In 2022 the Moscow publishing house “Слово/Slovo” [“The Word”] published a new book “The Time of Sergei Prokofiev. Music. People. Ideas. Drama Theater” written by a musicologist, Doctor of Art Criticism Marina Raku. Prokofiev’s legacy in the field of music for drama theatre is rather small; besides, half of it was never staged. The book focuses not only on completed works but also on everything that could affect them—unfulfilled plans, seemingly accidental meetings, short-lived conversations and correspondence. A detailed account of the “time of Prokofiev” is supplemented by rare documents; many of them are published for the first time. Nailya Nasibulina talked to the author about how Prokofiev created his own “Gesamtkunstwerk,” how to listen to his music for unstaged performances, and why Lina Ivanovna insisted on the composer’s return to the USSR.
Nasibulina, N. V. “Marina Raku: ‘Genius is a friend of paradoxes, but not our friend’.” Muzykal’naya akademiya [Music Academy], no. 2, 2023, pp. 150–161, doi: 10.34690/313. (In Russ.)
