From Russia with Love is the name of a James Bond movie as some of you may know. I used this same title recently to name two of the podcast episodes for The Poe Underground Podcast. I found it appropriate seeing that we were mostly pursuing Russian composers for this episode.
For many years now, I’ve had a fondness for Russian composer music from guys like Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, and others. Although the music is mostly 20th century or late 19th century, I find the music much more modern and distinct than music from the era of Mozart and Beethoven for example. All of that being said, I wondered how classical music would sound paired with spoken word poetry. I wondered so much so, that I pursued someone that could play, perform, and interpret the complex music of Prokofiev specifically.
Sometime in April of this year, I came into contact with a piano instructor and performer whom expressed an interest in maybe recording some Prokofiev for the podcast. Her name is Karina Keshishian. The first thing she told me was that no one could basically sight-read Prokofiev and pull it off successfully on the first try. It would take rehearsing and practice to pull it off correctly. This didn’t deter her, so we proceeded in our talks. She questioned if other composers could work for this project as well. I hadn’t really considered that premise until she mentioned it, which led to bringing other composers like Bach, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, and Mussorgsky into the fold.
Once we agreed on the pieces, we were well on our way to creating something neither of us have ever heard. Russian composers (mostly) paired to some unknown poetry with myself doing the readings. All in all, we recorded twelve piano tracks in her piano studio. I brought my portable recording setup along and miked the piano up in stereo.
I’ve never done anything like this and found it exhilarating. Her piano performances were bold and beautiful and full of dynamics. I loved all the Russian pieces we recorded but wasn’t so sure about my friend Bach there. I was less familiar with his work than some of the Russian works we were covering. In the end I figured you just can’t go wrong with Bach. I knew something good would come of these pieces, I just didn’t know what exactly.
In the end the wonderful works of Johann Sebastian Bach fit in just fine with his much more modern Russian counterparts. Seeing that old Bach was outnumbered, I decided to give the podcast episodes a name that would be a tribute to Russia and the composers who emerged from there.
The poetry for this experiment ended being a beautiful blend of various works. We have the Russian writer Anton Chekhov, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and even the German philosopher Nietzsche making an appearance.
The poems and prose complimented the classical music perfectly I thought. The experiment was a home run for all intents and purposes. What we ended up with was something unique, bold, and something most people have never heard.
Check out podcast episodes forty and forty one to hear Karina Keshishian perform these Russian and German pieces….
Here’s one recording from the podcast: