Out of Chaos

How Scriabin and Prokofiev influenced early Soviet music. Donald Macleod talks to Russian music expert Marina Frolova-Walker.

As part of BBC Radio 3's "Breaking Free: A Century of Russian Culture" season, Composer of the Week unravels the lives and masterpieces of the musicians who shaped musical life from the USSR's inception in 1917 through to its dissolution in 1991. In this first week, Donald Macleod explores a host of composers - from familiar names like Shostakovich and Prokofiev to lesser-known, though no less brilliant, figures like Gavriil Popov and Alexander Mosolov - whose music documents the turbulent and fascinating story of Russia up to Stalin's death in 1953.

Donald is joined by the Russian music expert Marina Frolova-Walker as they explore the tensions, censorship and cultural terror of the 1920s and 30s, followed by the trauma of the Second World War and finally the infamous Zhdanov affair of the late 1940s, which censured some of the USSR's foremost composers.

In this first programme, Donald explore two hugely influential - yet starkly different - composers of the USSR's early years: Alexander Scriabin, who had died in 1915 yet whose music was venerated, and the thrusting young prodigy Sergei Prokofiev.

Prokofiev
Tempestuoso (Sarcasms, Op 19)
Matti Raekallio, piano

Scriabin
Prometheus: The Poem of Fire
Martha Argerich, piano
Berlin Singakademie
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Claudio Abbado, conductor

Scriabin
Piano Sonata No 7, Op 64, "White Mass"
Arcadi Volodos, piano

Prokofiev
Largamente; Con eleganza; Allegretto tranquillo; Feroce (Visions Fugitives)
Steven Osborne, piano

Prokofiev
Violin Concerto No.1 (3rd mvt)
James Ehnes, violin
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Gianandrea Noseda, conductor.