Prokofiev sought a more attainable genre for a new audience when he began a new career in America in September 1918 after the Bolshevik revolution. Only a month after his arrival, Prokofiev completed ‘Four Pieces’ op. 32, and Prokofiev himself premiered the piece in New York on March 30, 1919. Evidence of Baroque inspiration such as movements titled Gavotte and Minuet and notably concise form can be found in ‘Four Pieces’ despite its ambiguous title. Profokiev apparently sought simplicity in this music, Neoclassically invoking the aesthetics of past eras. Dances in ‘Four pieces,’ are nothing akin to his towering piano concerti or charming ballet works. Instead, Prokofiev keeps his fondness for dance music in such an unostentatious form as a means to express sarcasm with a beauty of simplicity.
Sarcasm is expressed thematically in the movements of ‘Four Pieces’. The opening movement Dance is not a charming dance, rather, a stubborn chromatic bass motive suggests waddling and comical steps, of which gesture reappears as ‘timpani’ more mysteriously at the ending. The second movement, Minuet, also contains two opposite voices. There is something ugly and shy about the bass that contrasts with the lyrical and confident dance that follows. These ‘Beauty’ and ‘The Beast’ characters dance alternately until the last three reconciling chords. The ‘timpani’ in Dance comes back in Gavotte as a persistent ostinato bass. After the tip-toeing march dance, a chant-like passage in unison melody suggests something nostalgic. Does it mean Prokofiev’s longing for his country? Perhaps. It seems Prokofiev had a particular fondness for Gavotte. He sketched Gavotte first among other movements, and it is the only movement that he recorded despite saying “I have no particular preference for one over the other.” Prokofiev thought his Waltz was a bit sugary-sweet. Certainly, it is the most ambiguous movement, and a polyphonic vague texture within the slow tempo suggest something ‘dreamy.’ In fact, ‘Lento’ doesn’t seem to be a suitable tempo for Waltz; as evocative as the middle section is, the abrupt and almost vanishing ending leaves the audience to wonder as if it mocks its title ‘Waltz.’
Note by Seulki Yoo