Abstracts Psychology

Trilogy-Prokofiev's War Sonatas: a study of pianism diagnosis and performance practice

by Chiann-Yi Liao

This document discusses how Prokofiev's own virtuosic abilities as a pianist became an important component in his unique compositional style. Apart from the usual approach to this kind of topic, I will identify the technical problems in Op. 82, 83, and 84, the so-called "War Sonatas", by categorizing them as follows: thirds, chords, octaves, leaps, broken chords (arpeggiated chords), rhythm, dynamics, running figures (group of notes, irregular scales), voicing and phrasing, sound quality (touch), pedaling, and other features, such as glissando, alternating motions between hands, repetitions, and tone clusters. My goal is to understand how Prokofiev employed the above technical demands while crafting thematic material with these difficult technical ingredients into the framework of a large scaled multi-movement sonata. Rather than analyzing these techniques measure by measure, specific examples from three sonatas, Op. 82, 83, and 84, will be used for illustration and reference. Pedagogical suggestions for selected passages will follow the above discussion.