Comparison task between Prokofiev's Classical Symphony and 'The Yellow River'
Music Comparison Task: Prokofiev, Mvt 3, Yellow River, Mvt 2
The Yellow River’s 2nd movement begins with the conjunct rise and fall of the cello melody in the upbeat to the first bar, the Classical Symphony’s 3rd movement melody begins after the 4 bar intro with a heavy ‘rustic’ ie. pastoral-like themed in its whimsicality. This melody in the upper strings descends sequentially and modulates to chord 6 in B minor after the first two bars of figure 1. The chord progression in bar 7 moves from F sharp through C sharp and then back to F sharp in an interrupted cadence. This is then surpassed by the key change in bar 10 to C sharp major 2nd inversion, returning to the original tonic key of D major by bar 12 by means of a very innovative, neat ascending chromatic scale manifested most clearly in the flutes, oboes and first violins. Here the B sharp, C sharp, D chromaticism is quite clearly a romanticised, neo-classic aspect of Prokofiev’s ‘Classical Symphony’. In the first 12 bars, he simply uses a number of harmonic and melodic devices to modulate into numerous foreign keys and then uses a neat little hinge, in this case the ascending chromatic scale to bring us back to the tonic. This is typical of Prokofiev’s compositional style. The Yellow River’s melody here, introduced in the low tessitura of the cello is rather sonorous largely played at the same pitch in relation to the harmony but with that richer tone that so overtly allows the line to sing over the accompaniment. At the end of the 3rd full bar, in similar quick succession, as with the ‘Classical Symphony’ writings, Xinghai brings in a perfect cadence in the dominant which is a particularly unusual occurrence in the writings of western modulations as it comes so soon in the piece. The focus of the melody in the piano is clearly imitative of the Rachmaninoff rhapsodic style in that it is improvisatory in sound, produced by the wandering twos against threes and the abundance of octave
The Yellow River’s 2nd movement begins with the conjunct rise and fall of the cello melody in the upbeat to the first bar, the Classical Symphony’s 3rd movement melody begins after the 4 bar intro with a heavy ‘rustic’ ie. pastoral-like themed in its whimsicality. This melody in the upper strings descends sequentially and modulates to chord 6 in B minor after the first two bars of figure 1. The chord progression in bar 7 moves from F sharp through C sharp and then back to F sharp in an interrupted cadence. This is then surpassed by the key change in bar 10 to C sharp major 2nd inversion, returning to the original tonic key of D major by bar 12 by means of a very innovative, neat ascending chromatic scale manifested most clearly in the flutes, oboes and first violins. Here the B sharp, C sharp, D chromaticism is quite clearly a romanticised, neo-classic aspect of Prokofiev’s ‘Classical Symphony’. In the first 12 bars, he simply uses a number of harmonic and melodic devices to modulate into numerous foreign keys and then uses a neat little hinge, in this case the ascending chromatic scale to bring us back to the tonic. This is typical of Prokofiev’s compositional style. The Yellow River’s melody here, introduced in the low tessitura of the cello is rather sonorous largely played at the same pitch in relation to the harmony but with that richer tone that so overtly allows the line to sing over the accompaniment. At the end of the 3rd full bar, in similar quick succession, as with the ‘Classical Symphony’ writings, Xinghai brings in a perfect cadence in the dominant which is a particularly unusual occurrence in the writings of western modulations as it comes so soon in the piece. The focus of the melody in the piano is clearly imitative of the Rachmaninoff rhapsodic style in that it is improvisatory in sound, produced by the wandering twos against threes and the abundance of octave