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Many pages of Prokofiev’s oeuvre continue the important tradition of Russian music based on fairy tale–inspired imagery.

— Boris Berman Prokofiev’s piano sonatas : a guide for the listener and the performer (2008)

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More quotes by Boris Berman

One of the most winning characteristics of Prokofiev’s music is its indomitable energy. In expressing this quality, stability of tempo is particularly important.

Prokofiev’s piano sonatas : a guide for the listener and the performer (2008)

Prokofiev’s music is usually based on a firm sense of tonality. Whatever tonal uncertainty and ambiguity one experiences, mainly in developmental passages, they are mostly short-lived.

Prokofiev’s piano sonatas : a guide for the listener and the performer (2008)

Prokofiev had a particular talent for creating a fully identifiable mood within the first notes of a piece, passage, or theme.

Prokofiev’s piano sonatas : a guide for the listener and the performer (2008)

The piano plays a central role in Prokofiev’s oeuvre. Not only are his works for piano solo or piano with orchestra numerous, but they also rank among his more important compositions. The piano was the first instrument Prokofiev heard and the only one he mastered.

Prokofiev’s piano sonatas : a guide for the listener and the performer (2008)

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Music has no subject beyond the combinations of notes we hear, for music speaks not only by means of sounds, it speaks nothing but sound.

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Above the pitch, out of tune, and off the hinges.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Boris Berman (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.