A Bit of T and V
Not tele- and vision, but that sexiest of movements, the theme and variation. I fucking love theme and variation form. It’s got this ultra self-confident air to it: “Check it out guys, one theme! In your FACE, sonata.” It’s even sexier when it’s paired up with one single other movement to make a complete piece. Examples: Beethoven’s last Piano Sonata (No. 32, Op. 111); Prokofiev’s 2nd Symphony. Both of these are favorites, and their monumental movemental construction I think plays a role. They are different. Standoutish.
A new addition to my dual movement/T and V collective is the 4th symphony of a mostly non-existent Russian composer called Ryabov. I came across him via the Naxos radio streams and, having stored his name in the mental like-to-buy box for a few months, recently purchased the one and only CD of his I have found which is easily available. It’s going well so far. He’s got Russian right through him, and he’s experiemental without getting too far from Romantic traditions. In other words, he reminds me of a more modern (he’s 58 years old) Shostakovich.
Aside from the Naxos CD, basically the only other information I have on him is through his rather horribly dysfunctional website. Be prepared for cyrillic 404s.
