Research
Research

Research

Scriabin Turns 150

This is a somewhat belated Aleksandr Scriabin birthday post, expressing my gratitute for all those rewarding experiences with his music, and excitement to take part in a conference in Reading later this year in honour of his 150th anniversary. More news to follow! For now, here’s Konstantin Balmont‘s 1925 poem Zvukovoy zazïv (Call of Sound):

He felt through symphonies of light.
He appealed to fuse into one floating temple –
Touches, sounds, incense,
And processions, with dances as a sign,
The whole sunshine, the fire of flowers and summer,
The whole lunar prophecy through the stars,
Thunders here, and a small splutter there,
The banter of a musical sunrise.
Waking up in heaven while dreaming on earth.
Spreading whirlwinds of sparks in pierced dust,
In the fire of sacrifice he was tireless.
And he danced in a fervent funnel,
Until he woke to death with twinkle on his face,
The insane elf, the invocation, the ringing Scriabin.

Medtner Collective Volume Out Now

It’s finally out! Nikolai Medtner: Music, Aesthetics, and Contexts. A belated commemoration of the seventieth anniversary of the composer’s death, this publication was spent on a great deal of my time and efforts for the past two years. Yet it was worth every minute! My sincere thanks go to Christoph Flamm, the best co-editor I could think of, and to all the authors of the twelve chapters who contributed their perspectives of research and performance practice from the US, UK, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and Ukraine. The volume is available from the publisher, or from the retailer of your choice.

 

This Autumn’s Activities

There’s a tough schedule of travels and appearances ahead for the following two weeks. However challenging, I look forward to being on the move again, and to meeting friends and colleagues on the following occasions:
(a) 23 September, 8.30 pm: Online participation in the 10th European Music Analysis Conference, hosted by the Moscow Conservatory, with a paper on Beethoven, Taneyev, and Medtner. Please get in touch, should you wish to join.
(b) 24 September, 12.00 noon: 20th Symposium of the German Shostakovich Society at Berlin University of the Arts. I’ll be presenting on Shostakovich’s passacaglia movements of the 1940s.
(c) 29 September, 5.30 pm: 17th International Conference of the Gesellschaft für Musikforschung at Bonn University, discussing Beethoven, Taneyev, and Medtner again.
(d) 2 October, 3.00 pm: 21th Annual Conference of the Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie at Basel Music Academy, presentation of the website Musiktheorie Digital with three fellow panelists.

Teaching Online Revisited

The third digital semester at Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf has started last week, and teaching online already feels somewhat familiar. I tried to further improve my methodology and will now regularly use collaborative platforms for real-time music analysis and score-writing assignments. Jamboard and Noteflight promise to be convenient tools to enhance the classroom experience. Maybe these will also increase the students’ disposition to take part in peer assessment and self-evaluation routines. Blended learning and teaching aural skills will hopefully benefit from the use of Shared Piano, an on-screen keyboard that allows up to ten persons to play simultaneously. I am still unsure, though, about the best way to move music theory exams online without having to rely on scans or photographs of paper worksheets.

I am particularly looking forward to a music analysis seminar that I am offering to instrumentalists and students in the musicology minor. We will be exploring the repertoire of the Russian Silver Age, ranging from Scriabin, Rachmaninov, and Medtner to Myaskovsky, the early Stravinsky and Prokofiev, as well as lesser-known figures such as the Gnesin siblings, Aleksandrov, and Roslavets. Let me know in case you are interested in attending as a guest auditor.

PhD Talk with Young Musicologists

It’s been a pleasure to talk to aspiring musicology students and young scholars about the conditions, possibilities, and potential problems in doing a PhD. I’d like to thank the DVSM association of undergraduate musicologists for having me as a guest speaker in their online panel, and for initiating a fruitful exchange of thoughts. Do not hesitate to get in touch if there are further questions!