New year, new month, new theme. The Classics a Day team decided to look back 100 years. For the month of January, the challenge is to post classical works associated with 1923. They can be pieces composed in that year, premiered in that year, or received their first recording in that year.
1923 was a pivotal year in classical music. As I soon discovered when I began my research. Here are my posts for the fourth and final week of #Classical1923.
01/23/23 Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 5 in C major (original version), Op. 38
Prokofeiv wrote the original version of this sonata on vacation in 1923. He revisitied the work in 1952, and revised it. This second version was published as his Op. 135.01/24/23 Paul Hindemith: Klaviermusik mit Orchestra, Op. 29
Hindemith wrote this concerto for piano left-hand in 1923. It was commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein, who never performed it. Only after his widow's death was the score made available, and it was premiered in 2004.01/25/23 William Walton: Toccata for Violin and Piano
Walton was just 20 when he composed the Toccata in 1923. Walton was influenced by Schoenberg, Bartok, and Sorabji. Leter he developed his own style, which was more tonal. He then withdrew the Toccata.01/26/23 Darius Milhaud: La Création du monde, Op. 81a
This 1923 ballet is based on African folk mythology. Milhaud had recently discovered jazz and used it as the basis for his score. Leonard Bernstein called it, “a real love affair with jazz.”01/27/23 Béla Bartók: Dance Suite
Bartók wrote the work to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Buda and Pest becoming one city. The six-movement work, premiered in 1923, uses Hungarain, Wallachian, and Arabic folk melodies. All the themes blend together in the final movment, symbolising the creation of Budapest.Next month:
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