Sergei Protopopov (1893-1954)
Piano sonata No. 1 Op. 1 (1922)
Piano sonata No. 2 Op. 5 (1924)
Piano sonata No. 3 Op. 6 (1924-8)
Sun-kissed clouds (1915)
Mattias Spee
Intermezzi 1-3
Mattias Spee (piano)
rec. 2024, Westvest90 Church, Schiedam, Netherlands
TRPTK TTK0128 [73]

Sergei Protopopov was one of a group of modernist Russian composers who were active in the 1920s and are often known as the Russian Futurists. Of the others, the best-known are probably Alexander Mosolov, whose short orchestral piece Iron Foundry was once notorious (review), Nikolai Roslavets, whose first violin concerto is a key work of the movement (review), and Samuel Feinberg, whose cycle of piano sonatas is his most significant contribution (review). They all fell foul of the Soviet turn to socialist realism, which was deeply opposed to modernism in the arts and wanted music, like the other arts, to appeal to ordinary working people in a readily comprehensible language and to advance the aims of the party. These composers were persecuted and silenced and made to write, if at all, in a conformist style. Only in recent years has some of their music come to light and been recorded, a situation somewhat comparable to that of the Jewish composers persecuted by the Nazis.

Protopopov originally intended to become a doctor, but came under the influence of the important Russian composer and theoretician Boleslav Yavorsky (1877-1942). Yavorsky had developed a complicated theory of modal harmony, to replace the traditional harmony which he considered outmoded. Protopopov became Yavorsky’s pupil, then colleague and then partner. For a time he led a successful life performing and composing, but fell foul of the authorities, both for his music and for his homosexuality, for which he was sentenced to three years in prison. He survived, partly through facilitating a patriotic concert, but his final works were safely conformist.(Yavorsky managed to avoid disgrace.)

Protopopov wrote primarily songs and piano music. I should also note that he was entrusted with Scriabin’s sketches for his Prefatory Action for the Final Mystery, and a realization of this is listed as his Op. 38, with the date of 1948. I do not know whether this version has ever been performed or, indeed, if it still exists; the realization that we know was made by Alexander Nemtin and recorded by Ashkenazy. Still, Scriabin was very much a presiding genius of Protopopov’s work, along with Yavorsky.

His piano music consists above all of three sonatas, They are all in an idiom which derives from Scriabin so closely that some passages seem like quotations or pastiche. The first sonata is in three short movements, together coming to less than fifteen minutes. The second is a little longer but is in just one movement, like Scriabin’s later sonatas. The third is twice the length of the other two and is also in one movement: it is Protopopov’s magnum opus.

It was the second sonata which first interested me in Protopopov – it was on a mixed recital of Russian Futurist works I had for review a little while ago, where it seemed much the most impressive work there (review). The first sonata stays quite close to Scriabin’s idiom. The second starts from there but branches out, with passages of Lisztian virtuosity and a harsher use of dissonance. The third sonata takes these tendencies much further. It starts as if as a meditation on a passage from Scriabin’s Vers la flamme but then moves through a variety of moods and tempi, culminating in an amazing climax. It is a strange and sinister work. Nothing could be further from socialist realism and it is not surprising that Protopopov’s music was suppressed. However, the three sonatas had been published by Universal Edition and in recent years have started to be played again.

As well as the sonatas, this disc includes an early short piece, Sun-kissed clouds, which was recovered from the Russian archives. It is a much gentler work than the sonatas, more like one of Scriabin’s preludes. And the pianist, Mattias Spee, has also contributed three intermezzi of his own, short pieces in a similar idiom.

Spee is from the Netherlands and has won various competitions. He is particularly interested in forgotten and neglected composers as well as in collaborations with artists from other genres. He gives powerful and convincing performances of these very demanding sonatas and gentle and expressive ones of the shorter works, including his own. He wrote the very full and helpful sleevenote, on which I have drawn, and the recording is fine. The sonatas have been recorded previously, notably by Thomas Günther, who included all three in his four disc recital of Russian Futurist piano works (review). However, each sonata is on a separate disc there and I have been wanting a disc which put all three together. Here it is, and it is well worth having.

Stephen Barber

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