Gabriel Prokofiev: my classical-for-beginners playlist
Most introductions to classical music focus on the big classics from the baroque through to the romantic eras (such as the BBCs Ten Pieces project, which I do recommend checking out). Regrettably, many people see classical music as an historic art form, composed by people who died centuries ago, so I’m going to select five pieces from composers who are all actually alive today. I’ve selected some modern classics alongside some lesser-known favourites that all have a connection to contemporary popular culture.
Arvo Pärt’s Fratres (1977) is probably one of the biggest hits of contemporary music of the last 40 years, and deservedly so. Even if you haven’t heard this work, you will have definitely heard film and TV music that has been “strongly inspired” by its slow, emotive, spacious string chords. I was fortunate enough to actually be present at the recording session of this performance by Daniel Hope. It was in the East Berlin Radio studios which has an amazing acoustic. When Daniel and the orchestra came into the control room to listen back, it was a really magical moment.
Maya Beiser performs the cello version of this at the Barbican’s Sound Unbound weekend on Saturday, 8pm.
Influential minimalist composer Steve Reich’s New York Counterpoint (1985), performed by Evan Ziporyn, is another modern classic. Reich happens to be a big fan of Arvo Pärt (calling him the “most important living European composer”). It’s the second of Reich’s Counterpoint series, in which a live performer plays along to multitrack recording of themselves (in up to 12 layers), in this case with clarinets and bass clarinets. Reich recycles the same chord patterns and melodic loops in many of his works, but I think New York Counterpoint works particularly well, with the 3rd movement sounding like an eccentric mix between dixieland and bouncy techno.
Scott Lygate will perform this at the Nonclassical club in Sound Unbound, Saturday 9.30pm.
I first heard Giovanni Sollima’s Alone (1998), performed by Boris Andrianovat a one-off non-classical night I co-curated with him in Moscow a few years ago. Sollima, who is a cellist himself, has created a simple, yet stunningly rich texture with just a single solo cello. The harmony is uncomplicated, but the energy and emotion of the piece keeps the listener engaged, and the fast middle section is like a cross between a heavy-metal guitar solo and an irish fiddle virtuoso.
Håkon Samuelsen will perform this at Sound Unbound, Sunday 4.30pm.
When you ask a composer for a top five, it’s hard for them not to include one of their own works! This piece, Jerk Driver (2011), performed by Peter Gregson is from Cello Multitracks, a suite for nine multi-tracked cellos that I composed four years ago. The multitrack approach was done partly in response to Steve Reich’s work, but I also wanted to explore various techniques and rhythmic ideas from electronic dance music – in a classical form, and show how the Cello can be just as grimey as any bass synthesiser, and make heads nod as much as any hip-hop beat.
Gabriel Prokofiev performs live remixes of Cello Multitracks with Matthew Barley at the Nonclassical club in Sound Unbound, Saturday 9.30pm.
Klavikon’s Wave (2015), performed by Leon Michener, is the perfect closing track, from Klavikon’s debut album which was released this year. Michener, the pianist/composer behind it, spent years developing a contemporary approach to the piano, which involves him putting an array of strange objects inside the instrument (“preparing” it in a similar way to John Cage), but he also uses pick-ups and microphones to amplify it – turning it into an electronically enhanced acoustic music machine. I recommend checking out the whole album, which very successfully blurs the boundaries between modern classical, electronica and techno.
Klavikon perform at the Nonclassical club in Sound Unbound, Saturday 9.30pm.
Sound Unbound is at the Barbican, London on 31 October and 1 November from 11am to midnight.