Why read Russian Futurism?

If you enjoy music, you are no doubt aware that your favorite genres of music were created in the form of movements or “waves” generated by talented musicians and composers who fed off of each other and came up with new ways of enjoying music.

Some familiar examples: The British Invasion (the Beatles, the Rolling Stones), the classical era in Vienna (Mozart, Haydn), bebop jazz (Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie), the New Wave (Talking Heads, Elvis Costello and the Attractions), folk music in the 1960s (Bob Dylan, Peter Paul & Mary), Grunge (Nirvana, Pearl Jam.)

My publication is devoted to a musical movement many of you may have missed: The Russian avant-garde classical music of the 1910s through the 1930s. I am thinking of early Prokofiev and Shostakovich, before their music expression was reigned in during the Stalin regime, but also composers who are largely forgotten now, such as Nikolai Myaskovsky, Gavriil Popov, Alexander Mosolov and Nikolai Roslavets. I am hoping to catch the attention of everyone who loves music. If you know Prokofiev only from the works that are likely to get played on the radio, such as the “Classical” symphony and Lt. Kije, you might want to know about edgier fare, such as his third symphony. Any many people who know Shostakovich may not know his fourth symphony, the one that was banned for years and could not be played until Stalin died.

But what’s that other stuff?

Russian classical music is not the only kind of music I listen to, actually. I have a pretty strong interest in contemporary classical music, for example. I like Beethoven, Mozart and Bach. And I haven’t lost interest in rock music. And I like blues, and jazz, and a lot of other stuff.

Some of that will find its way into the blog.

To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.