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Gabriel Prokofiev’s Concerto for Turntables and Orchestra at Armitage Gone! Dance

Dec. 03, 2012

Gabriel Prokofiev’s Concerto for Turntables and Orchestra at Armitage Gone! Dance

Armitage Gone! Dance presents “Mechanics of the Dance Machine” at the New York Live Arts Festival January 31 through February 9 featuring Gabriel Prokofiev's Concerto for Turntable and Orchestra. Choreographed by Karole Armitage, the new work pairs material from Prokofiev’s Concerto with nostalgic fragments of works by Bach to explore a new framework for expressive movement suffused with eroticism, fertile impurities, and unexpected idiosyncrasies.  The new piece will be experienced from multiple perspectives as the audience is invited on stage with the troupe to participate following light cues indicating where to walk or stand.

Prokofiev, grandson of 20th-century master Sergei Prokofiev, has proved exceptionally skilled at combining classical forms and instrumentation with elements of electronic and club music. Described as “revolutionary,” Concerto for Turntable and Orchestra is a three-movement, 21-minute work featuring a DJ “scribbling,” “crabbing,” “cutting,” and “scratching” alongside a full orchestra. The work was commissioned by UK concert pianist and experimental collaborator Will Dutta for new music ensemble The Heritage Orchestra who premiered it in 2007 in London. In 2011, Prokofiev expanded the work for larger forces and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain premiered this version in Birmingham the same year. Prokofiev reflects:

What makes the turntable different from any other instrument is its use of pre-recorded sounds; but that is actually nothing new to [modern] classical music…classical composers were manipulating recorded sounds long before Grandmaster Flash made his first scratch using a record [in the Bronx back in the 1970’s]. However, once hip-hop culture discovered that a DJ can do so much more than just ‘play records’ with a turntable, their DIY approach led to the evolution of a very exciting new instrument....

That instrument — [the turntable] — has somehow stayed within the world of hip-hop and dance, never venturing into the classical world, despite the incredible expressive potential it has….Having previously composed and studied electroacoustic music, I am aware of the search for more expressive ways of performing electronic music….But, seeing as it was developed for hip-hop music, would it work in the context of a classical form such as a concerto? Well, hip-hop music has frequently sampled orchestral sounds and textures with great success, so why not the other way round?....As a composer I have a genuine interest in contemporary urban music styles, so I knew that I [could] incorporate certain rhythms and musical ideas into the work that can bring the world of the DJ and the world of the orchestra closer together.

For more information about “Mechanics of the Dance Machine” performances, click here.

Learn more on Gabriel Prokofiev and his music at www.fabermusic.com.

Gabriel Prokofiev
Concerto for Turntables and Orchestra (2007)
for scratch DJ and orchestra
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21’

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