The Londoner shared his ideas about putting young butts in the concert halls (or not), which composers have a natural beat, his favorite composers, and his upcoming projects.
Since we love you all so much, we've got the director's cut in english translation for you after the jump!
Not His Grandfather's Music: Gabriel Prokofiev and the Nonclassical Movement
London-based DJ and composer Gabriel Prokofiev is reframing classical music. The enthusiastic 35-year-old, after founding the nonclassical music movement in 2003, established the Nonclassical music label which organizes weekly club nights that takes classical music from traditional music halls into London's clubs for new, young audiences to enjoy intimate chamber pieces -- some from Prokofiev's personal pen, others from the emerging generation of classical composers -- in jeans and sneakers with drinks and friends.
To be the protagonist of your own musical genre and the transformative force behind a modern classical music movement is no small feat, but it's in Prokofiev's DNA: His late grandfather was the revolutionary Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev who changed the landscape of 20th century classical music with famous works -- symphony (Ivan the Terrible, Peter and the Wolf), ballet (Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella) and opera (The Gambler, The Love of Three Oranges).
The young Prokofiev just returned from France after a highly-successful collaboration with Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire under music director John Axelrod called Joymix, an orchestral remix of Ludwig van Beethoven's iconic Ninth Symphony. He spoke from New York City’s Lower East Side where he was invited to spin.
So what are your ideas on keeping classical music young and bringing in new audiences?
“Classical music needs to be brought to accessible places and it needs to be demystified. I’ve met so many intelligent people who know a lot about literature, cinema, and visual arts, but when you try to have a dialog about living, modern classical music composers, they just don't know anything about it because when they go to classical music concerts, they find it unfamiliar and intimidating or they feel like they need a degree in music to understand it.”
“But music should be an instant experience -- you shouldn't need background for music to move you on the most basic level. So the academic, overly-analytical approach to contemporary classical music hasn't helped bring in new audiences. Nor have concerts that have a very dry, serious atmosphere. Bringing classical music to bars and clubs liberates it. These are dialogs that the big, traditional venues need to start having so that classical music can be liberated from its stuffy, traditional associations. There's so much potential for classical music in the 21st century, and with nonclassical, I can bring classical music into new spaces and positively influence the change."
Lots of people in our generation say that classical music doesn't work because there's no beat. It's impossible to dance to, but that's erroneous. Which classical composers would you consider had an innate beat?
“You can find beats in Schubert’s and Strauss’ waltzes -- there's a bounce. György Ligeti also has groove. But generally I find a very strong, driving pulse in Russian music – which I love – and my grandfather's music has a very strong sense of pulse, which is where I tend to think I’ve inherited that passion from. Ironically, when considering contemporary classical music, there isn’t really a pulse -- the minimalist stuff just doesn't groove that much. Every quaver has a note on it and music becomes like a continuous ripple of sound. I’m keen to bring the pulse back and move into a freer approach.”
Modern day composers you consider great maestros (aside from yourself LOL)?
I'm a bit skeptical about the whole myth of the "great classical composers". Sure, there's immense genius to them all, but it's dressing-up music in a big artistic measure. I've never really quite had one composer who I was like, "Yeah, this is the one -- this is my all-time favorite," -- well, to be honest, the exception would be my grandfather, of course, I'm biased! Over the past decade or so, a lot of my favorites have passed away -- Alfred Schnittke, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luciano Berio, György Ligeti.
What will you be up to in the next couple months?
“I’ve got my first BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday, August 6. The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and DJ Switch will perform my Concerto for Turntables and Orchestra, streamed live for BBC2. As far as I know, it's the first time that a DJ has played at the proms. The brilliant DJ Switch is a true virtuoso and a 3-time winner of the DMC World DJ Championships (the world’s largest DJ competition). The work turns the turntable into a legitimate orchestral instrument. The DJ creates dissonance and dialog between live and recorded sounds in a slightly unconventional way – the turntable sounds come from a recording of the orchestra playing music for the concert. In the fourth movement, the DJ makes a melody from a 6-note minor scale taken from a long flute tone, turning it into a haunting Theremin sound by changing the speed of the turntable.”
“In December, I’ll premiere my first ballet in Bern, Switzerland – half the music will be from Felix Mendelssohn and the other half will be my new compositions.”