» L7 Interview: Prokofiev on the decks
His grandfather was one of the 20th century’s most famous composers. Now, writes Bella Todd, Gabriel Prokofiev is bringing classical music into the 21st with his Concerto For Turntable at the De La Warr Pavilion
Gabriel Prokofiev doesn’t own any heirlooms from his grandfather. The classical scores, too precious for the attic, are held in museums and private collections around the globe. The gold pocket watch has stayed in the keeping of his father, because “knowing me, I’d probably lose it”. But there’s one thing Gabriel has clearly inherited from Sergei Prokofiev, one of the world’s most famous composers – something he couldn’t mislay if he tried. And that’s innate musical talent.
Under his patronymic Gabriel Olegavich, this finely-chiselled 34-year-old Anglo-Russian heads up disco-punk outfit Spektrum, while recording dark and sleazy electro using the moniker Caspa Codina. Amongst in-the-know Londoners, he is revered as the brains behind Non Classical, a label aimed at bringing modern classical music to a hip new audience with nights at an East End pub and remixes by Thom Yorke. After university, he spent a year in Tanzania, learning to speak fluent Swahili and making rare field recordings of Masai music. And, as a composer, he has written for The Elysian Quartet, Russian virtuoso Pianist GéNIA and the Rambert Dance Company.
This Saturday, Sussex will get a chance to hear one of Gabriel’s own groundbreaking compositions when the De La Warr Pavilion host a one-off performance of his Concerto For Turntable (with a special free bus from Brighton to Bexhill). Played here by The Heritage Orchestra, a forward-thinking 45-piece orchestra, and DJ Switch, two-times winner of the DMC World DJ Championships, it’s a bold, brilliant and highly entertaining burning of the bridge between classical music and contemporary electronic genres. Alongside a performance with Beardyman, it also marks the start of the Heritage Orchestra’s residency at the stunning Bexhill venue, currently building one of the most exciting music programmes on the South Coast.
“It’s based on the classical model of a concerto,” explains Gabriel, “which is a concert piece for a solo instrument, with an orchestra. In the time of Mozart they were written with certain players in mind, to show off their skills and the capabilities of the instrument. So it’s about really exploring what the turntable can do.”
While studying composition at Birmingham University, Gabriel attended several DJ battles and became fascinated by the skill involved. Treated in a certain way, he saw, the turntable could function as a musical instrument in itself. When DJ Yoda (who performed Concerto For Turntable at its premiere in 2006) taught him the names for the various techniques, such as ‘scribbling’ and ‘the crab’, Gabriel realised scratching even had its own ornaments, like classical music’s turns and trills.
“In Concerto For Turntable, the scratch DJ works with samples of the orchestra they’re playing with,” he says. “They have to follow the score, and be cued in by the conductor. But there’s still a lot of room for improvisation because that’s how DJs are. DJ Switch is really into it. He’s so young he only came out of his bedroom last year, but he’s so fast and so on it.”
You’d be hard pressed to find a musical connection between Concerto For Turntable and, say, Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter And The Wolf. But boundary-pushing seems to run in the blood. When we speak to Gabriel, he’s just finished mixing Import/Export, a piece for junk objects including Fanta bottles, oil drums and plastic bags. Famously, Prokofiev senior caused a scandal with his second piano concerto, in 1913, when the audience reportedly fled the premiere with the words, “to hell with this futuristic music! The cats on the roof make better music!” Testifying to his grandfather’s playful spirit, Gabriel also tells us an anecdote about the time he invited two chess champs over for tea – and chellenged them to a game of bridge.
“I never met my grandfather,” he says, “and I know it took my father, who was an artist, a long time to come out of the shadow. People would always be like, ‘Oh my God, your dad was Prokofiev?!’ For a long time I had a block about composing, because I was aware I was living in the shadow of ‘the great Prokofiev’. But now I just get into the zone, try not to worry about it too much, and get on with my own thing. I want to challenge myself, to look for things that inspire a different musical approach – and I guess that is something I share with him.”
Gabriel Prokofiev’s Concerto For Turntable, De La Warr Pavilion, Saturday 14 November, 8pm, £14. Book on 01424 229 111 or www.dlwp.com. A free bus service will run between Brighton and Bexhill, leaving the Old Steine at 6.30pm. To book a place contact the DLWP box office.
The De La Warr Pavilion is offering Latest 7 readers ten pairs of tickets
to this event on Saturday 14 November. For a chance to win a pair, just tell us: What is the first name of Gabriel’s famous grandfather? Email competitions@thelatest.co.uk and leave your name and contact details. Closing date: 12 November
