In his "Autobiography," Prokofiev noted the "sophisticated style" of the Fifth Sonata, its closeness to his most intensely sounding compositions: "The Fifth Sonata, the Quintet, and the Second Symphony, continuing the line from 'Sarcasms,' through 'Scythian Suite' and 'They Are Seven,' represented the most chromatic of my compositions. This was not without the influence of the atmosphere of Paris, where neither complexity nor dissonance were feared, thereby sanctioning my inclination to think complexly."
Almost 30 years later (1952), in connection with the planned re-publication of the sonata (Op. 38), the composer returned to this work and created a new version (now marked Op. 135). While preserving the entire compositional plan of the sonata, Prokofiev significantly softened many harsh sounds and clarified the harmonic texture of the finale.
The sonata consists of three parts. The content of the first two is largely defined by a world of intimate feelings combined with somewhat ghostly fantasy. In the finale of the sonata, these images give way to a swift, youthful, assertive surge, energetic march rhythms.
The piano cycle "Visions Fugitives," Op. 22 was written in 1915-1917. Prokofiev borrowed the title of the cycle from a poem by K. Balmont: "In every fleeting vision, I see worlds, full of the changing, rainbow play."
The twenty pieces that make up the cycle are like twenty contrasting miniatures-cameos, capturing a specific mood, a genre scene, a fantastic or fairy-tale image. Some of these pieces (Nos. 3, 5, 6, 10, 11) are composed as witty, boldly mocking scherzos, full of youthful fervor and joy. Others have an unrestrainedly dynamic character or astonish with their eccentricity (Nos. 2, 4, 7, 12, 13, 14, 15).
The lyrical pieces (Nos. 1, 8, 16, 17, 20) transport one to the world of Russian fairy tales, bright dreams. The clarity and simplicity of the melodic themes, closely connected with Russian songfulness, and the colorful harmonic canvas distinguish, for example, the first and last pieces of the cycle, performing the role of a lyrical introduction and epilogue. About Prokofiev's cycle, Myaskovsky wrote: "In 'Visions Fugitives,' one clearly feels some organic deepening, enrichment of the author's soul, it is felt that the composer has already passed through the phase of rapid – headlong – running and begins to pause, look around, notice that the universe manifests itself not only in breathtaking whirlwinds but also that it inherently possesses, with constant motion, moments of deep soul-dissolving peace and quiet..."
