Dohnányi's Orchestrations of Schubert's Fantasy in F Minor and the Moments musicaux Piano Cycle

Ernst von Dohnányi's brilliant instrumentation skills were already recognized by his contemporaries. His former disciple and first monographer Bálint Vázsonyi published an anecdote, according to which Béla Bartók considered the orchestral version of Ruralia hungarica (op. 32) as the first truly “orchestrated” Hungarian symphonic work. Nevertheless, neither Dohnányi's own orchestration practices nor the transcriptions he prepared for symphony orchestra from the works of other composers have been studied. This paper examines two of these orchestrations, made in 1928 on the occasion of the Schubert Centenary – Dohnányi's orchestral transcriptions of the Fantasy in F Minor, originally written for piano four hands, and the piano cycle Moments musicaux – both being virtually unknown to the public. The analysis also provides an insight into Dohnányi's interpretation of Schubert, including his approach to the Austrian composer.

O. Messian's piano cycle "20 views on the infant Jesus" in the aspect of connection with the legacy of О. Scriabin

Purpose of the article. To investigate the significant stylistic influences of О. Scriabin's creative method on О. Messian's compositional approach. Determine the means by which the liturgical and mysterious orientation of the work of both composers is realized. Methodology. The methodological foundations of the work include analytical, comparative-historical and genre-nominative musicological approaches determined by aesthetic, cultural and philosophical positions. This methodological approach allows us to reveal and analyze individual plays of the cycle "20 views on the infant Jesus" in order to find an adequate approach to the construction of interpretation. Scientific novelty. For the first time in Ukrainian musicology, the completeness of the implementation of the idea of scriabinism in the works of О. Messian is being raised. For the first time in this perspective, the cycle "20 views on the infant Jesus"is analyzed. Attention is drawn to the extra-procedural, extra-dramatic, but especially ecstatic identification of the musical meaning of compositions for the first time. Conclusions. Analysis from the accepted perspective of the expressive positions of the O cycle. Messiana demonstrated a pronounced liturgical-mysterious orientation, which correlates with the characteristic attitudes of Scriabin's music. The analysis highlights the effect of" quiet climax", which is" drama on the contrary", since it focuses on the sacred phenomenon of the infant Jesus, which defines the essence of this phenomenon. In the works of О. Messian, we find a "spill" of dance-motor sounds, which corresponds to the Franciscan attitude to sacred danceability – and to divine play in ecstatic compositions by О. Scriabin. The interval-semantic load of the Prometheus Chord Forms a hyper-branched monologue of the cycle of A. Messiaen, in which the basis is the concept of an open sequence of the composition of pieces of the French Clavier tradition, and The Prelude in the sacred sense of its basis of music, as it is seen in the Sonata-poetic heritage of О. Scriabin, and the suite-variational thinking of О. Messiaen.

THE “24 PRELUDES” FOR THE PIANO BY IVAN KARABYTS AS AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF THE UKRAINIAN RENAISSANCE OF THE 1970S

Background. The research is devoted to revealing the semantic analysis of the dramaturgy of one of the large-scale compositions in the creative work of IvanKarabyts – the cycle “24 Preludes” for the piano. The composition was written by Ivan Karabyts in 1976 and today it is of great interest to concert performers and fans of modern piano music. The attention of pianists to the cycle “24 Preludes” by I. Karabyts is attracted, firstly, by the distinctive, original musical language, secondly – by a wide range of performing capabilities and means of expression, and thirdly – by vivid images that inspire pianists to reproduce artistic ideas, hidden philosophical implications. The object of research is the cycle “24 preludes” for the piano as a musical encyclopaedia, reflecting the artistic era in the context of the Ukrainian renaissance of tthe 1970s, and the aim is to identify stylistic patterns by means of the semantic analysis of the dramaturgy of the cycle, finding the intersection in a kind of dialogue with a diverse, significant fund of the music of the 20th century. The methodology of research is focused on the relationship of special methods of analysis: functional-structural, intonation, genre, style, semantic and interpretative one. Results. Ivan Karabyts chooses for his cycle a model of tonal dramaturgy of the cycle “24 Preludes”, introduced by F. Chopin and later by D. Shostakovich, namely – the movement along the circle of fifths in the ratio of major-minor. From the point of view of musical semantics of the preludes of the cycle they can be divided into 5 thematic groups (contemplative and introspective lyrics; grotesque and dance; sound imitation and spatial-visual; stylistic allusions; and tragedy ones), varied in genre-stylistic sense (according to the criteria of modelling the awareness of the lyrical hero (I – the world around me.) The dramaturgy of the cycle is built through their correlation, while forming a certain plot, which begins with the image of the lyrical hero, and ends with a demonstration of the society which is ambiguous and problematic for a human. The composer chooses the prelude as a genre with a historical memory of culture, which allows performers and listeners to experience the range of psychological moments of the human spirit in the turbulent world of events of the last third of the 20th century. The composer is fascinated by this genre not by chance, because the prelude allows reflecting in miniature numerous states of “fixed” moments of existence, the inner balance of the artist and the world. Each prelude in the cycle is a kind of creative laboratory, a field of creative experiments. It reflected both already developed and new methods and principles of the composer’s thinking. While performing one prelude after another as a whole composition, one realizes that this genre expresses the freedom of creativity, the element of existence: it is a fantasy, and a story of the heart, and the revelation of the spirit, and at the same time – bright genre sketches. Conclusions. The analysis of the musical semantics of I. Karabyts’s piano cycle “24 Preludes” testified to the presence of 5 genre-stylistic groups in the cycle (according to the criterion of the dual world notion “psychology I – the world around”). Thus, the genre-semantic analysis of the piano cycle “24 Preludes” has shown that I. Karabyts does not lose touch with history and time, by paying tribute to the masters of the 18th–20th centuries, continuing to develop the type of tonal dramaturgy, laid down by J. S. Bach. In the cycle there is a special “counterpoint” of the “blues” stylistic. The dramaturgy of the cycle has a detailed plot, which begins with the image of the lyrical hero, and ends with a demonstration of the society ambiguous and problematic for a human (“I – World”). The dramaturgy of the romantic dual world turns into a harmony of the modern world with multiple images, echoes of time and inner drama. The genre semantics and its analysis allow the performer to comprehend the large-scale cycle as an artistic picture of the world, and its stylistic unity – as a spiritual universe which belongs to the Ukrainian art of the 21st century.

Seven Sketches to the Tree of Life

In many ancient cultures the number seven was distinguished with a special type of symbolism. There is also an aureole of mystique surrounding the cycle “Seven Sketches for Piano” by Saratov-based composer Elena Gokhman. In order to line up one of the possible conceptions of the composition the author turned her attention to the universal Kabbalistic model of the human being – the Tree of Life. The seven components of the Tree – the sephiroths – reflect the seven psychological characteristic features of the human being which it is necessary to develop and perfect, harmonizing them with both each other and with the outer world. The analogies between the Tree of Life and the pieces comprising the piano cycle line up the psychological portrait of our contemporary: permeated with contradictions, aspiring towards harmony and conveying clemency to the world.

«MUSIC FRESCOES» BY BOHDANA FILTS AS A FACTOR OF DEVELOPMENT OF CREATIVE AND POTENTIAL FORCES OF THE MUSICIAN'S PERSONALITY

The activity of a teacher of music-pedagogical profile always involves the use of musical works. The latter makes it possible for teachers to use such musical works, the musical basis of which is available both for performance by the teacher and for perception by students. After all, students' perception of a teacher-performer will always be brighter than the perception of technical means for sounding a piece of music. In the classroom there is a kind of creative search for the teacher-performer (performance always requires considerable effort of imagination, creative inspiration). The teacher's verbal preface will help pupils to reproduce in their minds the necessary musical image, which serves to be a special coverage of the individual to whom there is a specific dedication of the cycle. The means of musical expression used by the composer influence the feelings of the listeners, develop their creative imagination, and the school lesson turns into a long-awaited musical meeting with the music of Bohdana Mykhailivna Filts. The piano cycle «Musical Frescoes» is an example of glorifying the musical impressions of the artist, which remained from the meeting with people of previous years, who became her friends and good acquaintances, with whom Bohdana Mykhailivna had to work in the field of Ukrainian musical art. Summing up the review of «Musical Frescoes» by Bohdana Filts, we highlight the general features of the musical language of the composer's works that influence and develop the creative potential of the future specialist, namely: application of traditional forms of musical expression (two-part and three-part musical forms); use of foreslags, soft syncopated rhythmic shifts; use of sound comparisons of polar registers; combination of homophonic-harmonic and polyphonic textures of representing musical material; emphasizing with a dynamic line the wavy development of musical phrases of the work, etc. The national character of the musical language of Bohdana Filts' works is manifested in the whole complex of expressive means of the composer's piano cycle, which provides a basis for the active use of the cycle in the educational process of various levels of musical institutions.