Journal articles on the topic '20th century chamber music'

Due to the process of early music revival, started in the USSR from the 60s of the 20th century, there are searches of the appropriate premises, in which early music could be perceived naturally, where one can feel a single style in combination of rooms, music, instrumentation and performance style that would increase the perception of each of the components of the creative process. Such most suitable premises are found out to be the halls of museums — former mansions, or palaces, which serve as museums in our time. The practice of conducting concerts in museums was introduced in Western Europe in the first half of the 20th century as a part of the overall process of early music revival and became an example for other countries including Ukraine.The Museum of Ukrainian Fine Arts was one of the first museums where concerts of early music were held in 1988. The concert programs featured the music of prominent Ukrainian composers of the 16th–18th centuries. Since 1989, the «Concerts in Museum» began to be held at the Museum of Russian Art, where one could hear music from the 18th to the beginning of the 19th century from «The Music Collection of the Razumovsky Family». Since 2003, the door has opened for concerts at the National Museum of History of Ukraine, where, in addition to chamber music, the visitors watched the whole performance — the chamber opera by D. Bortniansky «Sokil». The performance of this opera was also held at other museums of Ukrainian cities, as well as in Poland.Ancient instruments in some museums, that have lost its sound and artistic qualities, attracted attention of the musical experts. In association with scholars and the administration of museums, restoration work was carried out and brought back the old tools to life, which made it possible to hear the true «voice of the past «. This happened from the pianoforte at the Museum of Ukrainian History, the Lesia Ukrainka Museum in the village Kolodyazhny of Kovelsky District in Volyn and the Memorial Museum of Maxim Rylsky in Kyiv. Nowadays many museums in Ukraine have become centres of culture, both visual and musical. Due to this process, contemporaries’ views about the past art have expanded, the recordings of ancient music phonograms initiated film-making.

A re-evaluation of the work and status of a composer not infrequently occurs a decade after death and/or during an anniversary year. Howard Ferguson was born on 21 October 1908. The centennial year of his birth saw a number of high-profile concerts and talks devoted to his music and public life. My aim is not to survey the career and work of a musician who contributed significantly to many mainstream activities and events in 20th-century British musical life, including the war-time National Gallery concerts, the Vaughan Williams-Finzi composer circle, chamber music performance, the Royal Academy of Music, OUP and Associated Board interpretative editions.

The notion “genre type” is actual metalіngual unit of the modern musicology and musical theory. The theoretical comprehension of this term is connected with the problem of the theory of the musical genre, which is actual for contemporary musicology. This term (as far as its correspondences in musicological discourse of the countries of Eastern, Central and Western Europe) in Ukrainian musicology is still totally uncertain and not codified. This creates an obvious metalіngual lacuna. In the adequate theoretical representation, the term “genre type” outlines the higher level of the hierarchical category of the speech genre, which combines the characteristics of the speech and creative genres in music. Since the end of the 19th century phenomena musical forms / models / patterns (song form, form of rondo, etc.) and the content of music are the subject of studying and classification within the academic discipline “The doctrine of the musical form”. And in relation to the studying of genre types, other criteria are the determining factors: performance composition (instrumental, vocal, vocal-instrumental, musical and theatrical work), text, functions, place of execution, structure of construction. Additional factors of the systematic classification are periods (such as the Renaissance, Baroque, Viennese classicism) and styles (respectively, genres). The process of emancipation of functional music (which had certain social functions) determined the emergence in the 20th century so called “pure music”, almost unrelated to the primary circumstances of origin and existence. In 20th century composers begin to avoid the narrow qualifications of “genres” and established “genre types” and create “hybrid mixed forms” within the usual “classical genre types” (such as chamber symphony) or with the involvement of other types of art (for example, performances as a mixed form of art based on singing action of dance, theatre and music). In the middle of the 20th century began to differentiate musical-creative and musical-language genres within the T. Adorno’s classification of music practices for E-music, U-music and F-music. However, in contemporary Ukrainian musicology we have not a general acceptance of theoretical and methodological principles for the demarcation of classical music and entertainment. Accordingly, there is no proper musicology terminology. Working out of approaches and convincing criteria of the decision of these difficult theoretical and practical issues still continues. In connection with this, the necessity of introducing into the scientific circle the concept of “genre type”, as well as comprehension of its musical and speech nature is actualized.

Abstract Chamber Music has always been a genre predefined to a certain audience. At the merge of the 20th and 21st Centuries, the interest for this genre has grown exponentially, from Romanian and Bessarabia composers alike. Because the concept of Chamber Music has evolved during the ages and has always offered the possibility for experimentation, it has managed to infiltrate into present day Ensembles, by associating timbre and constructive heterogenic instruments. The search for new ways of expressing oneself, new sounds and new stylistic methods and the desire to use new types of sound emission represent a continuous motivation for the composers, whose contribution to the Chamber Ensembles is frequently enrichened. Thus, the Jazz influence has a significant role inside the works of Sabin Pautza, Romeo Cozma (Romania) and Oleg Negruța (Republic of Moldova). The article is focused on Chamber Music compositions with Jazz influences, written by Iași authors. The purpose is to create a general presentation and also a structural-interpretive analysis of some works from my personal repertoire, which was actually one of the main criteria of selection. The objects of the research are: highlighting the particularities of the genre and style of contemporary works; presenting the interpretive aspects of the compositions and proposing some personal suggestions and tips. Although the selected works have been initially composed for different instruments and have been played to live audience, they have not presented themselves, so far, as a research subject, and thus have not been analyzed. Taking into consideration this deduction, the novelty and the personal contribution are visible in the scientific research that deals with the autochthonous compositional patrimony. The aspects presented in this article can be used for pedagogical processes and, at the same time, they can behave as a practical method in managing the chosen repertoire.

This publication presents informational and analytic materials to a class in 7th grade of children’s music schools with commentaries and elucidations of the artistic style of German artist Paul Klee and the personal perspective of his art works by 20th century Russian composer. Examination is made of the questions of visualization as a means of impact on the perception of a contemporary classical musical composition. The central portion of the class material is taken up by an analysis of Klee’s works (the visual element) and the analysis of the musical score of Denisov’s cycle. The musical score and the illustrations of the artist’s works are projected on the screen, and the musical fl ow is superimposed on the visual depiction. Thereby, the content of Denisov’s chamber cycle is comprehended in interconnection with and through the components of the visual means of the composition’s functioning. As the result of the attempt of a synthetic perception of art, the visual element provides essential help in providing instruction at the elementary stage of musical education. The choice of the composition is stipulated by the revised content of the 7th grade textbook for children’s music schools by Olga Averyanova “Otechestvennaya muzyka XX veka” [“20th Century Russian Music”, Moscow, 2014]. The article suggests a consistent and interdependent examinations of the parameters of connections between music and painting and their refl ection in the individual, sonorous fl ow of the musical composition

The research subject is the modern chamber-instrumental music of the late 20th - the early 21st century in the context of the newest performance and expression means and techniques of playing the saxophone as a unique wind instrument which is difficult to interpret. A wide musical expression range of modern music involving saxophone gives an opportunity to practically evaluate the depth of philosophical and figurative concepts embodied by modern composers. In this context, the author considers the peculiarities of the recommended techniques of playing the saxophone which have been detected and studied in the creative work of Yu.L. Povolotsky. The expressive timbre and sound palette attracts a modern composer with the purpose of both to experiment and to attempt to collect the wide range of artistic and philosophical generalizations of the epoch. This mutually determined process  -  a timbre-sound experiment, on the on hand, and a continuous expansion of the performance and expression means of a saxophone within the chamber-instrumental culture, determined by it, on the other - instigated the author to conduct a scientific analysis of the chamber-instrumental works of modern composers. Besides, of a scientific and historical value is the information about the creative process of Yu.L. Povolotsky: the involvement of out-of-the-box solutions, composition structures, and the newest ways and techniques of playing the saxophone.   

It is evident by now that swift political changes have had an impact on music scholarship in Russia. A radical shift from rejection to appreciation of the music of Russian early 20th-century modernists was announced on the pages of Sovetskaia Muzyka in January, 1991, where the following admission appeared: ‘By silencing the activities of the musicians of the Russian avantgarde for a prolonged period of time, we have in essence artificially narrowed the complex panorama of our music history.’ In the case of Nikolai Andreevich Roslavets, the process of historical revision has included recent publication and re-publication by Muzyka of some of his piano and chamber music. At a time when paper shortage is critical in Russia, such an effort demonstrates a sincere commitment to acknowledging his work. Certainly, another welcome result of this new attitude has been access, though apparently still limited, to the Roslavets archives in Moscow. The valuable information contained therein provides biographical details which finally allow for a substantiated and more definitive statement on the life of this composer who figured so prominently among the Russian modernists.

Целью данной статьи является рассмотрение камерно-вокального творчества Н. К. Метнера с точки зрения живописности и звукоизобразительности. Автор вступает в полемику с критиками начала XX века, которые воспринимали метнеровскую музыку как бескрасочную и лишенную колорита. Опираясь на высказывания самого композитора в его книге «Муза и мода», проводя исполнительский анализ как фортепианной, так и вокальной партий романсов, автор статьи высвечивает звуковой образ метнеровского творчества с позиции звукописи: раскрывает звукоизобразительные элементы в фактуре таких романсов, как «Арион» op. 36 № 6, «Песнь ночи» op. 45 № 3; демонстрирует неистощимость композиторской фантазии в ритмической организации нотного текста в романсах «Телега жизни» op. 45 № 2 и «Священное место» op. 46 № 2, в повторяющихся ритмоформулах («Тишь на море» op. 15 № 7), в создании такта высшего порядка - сложного образования из тактов разного размера, расположенных друг за другом в определенной последовательности («Сумерки» op. 24 № 4), в реализации поэтического образа через лейтфактуру («Бессонница» ор. 37 № 1). В заключение статьи автор дает примеры тонкого использования как правой, так и левой педали, помогающих воплощать в музыке образы, связанные с колористической задачей. The aim of the paper is to consider vocal chamber music by N. Medtner in relation to picturesqueness and tone-painting. The author enters the debate with music critics of the beginning of the 20th century, who perceive Medtner’s music as lacking colours, i. e. non-coloristic. To confute this opinion the author refers to the composer’s statements given in his book “Muse and Fashion” and also undertakes the analyses of Medtner’s pieces from the standpoint of tone-painting. Such analyses allows to highlight pictorial elements in the texture of “Arion” (Op. 36 No. 6) and “Night Song” (Op. 45 No. 3) and to demonstrate the inexhaustibleness of the composer’s fantasy in rhythmic organization of “The Cart of Life” (Op. 45 No. 2) and “Sacred Place” (Op. 46 No. 2), in inventing iterative rhythmic formulas in “Calm Sea” (Op. 15 No. 7), in forming of “higher-order bar” — a complex unity of bars with different time-signatures placed one after another in definite succession (“Twilight” Op. 24 No. 4), in realization of poetical image by means of leit-texture (“Vigilance” Op. 37 No. 1). In conclusion the author gives examples of exquisite coloristic use of both pedals by Medtner.

In this paper, I discuss “leading” in the performance-practice of contemporary music. First, I take a brief view on the development of music from the second half of the 20th century until today to highlight some of the challenges of leading the contemporary music repertoire. I survey existing research on interaction, communication and leadership in ensemble playing and use this viewpoint to briefly explore aspects of leadership and other roles in playing in a contemporary chamber ensemble without a conductor. Finally, I describe my own practice of leading as a violinist through three case studies in the contemporary music repertoire. Based on Leman’s theory of expressive alignment and enactment processes (2016), I approach leading as a multimodal, crossmodal and multidirectional interactive process. I divide leading into temporal and expressive leading techniques that are used to communicate different temporal and expressive musical features. I argue that leading techniques must be practiced and embedded in body language as separate, instrument-specific playing techniques. In addition to leading techniques, I provide temporal, sensorimotor, acoustical, instrument-specific and socio-cultural aspects that affect leading practices.

The article concerns some aspects of the career and life of British composerElisabeth Lutyens (1906-1983). Her name is almost unknown in Russia. The composer’soutput embraces the 20-80s of the 20th century and consists of lots of genres: instrumental,chamber, vocal music, opera, incidental music for cinema and broadcasting. The serialismcompositional technique is one of the key points of the composer’s idiom. Lutyens was one of the first to begin to use it in Great Britain. The composer insisted she had invented serialism before discovering the music of the Second Viennese School (A. Schoenberg, A. Webern, A. Berg). Unfortunately, music by Lutyens was not popular during her lifetime, she took much effort to open the way into music culture before and after the Second World War. Stoicism and uncompromising stand every time appealed to her pupils (among them R. Saxton, R.R. Bennett, M. Williamson, and others) and detractors who did not love and understand her music. It can be said that Elisabeth Lutyens’s output is still unappreciated. The composer’s individual style needs to be studied especially in Russian musicology which has never applied to the matter.

The subject for analysis were works for voice and piano by selected Polish composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, e.g. Grażyna Bacewicz, Tadeusz Baird, Henryk Czyż, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Henryk Hubertus Jabłoński, Wojciech Kilar, Zygmunt Krauze, Szymon Laks, Witold Lutosławski, Juliusz Mieczysław Łuciuk, Wojciech Łukaszewski, Paweł Łukaszewski, Maciej Małecki, Paweł Mykietyn, Edward Pałłasz, Konrad Pałubicki, Krzysztof Penderecki, Witold Rudziński, Marian Sawa, Kazimierz Serocki, Tadeusz Szeligowski and Romuald Twardowski. An important matter for the author was to determine whether there are common features for this creative genre. She also attempted to find an answer to the question if the trends from the second half of the 20th century were reflected in songs. The scope of analysis covered the repertoire the author knew from her performance practice from the standpoint of a pianist. To the general characteristics of selected songs she added a review of famous trends, techniques and styles of composition, such as impressionism, neoromanticism, expressionism, dodecaphony, serialism, punctualism, minimalism, sonorism, spectralism, neoclassicism, vitalism, postmodernism, aleatoricism, bruitism, microtonality, electronic music, musique concrète, stochastic music, references to previous periods, to folklore and to popular music. She compared musical notation of the analysed works. She also confronted forms of songs with contemporary composition techniques. Interesting was the approach of composers to chamber relations in a duo and the way they made texts musical. Most composers distanced themselves from the avant-garde in works for voice and piano which had a specific poetic text because of the clarity of narration. Matching composers unequivocally to just one trend turned out impossible. Various techniques and phenomena may co-exist in one piece and in the same way one creator may search for different means of expression.

The composition “Movements for 13 string instruments” was completed in 1967 and belongs to the group of works by Simeon Pironkov whose titles include the word “music” – “Night music”, which is written the year before, “Ballet music in memory of Igor Stravinsky”, created at the beginning of the ‘70s of the last century, and “Music for two pianos and orchestra”. The external connection is the genre uncertainty of their names, which is equally characteristic of the notion “movements” which emphasizes the continuity of the musical process over time without suggesting a connection to a particular genre. At the same time, unlike the three “music”-s, the plural form used in the title – “movements” – draws attention to the plurality of the musical impulses that make up the whole musical thought. The strength of the 13 string instruments indicates the belonging of the work to the chamber orchestral music and fits it into the objective European tendency towards chamberhood, which was established in the first decades of the twentieth century. Listeners are unexpectedly involved in “Movements for 13 string instruments” to hear about eight minutes 37 of micro-episodes – movements that resemble fast-moving movie frames or short theatrical scenes – before the colorful kaleidoscope of parallel-moving melodic lines, clusters, peculiar rhythmic formulas and characteristic strokes to be abruptly cut off by the “guillotine of the four-bars final” (according to the exact expression of the musicologist Rosalia Bix). The versatility of the used vehicles of expression and the masterful handing of them are important prerequisites for the artistic impact of the work, recreating with a laconic expression part of the ever flowing life stream in the form of a series of changing movements. At the same time, it is also a way of the composers playing with its own creation, an expression of the typical for the 20th century tendency for the art to entertain with its means. In any case, “Movements for 13 string instruments” express the youthful spirit of their creator, because, according to the extremely inventive maxim of the theater producer Nicolay Georgiev, “man has stopped playing not because he is old but he is old because he has stopped playing”.

The writers whose real vocation was not music left significant traces in the history of Serbian music critics and essayism of the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. Numerous authors, literary historians theoreticians and critics, jurists and theatre historians, wrote successfully on music in Serbian daily newspapers, literary and other magazines, until the Second World War. This study is devoted to Gustav Michel (1868 - 1926), one of the music amateurs who ought to be remembered in the history of Serbian music critics. Gustav Michel was a pharmacist by vocation. He ran a private pharmacy in Belgrade all his life. But he was a musician as well. He played the viola in the second (in chronological order of foundation) Serbian String Quartet. The ensemble mostly consisted of amateurs, and it performed standard pieces of chamber music (W. A. Mozart L. v. Beethoven, F. Schubert, F. Mendelsohn-Bartholdy, A. Dvo?zak). These musicians had performed public concerts in Belgrade since 1900 up until Michel?s death. Belgrade music critics prised the performances of this string ensemble highly. Gustav Michel was also a music critic. Until now only seven articles, published by this author between 1894 and 1903, in Order (Red), Folk Newspaper (Narodne novine) and Serbian Literary Magazine (Srpski knjizevni glasnik) have been found. Michel?s preserved articles unambiguously prove that their author had a solid knowledge of music theory and history, the knowledge that exceeded amateurism. Nevertheless, Michel did not burden his first critics with expert language of musicology. Later on, in Serbian Literary Magazine, the magazine which left enough room for music, Michel penetrated more into musical terminology, thus educating slowly forming Serbian concert-going public. The analysis of Michel?s texts showed that he was not, in contrast to the majority of professional music critics, an opponent of virtuosity. Gentle and liberal, he did not oppose the National Theatre administrations when they decided to add operettas to its repertoire. Here he also differs from expert critics, for example Miloje Milojevic or Petar Krstic - who led a real crusade against operetta. Michel paid scrupulous attention to correct diction, as an important part of the vocal technique. As a critic, Gustav Michel was inclined to relatively modern music. He was not strict in his judgments of Serbian performers? and composers? achievements; he always took account of very difficult conditions under which the Serbian people, after many centuries of the Turkish occupation, started its cultural and musical emancipation in the 19th century. (He was especially considerate towards novice musicians) However his critical assessment of the genre status of the overture to the first Serbian opera, "Na uranku" ("At Dawn") by Stanislav Binicki, revealed an incisive critic. The weak side of his critic lies in too general language not exact enough for characteristics of musical interpretations. However Gustav Michel was a witty and ironic writer, and his few articles marked the beginning of an expert and modern music critic in Serbia.

The concerto evidently appeals to HK Gruber, as symphonies do not. He has so far written four works that are unambiguously in this form: ‘…aus schatten duft gewebt…’, a concerto for violin and orchestra of 1977–8; the concerto for percussion and orchestra Rough Music (Rauhetöne) of 1982–3; Nebelsteinmusik, for solo violin and string orchestra, of 1988; and the Concerto for Cello and Chamber Orchestra of 1989. Ambiguous examples of the form are his early Concerto for Orchestra (1960–64) – concertos for orchestra are by definition ambiguous – and Frankenstein!!, his ‘pan–demonium’ (rather than ‘concerto’) for baritone chansonnier and orchestra (on children's rhymes by H.C. Artmann), finalized in 1977. Then there are four works which remain in manuscript (withdrawn from circulation): Concerto No. l for flute, vibraphone, xylophone and percussion (1961); Concerto No. 2 for tenor saxophone, double bass and percussion (1961); ‘furbass’ for double bass and orchestra; and an unsatisfactory forerunner of the violin concerto, Arien (1974–5). The symphony he has not touched; and one is tempted to see in this reliance on solo/ensemble confrontation an attempt to hold together the self–splintered, all too globally diversified language of the late 20th century by an eloquent soloist's sheer persuasiveness, by musical force, so to speak, the soloist being dramatized as a kind of Atlas. In the same way Gruber's recourse to popular songs and idioms of ‘light music’ in these works can seem like a desperate attempt to find a tonal prop and sanction for a language so pervasively threatened by tone–deafness and gobbledygook.

The article presents four chamber violin sonatas for an instrument duo written in the 1970s and 1980s, which in their concept of form and shape combine the elements of the widely understood tradition with innovative means of composition technique. The subject for a closer analysis are the following works: • Witold Rudziński, Sonata pastorale per violino e piano forte, 1978 (PWM, Cracow 1983) • Sławomir Czarnecki, Sonate tragique für Violine und Klavier, 1982 (Tonos, Darmstadt 1988) • Jan Krenz, Sonatina for two violins, 1986 (Brevis, Poznań 1994) • Zbigniew Bargielski, Sonate für Violine und Klavier „The sonata of oblivion”,1987, autograph. Each sonata listed above renders an individual concept for combining paradigms adopted from the tradition (e.g. forms, use of quotation, expression idiom) with selected avant-garde means in sound technique, which mainly derives from the sonoristic trend. What Witold Rudziński’s Sonata pastorale per violino e piano forte draws from music tradition is the thematic character of musical thoughts, and in its sound sphere it introduces the means of mild sonoristic, maintaining a balance between them. Sławomir Czarnecki’s Sonate tragique für Violine und Klavier using the quotation from the sequence of Dies irae refers to the Late-Romantic expression to which it adds unusual methods of sound production and sonoristic middle episode. The function of these innovative means is to contrast it against dramatic expression of the piece’s outermost elements. The third discussed work, Sonatina for two violins by Jan Krenz corresponds with the neoclassical trend from the 20th century and brings out diverse elements of violin technique. It refers to the B-A-C-H sound symbol known from the past and to the variation form and combines them with more recent sound structures. The fourth composition, Sonate für Violine und Klavier by Zbigniew Bargielski, is the most innovative one in terms of its sound layer and formal concept. Its connection to the past is maintained thanks to a quotation from Chopin’s music transformed in an interesting way. The analysis of the sonatas leads to the following final conclusion: the tradition and the avant-garde in the discussed works from the postmodern period are not in opposition one against another in terms of style and aesthetics but they create complementary phenomena, in which the message drawn from tradition is given a new face.

The phenomenon of the formation of the woodwind instrument art in China of the 20th century is due to the unique synthesis of Western European traditions and the experience of playing traditional national wind instruments. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that the growth of professionalism among musicians-performers stimulates composer creativity, producing the development by Chinese composers of the styles and genres of Western European music. In turn, the combination of styles and genres of academic art with intonation and expressive means of national Chinese music creates new, interesting examples of musical compositions by contemporary Chinese composers, worthy of a separate in-depth study. The purpose of the article is to consider the prerequisites, features of the formation of the performing art of woodwind instruments in China, as well as identifying possible prospects for its development. The leading approach to the study of the problem is a comparative approach in assessing the development of the art of playing woodwind instruments in China and in Western Europe and America. A close relationship between performing, composing and musical education is revealed. It is proved that the development of performing arts should be aimed at enhancing the ensemble qualities of musicians, which is due to the priority of the chamber-instrumental genres in modern concert practice. The significance of the article, both in theoretical and practical terms, is due to the fact that its results can be used as elements of a methodological base for further research on the issues identified.

Mark Belodubrovsky is one of the most accomplished contemporary composers living presently in Moscow who has written a substantial amount of solo, chamber and vocal musical compositions of high quality, which are performed in Russia and in a number of other countries. His musical output is especially noted for its versatility of different styles of music: some of his compositions are traditional and romantic in their style and tonal in their harmony, with a strong infl uence of Russian folk music which the composer actively employs in a number of his compositions, while other works follow innovative avant-garde trends and incorporate serialism, including serial rhythm, sonoristics, aleatory technique and a number of other techniques. Some of his compositions are very accessible to a broad audience, containing memorable melodic and rhythmic traits, while others are written in a highly complex language, based on musical experimentation, comprehensible for the most part to a sophisticated audience well-versed in avantgarde trends in music. Some of his works are based on extroversive theatrical gestures and even contain comic elements, while others bear an inner philosophical discourse. Nonetheless, both of these contrasting features combine together to express a highly original style of the composer’s music which cannot be mistaken for that of anybody else. Belodubrovsky is known and highly regarded as a composer, a violinist, an enthusiastic cultural activist who discovered and popularized rare compositions of the early 20th century Russian modernist trend, the long-time director of the Nikolai Roslavetz and Nahum Gabo Festival for the Arts in Bryansk, and simply as a very open musician with a broad-minded approach towards various musical styles and directions. All of this has undoubtedly created an impact on his multifarious musical style which combines opposite stylistic directions. The article describes the life and the musical activities of Mark Belodubrovsky, then proceeds to describe an analyze his musical compositions. It is shown that notwithstanding the fact that his compositions pertain to different styles, they are all united by one individual stylistic trait which defi nes the composer’s artistic individuality.

Background. In 2018, the 170th anniversary of the death of Gaetano Donizetti (1797–1848) was commemorated. G. Donizetti created 74 operas of various genres and themes. He was the head of the Italian opera school in the second half of the 1830s, picking up the baton from G. Rossini and V. Bellini and anticipating G. Verdi’s searching. Having an apparent melodic gift, excellent skills of composing, knowledge of musical theatre, he created his works extremely quickly and easily – up to 3–4 operas per year, which caused repeated critical attacks. Opera works by G. Donizetti got a hard futurity. This music laid hold of audience in the 1830s–40s, but practically got out of the repertoire by the end of the 19th century, giving way to the masterpieces by G. Verdi and R. Wagner. Its revival began in the 50s of the 20th century, thanks to remarkable interpretations of great performers, in particular Maria Callas, Joan Alston Sutherland, Montserrat Caballé (since 1965), and others. A new success of opera masterpieces arose due to the fact that performing concepts restored the original author’s conception. Among the researchers and listeners, G. Donizetti’s operatic works eclipsed other spheres of his creativity, such as instrumental and chamber vocal music. But at the same time, G. Donizetti lived in the times of the widespread distribution of the romance, and the rapid growth of its popularity in the amateur and professional performing environment. He was an outstanding expert of vocal music and could not ignore this genre. Naturally there is a need for a more attentive approach to such a little-studied topic, as the composer’s chamber vocal music. Objectives. Gaetano Donizetti’s chamber-vocal creativity is the object of this study. The subject is the song cycle “Summer Nights in Posillipo” (“Nuits d’été à Pausilippe”) in terms of individual composer style. The objectives of offered article are not so much fi ll existing gaps on this issue, as taking a closer look at the romance genre, which is eclipsed by the composer’s opera compositions. The author of this work uses classical methods of analysis of historical and theoretical musicology. Results. Studies on the composer style of G. Donizetti in the Russian and Ukrainian languages are very limited in both quantitative and thematic terms. Most sources, including in other languages, consider opera works by the composer. The exact number of Donizetti’s romances is still unknown (from 250 to 270). The song cycle “Nuits d’été à Pausilippe” / “Summer Nights in Posillipo” (1836), consisting of 12 songs, is also not considered in the scientifi c literature. Typical for the fi rst third of the 19th century is the chronotope of this cycle, in which the poetics of the geographical toponym and the symbolism of the night are combined. Posillipo is a distinctive place in the northern part of the Gulf of Naples, with its unusually picturesque landscape and artifacts of ancient culture. The name of the song collection by G. Donizetti corresponds to the popular literature formula of the 1830s – “Florentine Nights” (1833) by H. Heine, “Egyptian Nights” (1835) by A. S. Pushkin, and others, in which the genre of the “night” novelistic cycle embodied. The musical implementations are “Night Pieces” op. 23 (1839) by R. Schumann, song cycle “Summer Nights” op. 7 (1841) by G. Berlioz, which were created in the period of composition writing (1836) by G. Donizetti. The novella-like character of “Summer Nights in Posillipo” is represented by incompleteness of lyric utterance, free alternation of fragments within the boundaries of a given topic, the variability of timbre solutions, varied choice of authors of poetic texts. Six solo numbers (Nos. 1–6) are supplemented by six duets for various timbre sets (Nos. 7–12, for 2 sopranos, soprano and mezzo-soprano, soprano and tenor, tenor and bass). The poems by four poets of Romanticism are involved: Leopoldo Tarantini (Nos. 1, 8, 10, 12), Carlo Guaita (No. 2), Michele Palazzolo (Nos. 7, 11), Francesco Puoti (No. 9), Victor Hugo (No. 6). Also the poems of the anonymous poet (No. 3) and the folklore text (No. 5) are used here. The cycle is “multilingual”, the Italian language coexists with the Neapolitan and French. The love theme prevails. We can talk about creation of a poetic-collective image entitled Homo amore. Solo songs (Nos. 1–6) form conditional self-contained cycle, which is distinguished by genre diversity. This is evidenced by both the designations of the composer himself (Barcarolle – No. 1, Romance – No. 2, Arietta – No. 3, Ballade – No. 4, Neapolitan song – No. 5), and signs of other genres (opera monologue – No. 1, Chivalric romance – No. 2, Serenade – No. 3, Alba – No. 6). The second little cycle is formed by the duets Nos. 7–12. The composer designates Nos. 7–11 as nocturne, while Nos. 12 as brindisi, or drinking song. G. Donizetti’s nocturnes are glad and lyrical, motile, virtuosic, theatrically spectacular. Life and earthly pleasures are glorifi ed in sounding. The atmosphere of a brilliant ball evening is felt here. The unifying factor in duets are the principles of the texture organization of vocal parts. The fi rst one is associated with the interaction of voices-parts with each other according to the principle of anti-phoning singing (Nos. 7, 9, 11). The second principle is associated with the simultaneous sounding of two voices (Nos. 8, 10, 12). The role of intonation relatedness at the songs is signifi cant. The thematism of twelve songs can be divided by the type of melodic core. As a result, there are three groups: I – themes Nos. 1, 2, 5, 8, 10; II – Nos. 3, 6; III – duets Nos. 7, 9. Conclusions. The applying of the “intonation vocabulary” of the epoch is refl ected in numerous allusions between the melodies of the romances by G. Donizetti and the works of his contemporaries (M. Glinka, F. Schubert) and successors (R. Hahn). The biggest interest is the composer work with the form. Acting within the framework of the repeatability (melodic and structural) and stanza form, G. Donizetti seeks to overcome this necessity in every possible way by various means. The structure of his romances “lives”, naturally unfolds in time, obeying the laws of vocal music. The results of “Summer Nights in Posillipo” analysis allow us to conclude about the originality of G. Donizetti’s creative decisions in the genre of romance.

Background. The piano ensemble as a special type of chamber music has become popular in recent decades, as evidenced by numerous international piano duo competitions taking place in different countries, music festivals, master classes. Whereas a large number of scientifi c works is devoted to four-hand duo, two-piano ensemble began to attract the active attention of researchers only in the present day. Despite the individual approaches to its specifi cs and selected music examples, the generic properties of this phenomenon, which distinguish it among other forms of duo music, remain uncertain. Also, the ensemble features the numerous works of the 20th century demonstrating the attraction of the newest composing techniques, enhancing the role of sound and numerical structures, the law of symmetry, etc., while preserving continuity with tradition require a profound study. Objectives. The purpose of the article is to uncover a meaningful idea as well as artistic and aesthetic principles in the macro cycle “Plays” for two pianos by P. Dambis. Methods. An integrated approach together with the theoretical and the comparative research methods was used. Results. A series of ensemble pieces for two pianos by the Latvian composer P. Dambis appears as a kind of quintessence of playing performance logic. During the period of 1973 to 1979, the composer wrote a cycle of 10 pieces, organized in 3 series. The author unites all the pieces under a single name “Plays”, thus revealing his understanding of the piano duo possibilities. The fi rst series dates back to 1973–1974 and includes three contrasting pieces that have different image and style reference. All of them bear the imprint of modern compositional technology, while maintaining an organic connection with cyclic genres. Each of the plays has its internal contrasts, as evidenced by the change of texture and intonation complexes. Emphasizing the second-third music phrases, ostinato repetition, multiple transformations variants of the original element very distinctly makes the Piece Nr. 1 resemble the neofolklore searches of the 20th century without a direct connection with folk sources. In the Piece Nr. 2, the play-dialogue unfolds in the image stylistic space of romanticism, creating an allusion to the famous “La Campanella” by F. Liszt, as well as to the unpretentious music world of F. Mendelssohn. The last Piece of this series demonstrates the synthesis of diatonic and chromatic scales, various types of motion, inversion of structures, shifting of accents, repetitious chanting, sonorant aleatoric synchronous performance of sound complexes. The second series of “Plays” (1975–1976) includes two Pieces; it continues with the variety of previously embodied constructive motifs, although it outlines them more sharply through the opposing ensemble parts. The technique of moving each of the parts into their tonal environment in the Piece Nr. 4 emphasizes their independence, causing the exchange of replicas as if in a dialogue. Whereas Piano I part goes in B-dur and its melody is perceived as an allusion to the second movement of Schumann’s Kreisleriana, in Piano II part, we see harmonious fi guration of polytonal connections: G major - Fis-dur. A colorful palette is created, and it generates a “tail” of sonorous effects. They are achieved through the register technique when the parts of the ensemble are gradually mixed together. On the other hand, the whole usage of white and black keyboard appears in a new way, more broadly – of diatronics and chromaticism, which are interpreted in the music of the twentieth century as certain image-bearing spheres that are sometimes opposed to each other, and as the fundamental constants of different music systems. The Piece Nr. 5 is composed in the competitive spirit between sonorous effects, which is typical for the fi nal sections, and the traditional vocabulary of metric music. The third series of “Plays” (1978–1979) is the largest one as it includes fi ve pieces. Whereas in the fi rst two series of “Plays” the principle of randomness comes into effect periodically, then, beginning with the play number 6, it dominates in the creation of themes and forms. In the third series, P. Dambis embodies sonority and aleatory techniques in different ways either through creating the necessary effect by using an unregulated overlay of diachromatic sequences or interval structures, or through combining them with the traditional rhythm and metric methods of writing. The Piece Nr. 8 can be attributed to the samples where the prominent thematic principle prevails: that is, the clearly defi ned “landscape – background” texture, the presence of constructions that refer to certain genre prototypes, the dance scherzo themes, the energy of the dotted rhythm in triad chords etc. The “Plays” Nr. 9 differ by the miniature form, which is easily explained by using the already well-known playing fi gures. P. Dambis retains the contrast of two clearly defi ned sections, the ametric and the metric music presented both in the horizontal and in the vertical projections, written all the texture voices throughout the whole section and the square structure of the interval sequence. Despite the difference between thematic ideas in this piece, their similarity is revealed through more careful analysis. In other words, the composer offers different modes of one and the same thing. In contrast to the statuesque fi gures, typical of P. Dambis, which get their internal mobility through the ostinato repetition, in the Plays Nr 9. the author introduces the hemi-group that chromatically descends in both parts in parallel, and then moves in opposite directions. Although long time values predominate here, their weight is neutralized by the tempo, thrills, and wide steps. The leaps that exceed the octave bring the game factor; additionally, they are emphasized by a syncope. We can observe a theatrical play with different characters involved, which is enhanced with the comic techniques. Conclusions. The macrocycle for two pianos by P. Dambis reveals the composer’s attitude to both tradition and new discoveries in the music of the 20th century. Nine music pieces represent a kind of anthology showing the development of composer’s thought as a whole: from the desire to preserve the connection with folk prototypes, as evidenced by the signs of the “sutatirne” in the fi rst two pieces, through various allusions of the famous classical examples, to sonoric aleatory technique , which appears as a modus of Baroque improvisation on the new stage of the history. In this sense, the title “Plays” the composer chose acquires new semantic overtones, bringing varied experience of musical culture and allowing to attribute the macrocycle to the synthesizing tendency in music of the previous century.

Backround. Chamber instrumental music by F. Poulenс is a bright, original and important part of the composer’s creative heritage. The sonata genre, represented by ten works for different instruments, occupies a special place in it. F. Poulenc’s appealed to it throughout his career, so studying samples of this genre belonging to different periods helps to trace the evolution of F. Poulenc’s compositional style. However, despite the widespread popularity of performers, chamber and instrumental works by F. Poulenс are not sufficiently covered in music studies. The purpose of the article is to reveal the compositional and dramatic features of the Sonata for oboe and piano by F. Poulenс. Results. Some specific techniques characteristic of S. Prokofiev’s works as a sign of respect for the Russian composer are used in the Sonata for the oboe and piano by F. Poulenc. This work has a genre and narrative-psychological program, as evidenced by the names of the movements: “Elegy”, “Scherzo”, and “Sorrow”. The title of the first movement – “Elegy” – means “mourning song” in Greek. This genre is quite common in the works of Russian composers. It seems legitimate that, in devoting his sonata to S. Prokofiev, F. Poulenc gave the first movement a title related to Russian culture. Songful, clear in structure melody is harmonized with the involvement of transitions to the distant keys. The second movement of the Sonata – “Scherzo” – contrasts sharply to Elegy. Exquisite harmonies and complex polyphonic combinations are replaced by monophony. If in the first movement the text of the piano part indicated the use of a soft deep carcass, the second movement applied a sharp, sometimes too rough, martellato. Elegy’s sophisticated agogics are destroyed by “iron” metricity, precision, and regular Scherzo’s accents. The Scherzo genre is interpreted here in a sharp grotesque way. The introduction begins in the dynamics of f and has a rigid rhythm. The parts of both instruments are completely equal. The endsections of Scherzo are steeped with “hypnotic” rhythmic movement. The middle section of the second movement is lyrical. The thematicism of the Scherzo middle section refers to the lyrical pages of S. Prokofiev’s work. The semantic center of the entire sonata for the oboe and piano by F. Poulenс is the third movement – “Sorrow”, which is a kind of musical epitaph. Created shortly before the composer’s death, the sonata can be considered one of thefinal results of his career. Perhaps this is not only a tribute to S. Prokofiev, but also a musical monument to himself. The textual presentation of the third movement is reminiscent of the choral. The melodic basis of the sonata finale is a set of intonations that are associated with spiritual singing of the Orthodox tradition. The main theme is exhibited in piano solo and has a mournful character, almost completely surreal. Conclusions. F. Poulenc’s Oboe and Piano Sonata is a three-movement cycle that has a genre and psychological program, as evidenced by the names of the movements. None of them uses the sonata form itself. All movements have a threesectionreprise structure. This, along with the program, points to the influence of suite logic, which fits into the tendency for the genre to be renewed in the 20th century, including combining the sonata genre with others. Working with different genre models and their hybrids is also a reflection of the neoclassical trends of 20th-century music that have always been inherent in F. Poulenc’s work. Signs of influence of Russian composers – S. Prokofiev, I. Stravinsky, M. Mussorgsky – are manifested not only at the level of thematicism, quotations, intonational allusions, types of texture presentation, but also at the level of dramaturgy. Thus, the interaction of lyrical and grotesque musical images in the second part is reminiscent of the conflict of love and enmity in S. Prokofiev’s ballet “Romeo and Juliet”.

Attempting to investigate works of music through frank examination of possible influences is a delicate thing, sometimes maybe dangerous - as has been suggested by Jonathan Cross in his book, The Stravinsky Legacy. While the originality of a composer may appear to be threatened with such types of critique, for musicologists it is important to draw upon a deeper appreciation for how a composer searched for his/her own creative voice. The music of Ljubica Maric (1909-2003), one of the most important Serbian composers of the 20th century, has been chosen to demonstrate how composers need different influences during different phases of their maturation and how they deeply integrate them in order to create an individual utterance. Ljubica Maric first studied composition with Josip Slavenski at the Belgrade Music School (1925-29), and continued her studies with Josef Suk at the Master School of the Prague Conservatory (1929-32) where she obtained her diploma. Finally, she took Alois H?ba?s course in quarter-tone music at the same institution from 1936 to 1937. The works she composed during the 1930?s were characterized by a radical will to break ties with traditional, mainly romantic music, so she chose to be influenced by the free atonal pre-dodecaphonic works of Arnold Schoenberg. Following World War II, she introduced some changes of expression that were more in keeping with links from the past. Her music became tonally stabilized, and thematic-motivational developments were rediscovered, resulting in an expression that became milder. But the changes need not necessarily be linked exclusively to the post-war climate of socialist realism. Rather, the previous style may have met up with some type of impasse - the sort that confounds or ultimately transforms an artist. For Ljubica Maric, however, it appears she was never truly satisfied with her first post-war works (1945-1950). What is certain is that she composed nothing during the several years that preceded her first masterpiece, the cantata The Songs of Space (1956). It is however worth examining whether or not they were really "dry years". It is certain that for Ljubica Maric, they were fresh discoveries of Serbian traditional singing, both folk and church, poetic and artistic treasures of the Middle Ages - but she also revived earlier experiences (from the pre-war decade) that she had rejected at the time, mainly the music of Stravinsky, Bart?k and Slavenski. Although those influences can be detected in the score of The Songs of Space, the work has a strong individual imprint, an identity of its own. In the works that followed, The Passacaglia for orchestra and in several compositions belonging to the cycle Musica octoicha (Octoicha 1, The Byzantine Concerto, Ostinato super thema octoicha, The Threshold of Dreams) original traits of Ljubica Maric?s poetics became even more pronounced. The last works that she produced (in the 1980?s and 1990?s) are all for instrumental soloists or chamber ensembles. They continue with, and refine the main characteristics of the earlier ones. Ljubica Maric?s evolvement thus presents a search for originality of expression that was reached only after a process of selective assimilation and creative transformation of tradition had been fulfilled - but not until any "anxiety of influences" had been abandoned. It has been shown that Ljubica Maric, like other artists needed to be ready to be influenced, in order to absorb such influences in a creative way.

The article examines the scientific work of one of the prominent representatives of the 20th century Azerbaijani piano performing school, Honored Art Worker, Professor Nigar Usubova (1914–1994). N. Usubova devoted an important part of her life to pedagogical activity, raising a generation of talented pianists. She made an exceptional contribution to the development of the Azerbaijani piano school and the definition of its future directions. N. Usubova’s pedagogical principles are reflected in her dissertation work and methodical manual. As it is known, N. Usubova studied in the class of A. Goldenweiser and wrote these scientific works under the guidance of the prominent pianist. An important part of these scientific works is devoted to the study of A. Arensky’s piano creative activity. Here, the musician touched upon the features of the composer’s piano performing, as well as the characteristic features of his music. The research also provides performing characteristics of the works analyzed and covering various genres. The purpose of the research is to study the fundamental results and main performing principles in the scientific works dedicated to A. Arensky’s piano creative work by Nigar Usubova, a brilliant representative of the Azerbaijani piano school of the twentieth century. In these scientific research works, N. Usubova touched upon the features of the prominent composer’s piano creative work, performing principles, circle of images; moreover, analyzed the form, genre, tone and other aspects and conducted research on the background of characteristic features of Russian music. We would like to bring to your attention that N. Usubova’s scientific works have not been published. This raises the scientific significance and relevance of the topic more. These scientific works are the first research work dedicated to the study of A. Arensky’s piano music in the Azerbaijani science of music. The research methodology is based on analytical and theoretical analysis, as well as on the source research method (work with archival materials). The main principle is the study and analysis of the fundamental results obtained by N. Usubova in the study of piano music by A. Arensky The scientific novelty of the research is that for the first time the scientific works of the outstanding pianist Nigyar Usubov are studied, their scientific significance, as well as the issues reflected in those works, are revealed. We would like to bring to your attention that these scientific works reflect N. Usubova’s method of approach to A. Arensky’s piano pieces as a pianist. For this reason, these scientific works are a valuable recommendation for every pianist who turns to A. Arensky’s piano creative work. Conclusions. Nigar Usubova is the author of two scientific works and her scientific creative activity is devoted to the definition of performing features of A. Arensky’s piano creative work. Each of these scientific-methodical works was written under the guidance of a prominent representative of the Russian piano school, pedagogue A. Goldenweiser. In these works, N. Usubova worked on A. Arensky’s creative work in a comprehensive and detailed way. According to the author, A. Arensky’s piano creative work is characterized by the clarity of form and texture, the richness of melodic material, which brings him closer to Tchaikovsky’s chamber music. Although the composer prefers miniature forms in his piano creative work, it is also possible to find virtuoso pieces, etudes, scherzos and capriccios. These works, in particular, influenced the formation of S. Rakhmaninov’s and A. Scriabin’s creative activity. The main characteristic features here are polyphonism, polymelodism and polyrhythmics of the piano texture. Simultaneously, N. Usubova thoroughly studied the influence of Western European composers on the formation of A. Arensky’s creative activity.

Dr. Miloje Milojevic (1884-1946) was a central figure in Serbian music criticism and academic essays between the World Wars. A large part of his writings on music were dedicated to the issue of the Serbian ?national music style?, its means of expression, and the question of modernity, i. e. to what extent modernity is desirable in the ?national style?. This paper analyzes some twenty articles - reviews, essays, and writings for special occasions - published by Milojevic between 1912 and 1942 in various Serbian newspapers magazines and collections: Srpski knjizevni glasnik (The Serbian Literary Magazine, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1923, 1924, 1935), Prosvetni glasnik (The Educational Herald, 1914, 1921, 1942), Politika (The Politics, 1921, 1922 1923, 1937, 1938, 1940, 1941), Muzika (The Music, twice in 1928) Spomenica-album Udruzenja muzikanata Kraljevine Jugoslavije 1928-1930 (The Commemorative Volume - The Album of the Society of Musicians of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia 1928-1930, 1930), Smena (The Change, 1938), and Slavenska muzika (The Slavonic Music, 1940). In the course of those thirty years Milojevic passionately believed that the future of Serbian music lies in the ?national style?, i.e. in the artistic transformation of anonymous Serbian folk songs and melodies. In spite of the changes of styles that occurred over the years, he never gave up anticipating the appearance of an ingenious composer who would develop the ?national style? to its climax and enrich Serbian music with ?national? symphonies, operas and chamber music. Milojevic was in favour of a ?national style? mainly on principle. He rarely got into a discussion about the stylistic and technical means he considered most suitable for the ?national style?. In his text Nas muzicko umetnicki program (Our music and artistic programme), published in the Serbian Literary Magazine in 1913, and another article, Za folklornu muziku (In favour of Folk Music), published in the Belgrade daily newspaper Politics in 1921, he recommended that Serbian ?national style? composers followed the model of some representatives of the European national schools of romanticism impressionism and moderately modern music. In a special kind of manifesto Za ideju umetnosti i umetnickog nacionalizma kod nas (In favour of the idea of art and artistic nationalism in Serbia), published in 1935 in the Serbian Literary Magazine, he gave an indirect answer to the question of which means of musical expression he preferred in the ?national style?. For example, he singled out the composition Sever duva (North Wind) by Kosta P. Manojlovic (1890-1949), from his collection of choral songs Pesme zemlje Skenderbegove (The Songs from the Land of Skenderbeg, 1933), as an outstanding example of what he meant by ?national style?. This Albanian folk music was transformed into a relatively modern, but yet not avant-garde composition. Therein lies the answer as to what kind of ?national style? Milojevic preferred. An advocate of a moderately modern music language, he wished Serbian art music to use its very rich folk heritage as best as it could. He was well aware that times had changed, and that there was not much inclination towards this style and ideology in the interwar period. However, he never abandoned this idea. Basically, he never accepted more radical, expressionist treatments of folk elements as a solution to the problems of ?national style?. It is also very significant that he never mentioned the name B?la Bart?k in his writings, which is something we analyze in this paper. He was never able to give up romanticism, a style that never had time to fully develop in Serbian music. Serbian folk music was a perfect basis for composing in a romantic style. Nevertheless, due to many unfavourable circumstances in Serbian history, the Serbs became part of European music world only at the beginning of the 20th century, when it was too late to develop a modern romantic national style.

Introduction. Concerto for oboe and orchestra in the music of modern time (20th – early 21st centuries), on the one hand, is based on the traditions of past eras, on the other hand, it contains a number of new stylistic trends, among which the leading trend is the pluralism of composer’s decisions. Despite this, the works created during this period by the composers of different national schools can be divided into three groups – academic, experimental, and pastoral. The article gives the review of them. Objective. The main objective of the article is to identify the features of genre stylistics in oboe concertos by composers of the 20th – early 21st centuries. Methods. In order to realize this objective, the elements of a number of general scientific and special musicological research methods have been used – historical-and-genetic, deductive, comparative, organological, stylistic, genre and performing analysis. Results and Discussion. The article discusses and systematizes the features of the genre stylistics of modern time oboe concertos. Based on the analysis of the historical-and-stylistic context, the correlation of traditions and innovations in the oboe-concerto genre, as well as the nature of the relationship between concerto and chamber manners as its common features are revealed. The classification of oboe concertos of the specified period by three genre-and-style groups – academic, experimental, and pastoral, is proposed. The main development trends in each of these groups are analyzed, taking into account the genre, national and individual-author’s stylistics (more than 70 pieces are involved). For the first time, the generalizations are proposed regarding the oboe expressiveness and techniques, generally gravitating towards universalism as a style dominant in the concerto genre. It is noted that, in spite of this main trend, the oboe in the concertos by modern time masters retains its fundamental organological semantics – the aesthetics and poetics of pastoral mode. The music of modern time, the count of which starts from the last decade of the 19th century and to present, comes, on the one hand, as a unique encyclopedia of the previous genres and styles, and on the other hand, as a unique multicomponent artistic phenomenon of hypertext meaning. The first is embodied in the concept of the style pluralism which means the priority of the person’s (composer’s and performer’s) component in aesthetics and poetics of a musical work. The second involves an aspect of polystylistics that is understood in two meanings: 1) aesthetic, when different stylistic tendencies are represented in a particular artistic style; 2) purely “technological”, which is understood as the technique of composing, when different intonation patterns in the form of style quotations and allusions (according to Alfred Schnittke) constitute the compositional basis of the same work. It is noted that the oboe concertos of the modern time masters revive the traditions of solo music-making, which were partially lost in the second half of the 19th century. At the new stage of evolution, since the early 20th century (1910s), the concerto oboe combines solo virtuosity with chamber manner, which is realized in a special way by the authors of different styles. Most of them (especially in the period up to the 1970s–1980s of the previous century) adhere to the academic model which is characterized by a three-part composition with a tempo ratio “fast – slow – fast” with typical structures of each of the parts – sonata in the first, complex three-part in the second, rondo-sonata in the third, as well as traditional, previously tried and used means of articulation and stroke set (concertos by W. Alvin, J. Horovitz – Great Britain; E. T. Zwillich, Ch. Rouse – USA; O. Respighi – Italy; Lars-Erik Larrson – Switzerland, etc.). The signs of the oboe concertos of the experimental group are the freedom of structure both in the overall composition and at the level of individual parts or sections, the use of non-traditional methods of playing (J. Widmann, D. Bortz – Germany; C. Frances-Hoad, P. Patterson – England; E. Carter – USA; J. MacMillan – Scotland; O. Navarro – Spain; N. Westlake – Australia). The group of pastoral concertos is based on highlighting the key semantics of oboe sound image. This group includes concertos of two types – non-programmatic (G. Jacob, R. Vaughan Williams, M. Arnold – Great Britain; О. T. Raihala – Finland; M. Berkeley, Е. Carter – USA and other authors); programmatic of two types – with literary names (L’horloge de flore J. Françaix – France; Helios, Two’s Company T. Musgrave; Angel of Mons J. Bingham – Great Britain); based on the themes of the world classics or folklore (two concertos by J. Barbirolli – Great Britain – on the themes of G. Pergolesi and A. Corelli; Concerto by B. Martinu – Czechia – on the themes from Petrushka by I. Stravinsky, etc.). This group of concertos also includes the genre derivatives, such as suite (L’horloge de flore J. Françaix); fantasy (Concerto fantasy for oboe, English horn and orchestra by V. Gorbulskis); virtuoso piece (Pascaglia concertante S. Veress); concertino (Concertino by N. Scalcottas, R. Kram, A. Jacques); genre “hybrids” (Symphony-Concerto by J. Ibert; Symphony-Concerto by T. Smirnova; Chuvash Symphony-Concerto by T. Alekseyeva; Concerto-Romance by Zh. Matallidi; Concerto-Poem for English horn, oboe and orchestra by G. Raman). Conclusions. Thus, the oboe concerto in the works by modern time composers appears as a complex genre-and-intonation fusion of traditions and innovations, in which prevail the individual-author’s approaches to reproducing the specificity of the genre. At the same time, through the general tendency of stylistic pluralism, several lines-trends emerge, defined in this article as academic, experimental, and pastoral, and each of them can be considered in more detail in the framework of individual studies.

Background. The objective of the article is to analyze the interaction, for sake of artistic unity of a work, of the musical, textural and theatrical structures and solutions in the contemporary opera as in a synthetic genre. The author uses his chamber opera “Annunciation” as an example of these processes and shows the ways certain dramatic and theatrical ideas determine musical solutions. Although since the middle of the 19th century composers sometimes wrote an opera text themselves, the common case was still a collaboration of two (sometimes more) creators: a composer and a librettist, each of them being an expert in their own particular field. Their collaboration and mutual flexibility are of great importance, especially at the initial phase of creation, when a composer makes a decision concerning fundamental features and structures of a future work. Since an opera libretto often consists of the fragments borrowed from previously created texts, a composer should comprehend the libretto in its new integrity. Understanding dramatic intentions of a librettist is extremely important, too. On the other hand, a good libretto should contain some elements of incompleteness (let’s call it “dramatic gaping”) to ensure the composer’s freedom in building musical forms and to encourage him / her to elaborate self-own personal solutions both in musical and dramatic (theatrical) fields. The results of the research. The text of Alexander Shchetynsky’s chamber opera, “Annunciation”, is inspired by the dialogue described in Chapter 1 of St. Luke’s Gospel between the Virgin Mary and the Angel Gabriel, who announced about future birth of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Gradual transformation of Mary who prepares to become the mother of God forms the action. Since both characters are positive and no conflict is developed between them, dramatic tension appears basing on the contrast between Mary’s happiness, when she hears the message, and the presentiment of her own and her Son’s future tragedy. Instrumental scoring (piano, celesta and metal percussion) is in no way the klavier variant, but the only possible version for performance of this opera. Percussion instruments, played by the pianist and partly by the singer, symbolize the Heaven. The pianist plays the grand piano, which stays at the stage. He is not a common accompanist but the second character (the Angel Gabriel) taking a direct part in the stage action, so the sounds of the piano is Angel’s secret speech. The idea to shape two characters with totally different means was suggested by the librettist Alexey Parin. His concept of putting the speech of the Angel not into a human voice but into the wordless “voice” of an instrument looked extremely promising and innovative. This “secret utterance” of the Angel, then, became the starting point of the opera and the source of its genre definition: the stage dialogues without accompaniment. The structure of the work is as follows (all the episodes go one after another without a break). Episode 1. “Presentiment” (aria). Mary is occupied with the spinning wheel. The Angel has not yet come, only the tinkling of percussion instruments hints at grace descending upon Mary. Episode 2. “Whiff “(recitative). The Angel is entering. The mood is strange, unreal, as if in a dream, when the common logic of action is broken. Episode 3. “Good Word” (scene). The first dramatic climax. The piano part is resembling a choir singing, which Mary is understanding and answering to it. The general mood of the music is tragic: it is the presentiment of a terrible ordeal and human grief awaiting Mary. Episode 4. “Ecstasy” (aria). The Immaculate Conception. The climax is of lofty, lyrical substance. There is free soaring of the voice and feeling of the miracle and happiness. Episode 5. “Fear” (scene). The second dramatic climax: Mary has been realizing her future. The vocal style is unstable; recitation and Sprechgesang follow cantabile closely. Episode 6. “Farewell” (aria). Happiness mixed with bitter presentiments. At the very end the music resembles a lullaby. The musical language of the opera does not contain any elements of traditional Church music. This is spiritual music intended for the theatre or concert performance, without any allusion to Divine Service. In style the work tends toward musical modernism and 20th century avantgarde, with their attributes of atonality and modality, rhythmical complication, emancipation of timbre component and dissonances. The latter were used both in atonal and modal context. Both horizontal and vertical elements of the texture have their common roots in several micro-thematic interval structures, exactly, in the combinations of a triton and minor second (including octave transpositions, the major seventh and minor ninth). These structures form the common basement of all musical components and lead to thematic unity of the opera. Despite the modernistic orientation, cantabile style prevails in the soprano part, making use of various types of singing such as recitation, arioso, parlando, Sprechgesang, whisper, and others. Conclusion. The musical solutions in “Annunciation” appear as a consequence and elaboration of the dramatic concept of libretto. Analysis of its peculiarities led to forming their musical equivalents, which helped to achieve the integrity of all the main components of the work.

The article is devoted to the study of the role of harmony and texture in the process of forming the singer’s performance thinking. The relevance of the research topic is to justify the texture and harmony set of G. Sviridov’s vocal compositions as the basis for the formation of performance thinking. The problem for a vocalist lies in the fact that in the conditions of the complication of the musical language of chamber and vocal music of the 20th century, it becomes difficult to build a hierarchy of artistic image in the unity of vocal and instrumental framework. For a soloist, the texture as a principle of the composer’s organization of a text comes down to their solo melodic line; this is an instrumental category, the measurement of the piano part. Together with melos, instrumentalism constitutes artistic unity expressed through the texture and harmony set. How does the monody in the vocal part interact with the instrumental texture (homophony and harmony)? This aspect is a “stumbling block” for the vocalists who study vocal styles of music by composers of the 20th century. The purpose of the article is to reveal the texture and harmony features of the vocal compositions of G. Sviridov, taking into account their implementation in the performance process. Analysis of the recent studies and publications. In the monograph by A. Sokhor, the main attention is focused on the coverage of the biography in connection with creative activity. The harmonic language of G. Sviridov’s works was analyzed by V. Tsendrovsky [11]. In the works of O. Aleksandrova, the aspects of modern musicological methodology are presented when studying the compositional style of G. Sviridov [2]. However, in the above scientific sources, the issues of the texture and harmony organization that are important for the formation of the performance thinking of singers (including those from China) are not systematically presented and therefore should be the subject of scientific reflection. Discussion. For the baritone, the composer created a multi-genre palette of images in various chamber and vocal compositions of a cyclic type. The works of G. Sviridov are distinguished by deep national basis and the originality of the musical language. The composer inherited a connection with folk-song sources, modal expressiveness, vivid imagery, courage of harmonic principles of thinking. The texture and harmony arrangement of vocal parts is characterized by a combination of common European and folklore parameters. From the arsenal of modern methods of compositional technique, he applies the phonic interpretation of the vertical, pays special attention to timbre intonation as a sound image, speech declamation in the synthesis with the song manner. The melodics in G. Sviridov’s vocal compositions is the leading factor of the style, influencing the texture and harmony and timbre parts of the sound image (the unity of the vocal and instrumental intonation). Together with melos, the instrumentalism constitutes artistic unity, expressed through the texture and harmony set. The substantiation of the concept of texture and harmony set in the context of the singer’s activities as melodic self-identification is seen as important. The main parameters of the texture and harmony set in G. Sviridov’s vocal compositions form the basis for the implementation of the composer’s vocal style. Hence there is a need to include understanding of the foundations of the composer’s text (melodics, mode and harmony, texture) in the performance poetics (timbre, articulation, dynamics, agogics). Examples from certain compositions of Sviridov are indicated: “Spring” from the cycle “Four songs” to the verses of A. Blok as an example of polyharmony (introduction of the side tones into the chords of the tertian structure). The melody of baritone romances is almost always strictly monomodal or pentatonic. The stability of harmony is typical, holding one mode or oscillating around it, tinted by additional tones, comparisons or deviations with the dominance of the tonal basis. Sometimes a multicomponent tone system is complicated by the side tones. Second “overtones” included in such consonance create the effect of a bell manner, a sense of spatiality. The approach to folklore as a special system of thinking emphasizes the national mentality of musical images (Eternity, House, Path, Nature) of G. Sviridov’s works, creating a “close-up” where the poet creates an objective lyrical and epic song on behalf of his Self. Harmony is the basis of composer’s thinking: the colorfulness of the texture and vertical sets determines the instrumental phonism (piano). It entails the need for deep comprehension of the composition foundations (melodics, mode and harmony, texture) through the performance specifics (articulation, dynamics, agogics). The given examples confirm the importance of the texture and harmony parameter in the process of the formation of melodic pitch in the works of foreign-language singers. Having considered the parameters of the texture and harmony set in G. Sviridov’s vocal compositions, it can be argued that without understanding their role in recreating the singer’s figurativeness, the true height of interpretation of the composer’s vocal style is impossible.

Viktor Vlasov is one of the brightest representatives of Ukrainian button accordion school, and his work is a special page in the musical culture of Ukraine and a significant component of the button accordion art for children. By his work V. Vlasov implements, new ideas and techniques of performing skills that rely on bright artistic images in the native children’s music, and also applies the means of composition techniques that appear in contemporary button accordion art and he pays attention to the latest unconventional methods of sound making. Due to this variety, V. Vlasov’s works have no only their main task – the education of children, but also it is a guideline for other composers. Music scholars, who study the work of Ukrainian composer-accordionist V. Vlasov, have the important task to give a proper assessment of work in general, and summarize the basic criteria of his approach to the formation of the system of young accordionist’s professional skills. Children’s music of button accordion of Ukrainian authors is a significant amount of works for young performers. Although the history of button accordion performance and pedagogy in comparison with other musical instruments is very short, it can be confirmed of the formation of certain schools of button accordion craftsmanship, including the author’s schools, one of which includes the original work of V. Vlasov. In Ukraine, the period of children’s music of button accordion development was synchronized with the formation of a professional button accordion music in general. Beginning from the second half of the twentieth century composers-accordionists made a huge contribution to the musical heritage, including for children. At the same time, information about this stage of musical culture is still poorly explored, the potential of the Ukrainian children’s music of button accordion is not sufficiently defined, the information about collections of plays for children and young people of Ukrainian composers is not generalized or systematized. Ukrainian music for children encompasses a multitude of individual composer styles (from V. Kosenko, M. Lysenko, I. Shamo to contemporary authors such as A. Gaidenko, V. Vlasov, P. Gubanov, O. Shmykov, B. Myronchuk and many others. V. Vlasov definitely can be considered composers with a brightly individually creative writing. All composer’s musical creativity is original and is closely connected with Ukrainian and world classics using authentic folklore, with an appeal to modern pop and jazz genres. He is the author of many works for button accordion which are as complicated, oriented on high level masters as works for beginners. V. Vlasov’s «Album for Children and Youth» has become an important achievement in the field of button accordion art. The cycle of V. Vlasov includes 45 different-colored music pieces; they are not connected with a plot-thematic line, because each music piece has its musical and artistic content. In addition, the music pieces are grouped into five notebooks in accordance with the general plan and a clear pedagogical task. In the first two notebooks of the album («Album of the first-graders», « At a visit to a fairy tale «), the world of a modern child is developed very clearly in the tradition of children’s album from such composers as R. Schumann and P. Chaikovsky to S. Prokofiev and B. Bartok. In the notebook «Folk tunes» which includes folk treats, V. Vlasov managed to cover folk leaks of different regions of Ukraine. The music pieces of the last notebook («Variety-jazz plays») are based on modern jazz language. Researchers more often pay attention to the listed notebooks. This article focuses on the central book of the album – «Chamber Plays». Three sonatas at the beginning of this notebook are perceived as a microcycle where the specificity of sonat thinking is consistently revealed and the artistic and technical tasks for the artist are gradually becoming more complex. The first music piece is a miniature «Sonatyna» of F-dur of early classical type, but even in the summary presentation the thematic contrast is already presented and the functional and logical side of the sonata form is implemented. The second «Sonatyna» D-dur meets the examples of Vienna classics – the thematic is based on the original contrast, there is already a motive comparison in a small development. The third «Sonatyna» C-dur is the most difficult task for performance; it relies on a complex of expressive means corresponding to the music of the 20th century – the toccata-basis of the themes, a complex harmonious language. Thus, three sonatas are a short «summary» of the genre for button accordionists at beginner level. The study of these sonatas is important for assimilating the most complex musical structure. The following music plieces are devoted to other genres, where the author focuses on the transformation of stylistic features. The romantic type of «Serenade» focused on J. Field’s nocturnes has such features as intricacy, expressiveness, sensuality and refinement and corresponds to the general lyrical character of the music piece. The greatest artistic complexity for button accordion performers in «Serenade» is precisely the embodiment of the character of a work that requires a certain level of student’s artistic development, an open emotionality. «Harpsichord» is a work that helps to restore the picture of the aristocratic salon of the times of Rococo, but at the same time it gives certain tasks for the young performer. V. Vlasov somewhat unusually interprets the distribution of textural functions in this musical piece: the part in the left hand imitates the sound of a harpsichord, creating a harmonic accompaniment, while the soloing art of the right hand reflects the timbre of flute or oboe; here the coordination of the hands of the button accordionist and the differentiation of the strokes are important. The last music piece of the book «Watercolour» seems more complicated in content, and more complex in texture development and performance tasks. In this musical creation of this genre of painting, the composer redefines the established notions about the art technique of watercolors and combines the traditions of musical Impressionism with the elements of the «plot», which is represented as a picture. The Viktor Vlasov work, one of the most prominent representatives of the Ukrainian Button accordion School, is a special page of the musical culture of Ukraine and an important component of children’s button accordion music. The most important achievement of the composer in the “Album for Children and Youth” is the systematic, consistent, professional justification of the whole set of musical and auditory ideas and professional skills that make this cycle can be a real school of button accordion craftsmanship.

At the turn of the century, opera was leaderless after the heady days of Verdi and Wagner. Puccini emerged as the new voice of Italian opera, where realism, or verismo, was the way forward. But verismo could never be the answer to the operatic dilemma that faced the latest composers, since it only gave a musical dimension to a stage painting of ‘life as it is’, without reference to underlying psychodynamics — I personally have never thought Puccini much of an intellectual. Beautiful his music may be, but as thinking pieces of theatre they are devoid of real challenges. Their appeal and potency lies, to a great extent, in Puccini's obsession with needless suffering.

These lines of Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935), the great poet of Portuguese modernism, may seem at first sight to invoke the principal element of fado, Portugal's national music: the element represented by that famously untranslatable word suadade, implying longing, nostalgia, homesickness … However, they hide far deeper resonances. Mensagen (Message), the poetic sequence from which they come, is a profound exploration of Portugal's history, a modern counterpart to Camoens's great 16th-century epic The Lusiads. It is connected to the nationalist Integralismo Lusitano movement, and to Sebastianism. Other poets, particularly Mario Sa-Carneiro (1890–1916), and plastic artists, notably Amadeo de Sousa Cardoso (1887–1918) and Jose de Almada Negreiros (1893–1970), similarly reflect the strength of these patriotic and mystical ideas in Portugal during the country's deepening social crisis in the early part of the century. But Pessoa, who famously split himself into several persons, each with their own name, style and poetic output, may also stand as a symbol of the different currents Portuguese composers have ridden in search of their national identity.

Sweden appeared as a music exporting country on the map in the beginning of the 20th century. Located between different shifting military and political blocks it maintained a politics that contributed to some extent to the specific shape of Sweden’s music life which this overview outlines.

Introduction. By Nazaikynskyi’s (2003) definition, genres are “relatively stable types, classes, kinds and sorts of music works that have been formed historically; they could be сlassified according to the following basic criteria: a) specific function (social, domestic or artistic); b) conditions and means of performing; c) the character of the content and the forms of its embodiment” (94). Besides, genre has a memory concerning its origin and existence, it absorbs whole traditions of realisation of genre types that existed during certain historical periods. In such a way it forms the field of meaning around genre concept itself. We have chosen three pieces of L. Shukailo for our analysis. They have been written in Scherzo, Toccata and Rhapsody genres, tightly linked with different historical traditions, and also with the works of the greatest composers. That’s why we concider the analysis of Shukailo’s music in the context of genre tradition as an interesting and fertile perspective. Theoretical Background. There are no studies, dedicated to L. Shukailo’s works nowadays. So, this one has inevitably been a pioneering work in the sphere. At the same time, a considerable amount of literature is available about different explanations of the conception of genre. Notwithstanding these multiple treatises, we prefer to base our research on Nazaikynskyi’s genre definition. The latest studies, concerning the specificity of some music genres also serve for us as valuable sources of information. These are: the thesis and the papers of E. Belash, where Scherzo is characterized as a genre; the thesis of T. Prodma and O. Bondarenko about Toccata; the article of G. Bazyken, dedicated to Rhapsody genre. The objective of the article is to identify the characteristic features of L. Shukailo’s piano pieces (“Scherzo” (1992), “Toccata-Campana” (1994), and “Rhapsody” (1996)) in the context of the genre paradigm and also – to reveal the specific nature of “the image of the genre” in the composer’s music. Methods. The article explores three concert pieces for piano by contemporary Ukrainian composer L. Shukailo in the context of the genre paradigm. The general genre specificity of the works conerning “the image of the genre”, as well as the characteristic style traits of L. Shukailo’s music, has been revealed. The peculiarities of the texture of each of the pieces regarding the “piano image” are analyzed. The reasons why L. Shukaylo’s works in the genres of Scherzo, Toccata and Rhapsody have been selected for analysis are: their connection with the broad historical context, European and national piano tradition, abundant allusions to the music of the predecessors. The expressions “the image of the piano” and “the image of the genre” need some additional explanation. The concept “the image of the piano” had been used for the first time by L. Gakkel in his book “The 20th Century Piano Music” (1990). Then it was further developed by other scholars (for instance, by E. Belash (2015). It means the specificity and the timbre of the instrument that is an integral part of the stylistic complex of the piece of music, created by a composer and represented by a performer. We are convinced that the images of the genres emerged simultaneously with the image of the piano, especially if these genres had a marked piano specificity. It can be fully applied to Scherzo and Toccata genres, and partly – to Rhapsody. The image of the genre is tightly linked to the image of the piano when it сomes to piano music. Results and Discussion. Scherzo is the most versatile genre among others because of its wide range of expressive opportunities. Thus, E. Belash considers Scherzo as a genre, related to the image of the piano, and also to the conception of virtuosity. She assumes that the desire to demonstrate mastery of the piano different explanations of the conception of genre. Notwithstanding these multiple treatises, we prefer to base our research on Nazaikynskyi’s genre definition. The latest studies, concerning the specificity of some music genres also serve for us as valuable sources of information. These are: the thesis and the papers of E. Belash, where Scherzo is characterized as a genre; the thesis of T. Prodma and O. Bondarenko about Toccata; the article of G. Bazyken, dedicated to Rhapsody genre. The objective of the article is to identify the characteristic features of L. Shukailo’s piano pieces (“Scherzo” (1992), “Toccata-Campana” (1994), and “Rhapsody” (1996)) in the context of the genre paradigm and also – to reveal the specific nature of “the image of the genre” in the composer’s music. Methods. The article explores three concert pieces for piano by contemporary Ukrainian composer L. Shukailo in the context of the genre paradigm. The general genre specificity of the works conerning “the image of the genre”, as well as the characteristic style traits of L. Shukailo’s music, has been revealed. The peculiarities of the texture of each of the pieces regarding the “piano image” are analyzed. The reasons why L. Shukaylo’s works in the genres of Scherzo, Toccata and Rhapsody have been selected for analysis are: their connection with the broad historical context, European and national piano tradition, abundant allusions to the music of the predecessors. The expressions “the image of the piano” and “the image of the genre” need some additional explanation. The concept “the image of the piano” had been used for the first time by L. Gakkel in his book “The 20th Century Piano Music” (1990). Then it was further developed by other scholars (for instance, by E. Belash (2015). It means the specificity and the timbre of the instrument that is an integral part of the stylistic complex of the piece of music, created by a composer and represented by a performer. We are convinced that the images of the genres emerged simultaneously with the image of the piano, especially if these genres had a marked piano specificity. It can be fully applied to Scherzo and Toccata genres, and partly – to Rhapsody. The image of the genre is tightly linked to the image of the piano when it сomes to piano music. Results and Discussion. Scherzo is the most versatile genre among others because of its wide range of expressive opportunities. Thus, E. Belash considers Scherzo as a genre, related to the image of the piano, and also to the conception of virtuosity. She assumes that the desire to demonstrate mastery of the piano technique is inherent in the nature of the genre. Quick tempo, passages, shifting of the sounds from one extreme register to another – all these virtuoso techniques of playing are characteristic of the piano Scherzo. Almost the entire arsenal of virtuoso techniques could be found in L. Shukailo’s “Scherzo”. The piece has a traditional, historically-formed, threepart recurring structure, where the contrast is not on the verge of the parts but in the very process of music development. The great potential of the instrument unfolds itself in the Scherzo. Almost the whole diapason of the piano is covered. The composer uses melodious interweaving as well as the “bell” of chords. The instrument reveals both hammering and singing nature of its sound. L. Shukailo employs rather chamber and playful type of Scherzo, characteristic of Chopin, than concert and symphonic one, typical of Liszt. Although the name of L. Shukailo’s piece is of a genre-generalizing character, the Scherzo has a striking imagery. On creating this music, the author might have been referring to some concrete content or image, but it seems she rather gave the audience complete freedom to interpret the music. The Toccata genre tightly relates to the Scherzo genre. Both genres are based on the principles of the Etude, that is, on the same vigorous movement. It is combined with hammering key-touch in Toccata. The unique feature of the “Toccata-Campana” is that, in addition to all conventional traits of the genre such as hammering key-touch, the way of the unfolding of musical material, and virtuosity, the imitation of the bell takes place here. The name of the piece itself tells us about it. The Italian word “Campana” stands for “the bell”. In its turn, it reminds the listeners of “Campanella”, the piece where the sound of the bells is imitated. The idea of the piano as of a percussion is realized in the piece in a very interesting way. It alludes to the percussion of another kind – the sound of the bell. Naturally the sound of the piano and that of the bells are different, but the piano here not only imitates the timbre of another instrument but it expresses those strong emotions the sound of bells usually evokes. Unlike the previous two genres, the Rhapsody genre is associated not with vigorous movement, typical for the Etude, but with folk music and singing. As a rule, quotations of folk music or its stylization have been used in Rhapsody. It usually consists of several contrasting episodes. Rhapsody, with its narrative character, is a detailed story, told by the singerrhapsod. We can see that the idea of instrumental mastery, virtuosity is also characteristic of this genre. Rhapsody is based on the folk songs. L. Shukayilo’s “Rhapsody” has folk components, too, but its genre affiliation can be defined rather as that of a dance. Characteristic repetitions of the same sound are associated with the percussion instrument that accompanies oriental dance. These three concert pieces for piano were created especially for V. Krainev contest. On the one hand, L. Shukailo continues the traditions of piano music, and on the other – creates its own, recognizable piano style, characterized by deep insight into the specificity of the instrument. Obviously, this explains in a great measure the repeated appeals of the organizers of the music contests to the composer for writing the pieces especially for the contests. Conclusions.The analysis of the three L. Shukailoʼs piano works, made in the article, enables us to do the following conclusions: – the pieces analyzed entirely correspond to their genre specificity that has been marked by the composer in the titles; – each of the genres has been interpreted in specific way that tells us of the author’s ingenious view of the genre; thus, in the “Scherzo” the idea of playing is embodied as a symbol of virtuosity; imitation of bell sound has been used in the “Toccata-Campana” with the purpose of emphasizing of the strike effect; and the “Rhapsody” has absorbed a lot of oriental folk dance style; – creating the sound image of piano, the composer in the same time also creates the sound image of genre in all the pieces analyzed.