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“A piece in which the composer tries – and very successfully – to vividly describe the enormous impression that any bright phenomenon of nature makes on children. There are naturally sounding bold sonic «blots» (a chord-stain of two side-by-side seconds), and, precisely falling drops, slow rehearsals on one note, and simply a «Theme of Amazement» […]

“This is a fast and cheerful piece about joyfully chirping grasshoppers, always arousing the interest of the children with their astonishing leaps. The fantasy of the image here does not go beyond the usual children’s fictions and in this respect differs markedly from, say, the mysterious fantasy of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker. In essence, it is an […]

“The fragile, tender, improvisationally direct A major ‘Waltz’ speaks of the links between children’s images and the world of fragile, pure and charming female images of Prokofiev’s theater music. These two lines of his work, or rather two lines of his artistic ideals, cross and cross-fertilize. There is a childlike directness in his maiden images. […]

“A true and subtle psychological miniature, previously titled by the composer ”Ashamed has become”. How directly and touchingly the sad melody sounds, how sincerely and “in the first person” are conveyed the feelings and reflections that encompass a child at the moments of such psychologically complex experiences! Prokofiev uses here the type of “singing-speaking” (according […]

“A genre-dancing, virtuoso piece expressing the joyful temperament of a child captured by the musical and dance element. The lively and vivacious rhythm, elastic accents, the colorfulness of semitone tonal juxtapositions, shifts of single-high tonalities – all this is exciting, easy and joyful. And at the same time childishly simple, without the specific Italian sharpness, […]

“A world of uncomplicated children’s fiction. There is nothing striking to the imagination, scary, monstrous. This is a soft, kind fairy tale-narrative, in which the story and the dream are closely intertwined. We can believe that here are embodied images not a fairy tale, told to children, and their own ideas about the fantastic, always […]

“The toddler’s labor day has begun. His gait is hurried, though somewhat lurching. Already in the first bars its initial rhythm is conveyed. We have to have time to see everything, not to miss anything, in general, there is a lot to do… The graphic contouring of the melody and the character of continuous movement […]

“This is like an epigraph to the suite: the morning of life. In the juxtaposition of registers one can feel space, air! The melody is slightly dreamy and crystal clear. The handwriting is characteristically Prokofievian: parallel movements, covering the entire keyboard, playing through the hand, clarity of rhythm and definite sections. Extraordinary simplicity, but not […]

The origins of Johann Sebastian Bach’s four orchestral suites go back to the court of Louis XIV and his brilliant composer Jean-Baptiste Lully. In keeping with French taste, Lully’s operas abounded with instrumental dances. Outside of opera performances, this music took on a life of its own in the form of suites with dance movements. […]

The Minuet in D minor, BWV Anh. 132 is a small and popular Baroque piece traditionally attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach, but in the BWV catalog it is listed under “Anhang” (additional or unconfirmed works). This means that the authorship of this minuet is not fully confirmed or is somewhat doubted by researchers. It is […]

Concerto for Clavier and Orchestra № 5, is also a transcription of the lost violin concerto, now often performed in a reverse arrangement. This work stands out for its combination of dramatic tension, which immediately grips the listener from the first bars, and its minimalist performance style – in length it is one of the […]

One of Johann Sebastian Bach’s works, part of a collection of 19th-century short pieces assembled from various 18th-century manuscripts written by Johann Sebastian Bach and other authors. The story of the writing of this prelude is related to the period when Bach lived in Köthen and in his early years in Leipzig, where he became […]