Sergei Prokofiev: Sinfonia Concertante in E minor, Op.125 (Score and Analysis) III.Andante con moto

III. Andante con moto (E major)
Form: Theme and Variations with an Episode.

Theme and Variations. E major.
Solemn and heroic, the main theme of the finale seems to cut through the ferocious "march of obsessions" and marks the apotheosis of the life and happiness of the people. The sound of the theme is like a mighty choir. The solo chant is organically continued by other instruments, sub-voices and counterpoints that appear both in the orchestra and in the cello part itself (splitting the melody into 2-3 independent voices).
00:00 r.74. Theme I
01:04 r.76. Variation I
01:44 r.80. Cadenza
02:10 r.82. Variation II. The genre reincarnation of the melody is noteworthy, resulting in a perky ditty rhythm. The theme turns from a mighty choir to a trivial yell. The sudden furious tocsins of the cello and the quasi-triumphant orchestral tuttis of this clumsy melody add quite a touch of sarcasm to the music.
02:44 r.86. Developing on variation II fragments and foreshadowing the episode.

Episode. G minor.
03:20 r.89. Theme II (Solo Fg). The middle section of the finale is marked by juicy and tart folk humor. A simple bassoon melody (comically important and philistine tearful at the same time) is like a solemn song of praise, put into the mouth of either a tipsy debauchee or mediocre sycophant opportunist. Zealous praiser mercilessly howls out of tune, clumsily tries to do “two laps, three stomps” and cannot sing the verse to the end in any way (here in the parts of the cello and solo woodwinds there are literally not enough words!).
03:36 r.91.Theme II (Solo Cello).
03:52 r.92. Theme II (Soli Archi). Vimes-singer is supported by a chorus of sing-alongs, frantically trying to shout down each other. In numerous variations, the melody is scattered over the various instruments and registers, interrupting with loud remarks the zealous members of the “ensemble"... Ditty rhythms are organically woven into the middle section: after all, satirical images are embodied in folk art most often precisely through the genre of lively and catchy ditty.
04:16 r.94. Theme II (Soli Ob + Fg).
In the episode of the finale we hear Prokofiev’s cheerful and loud laughter, his mockery of the lean and insipid stylizations of folk art (usually supplied with archimodern texts), over that “modern lubok", which at one time was a kind of aesthetic credo of some composers.

Theme and Variations. E major.
04:36 r.95. Variation II. Again in front of us the glorification of the people - proud and joyful, bold and strict, poor primitive and devoid of sensitive tenderness. The "statuary" finale theme recapitulates.
04:53 r.96. The variation is further enhanced by the orchestra.
06:40 r.99. Variation IV, cello. It explores a more gentle and lyrical side of the theme, stating in augmentation with a celesta accompaniment.
07:20 r.100. Variation V, Tr-be. Based on Variation IV in D-flat major. Cello abandons the theme and play a fast 16th note accompaniment. The theme is picked up by the trumpets.

Coda:
07:58. r.101. Motifs from the main theme of the sonata-allegro movement reappear in the coda of the finale.
08:40 r.102. In the final coda section transforms the primary theme from allegro movement, now endowed with a masculine and heroic character, ending with a dazzling radiant passages of the cello playing in the sixth octave (the final sound of the figuration is E7). The pizzicato violins form a mix of two primary theme subjects in accompaniment. Before the last cello shriek, trumpets proclaim the sonata-allegro’s primary theme’s second subject.

Видео Sergei Prokofiev: Sinfonia Concertante in E minor, Op.125 (Score and Analysis) III.Andante con moto канала Arne Korpen