Preludes (musical)
| Preludes | |
|---|---|
| A musical fantasia set in the hypnotized mind of Sergei Rachmaninoff | |
| 215px | |
| Music | Dave Malloy |
| Lyrics | Dave Malloy |
| Book | Dave Malloy |
| Productions | June 2015 Lincoln Center Theater 3 |
Preludes is a musical fantasia set in the mind of Sergei Rachmaninoff, written and composed by Dave Malloy. The music is a combination of compositions by Rachmaninoff, Malloy, and hybrids of the two[1]
Synopsis
After the disastrous premiere of his first symphony, the young Rachmaninoff suffers from writer’s block. He begins daily sessions with a therapeutic hypnotist, in an effort to overcome depression and return to composing.[2]
Musical numbers
1. “Your Day” 2. “Lilacs” 3. Prelude in Bb major, op. 23, no. 2 4. “Ho-Ho” 5. “Blocked” 6. “Vocalise,” from 14 Romances, op. 34, no. 14 7. Étude-tableau in Bb minor, op. 39 no. 4 8. “Subway” 9. Prelude in G# minor, op. 32 no. 12 10. Prelude in G minor, op. 23, no. 5 11. “Trepak” from Songs and Dances of Death 12. Piano Concerto no. 2 in C minor, op. 18, 1st movement, 1st theme 13. Moment Musical in Bb minor, op. 16, no. 1 14. “Tchaikovsky’s Child’s Song” 15. “Natalya” |
16. “Loop” 17. “Not Alone” 18. "The Prelude" 19. “Fate” from 12 Songs, op. 21, no. 1 20. “The First Symphony” 21. Symphony no. 6 in F major, op. 68, 2nd movement 22. “Blagoslovi, dushe moya, Gospoda” from Vespers, op. 37, no. 2 23. “Hypnosis” 24. “Mountains” 25. Piano Concerto no. 2 in C minor, op. 18, 1st movement, 2nd theme |
Productions
The piece premiered in 2015 at Lincoln Center Theater 3.
Critical response
The piece was well received by the New York press; Ben Brantley in the New York Times wrote “Writer’s block turns out to be a lot more inspiring than you could ever have imagine—and sad and stirring and gloriously fun. In Preludes, Dave Malloy makes beautiful music out of a composer’s three years of creative silence…the best musical about art’s agonies since Georges Seurat wielded a twitchy paintbrush in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Sunday in the Park With George. Mr. Malloy...incorporates wildly diverse sources—classical, folk, electro-pop—into a form that exists defiantly beyond the quotation marks of postmodernism. He’s that rarity, a smart sentimentalist whose self-consciousness about his feelings in no way dilutes them...Along with Fun Home and the soaring, Broadway-bound Hamilton, this smashing production says that the American musical is not only not dead but also growing luxuriantly in places you never expected."”[4]
Recordings
In July 2015, Lincoln Center announced a cast album was being recorded. The album was subsequently released January 19, 2016 by Ghostlight Records.
