Shkirtil' L.V., Serov Y.E. —
Performing aspects of V. Gavrilin’s “Russian Notebook”: dramaturgy, theatricalization, peasant song, folklore genres
// PHILHARMONICA. International Music Journal. – 2024. – ¹ 3.
– P. 11 - 25.
DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2024.3.70964
URL: https://en.e-notabene.ru/phil/article_70964.html
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Abstract: The article is devoted to one of the most important Russian chamber vocal cycles of the second half of the twentieth century – “Russian Notebook” by V. Gavrilin. Its appearance in 1965 made a strong impression on both the musical community and listeners. Everything about her was unusual, fresh, sincere. The stylistic unity of the “Russian Notebook” is due to its reliance on folk sources – literary texts and musical material. Gavrilin interpreted folk music in a deeply personal way, refracted it through the prism of a powerful spiritual and moral concept, outlined new directions for its research and comprehension, and proposed multi-valued interpretations and unexpected syntheses. “Russian Notebook” became the most important component of the significant artistic movement “new folk wave” that appeared in Russian music at the turn of the 1960s. Its brightest representatives were the “sixties” composers R. Shchedrin, E. Denisov, B. Tishchenko, S. Slonimsky.
The main conclusion of the study is the idea that V. Gavrilin’s “Russian Notebook” is a genuine encyclopedia of folk genres. The composer penetrates deeply into the folk song tradition, organically refracts folklore, passes it through his amazing artistic world, thereby making the folklore language accessible to the general public. The author of the article focuses on the performing aspects of V. Gavrilin’s cycle, on the variety of interpretive possibilities coming from the diversity of folk (primarily peasant) song. The vocalist and accompanist-pianist need to seriously study the folk traditions before taking on the “Russian Notebook”. The intense dramaturgy of the cycle and the theatricalization of vocal music should also be the focus of the performers’ attention. V. Gavrilin’s composition opens up new interpretive paths and possibilities, new vocal techniques, and creates a multi-tasking performing world.
Shkirtil' L.V. —
Signs of a New Era: the "Female" Vocal Cycle during the Renewal of Russian Music of the 1960s and 1970s
// Man and Culture. – 2023. – ¹ 1.
– P. 24 - 32.
DOI: 10.25136/2409-8744.2023.1.39581
URL: https://en.e-notabene.ru/ca/article_39581.html
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Abstract: The subject of the study is the "female" chamber vocal cycle in Russian music of the 1960s and 1970s, which, according to the author, became a special sign of the time of changes and renewal that came to the musical culture of the Soviet Union together with the Khrushchev "thaw". The article is devoted to the typology of the "female" vocal cycle, the appearance of a large number of works based on poems by A. Akhmatova and M. Tsvetaeva, music for children and youth, numerous vocal compositions in the spirit of the "new folklore wave", works dedicated to outstanding interpreters of vocal music by modern Soviet composers - Z. Dolukhanova, L. Davydova, G. Vishnevskaya, E. Obraztsova, E. Gorokhovskaya, N. Yureneva and others. The main conclusion of the study is the idea that there are several stable types of "female" chamber vocal cycles associated primarily with the modern poetic tradition, folk music, with the concert performance practice established in the country, with various vocal capabilities of singers, the width of their vocal range, flexibility, timbre characteristics etc. Russian chamber and vocal music is being studied for the first time in such a perspective and this direction must be recognized as fruitful. It is quite obvious that it was the "female" vocal cycle that became the most important sign of the time of the radical renewal of the national musical art in the 1960s and 1970s.
Shkirtil' L.V. —
Spiritual Horizons of the "Thaw": on the Question of New Poetry in the "Female" Vocal Cycle in Russian Music of the 1960s and 1970s
// Philosophy and Culture. – 2023. – ¹ 1.
– P. 1 - 12.
DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2023.1.39583
URL: https://en.e-notabene.ru/fkmag/article_39583.html
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Abstract: The article is devoted to the new poetry that entered the Russian musical culture with the Khrushchev "thaw". A special perspective of the study is the "female" chamber vocal cycle of the 1960s and 1970s. The wave of interest of Russian composers in chamber and vocal music that arose during this period is associated with a hitherto unprecedented wealth of poetic themes and images, the emergence of modern literature. Spiritual horizons expanded rapidly, original texts entailed fresh genre and technological solutions. The new poetic "information", as well as scientific information, liberated the creative forces of musicians, demanded a new language, style, form. Poetry turned out to be one of the most important incentives for the renewal of compositional concepts. The main conclusion of the study is the idea that the development of vocal music, the figurative and thematic expansion of "female" chamber vocal cycles is primarily associated with the modern poetic tradition, with the expansion of the spiritual horizons of Soviet cultural life in the second half of the last century. Russian chamber and vocal music is being studied for the first time in such a perspective and this direction must be recognized as fruitful, more fully revealing the most important vectors of the development of the musical and poetic tradition. It is quite obvious that the modern literary preferences of composers became the basis for a radical renewal of the chamber-vocal genre in the 1960s and 1970s.
Shkirtil' L.V. —
A New "sounding image" of the Piano in the Domestic "Female" Vocal Cycle of the 1960s and 1970s
// PHILHARMONICA. International Music Journal. – 2022. – ¹ 6.
– P. 1 - 12.
DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2022.6.39459
URL: https://en.e-notabene.ru/phil/article_39459.html
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Abstract: The subject of the study is a new "sounding image" of the piano in the chamber-vocal cycles of Russian composers of the 1960s and 1970s. The chosen perspective is "female" vocal cycles, i.e., those that should be performed exclusively by female voices. The author examines the piano parts in the vocal cycles of B. Tishchenko, D. Shostakovich, A. Knaifel, A. Schnittke, E. Denisov, G. Banshchikov, V. Gavrilin and other Russian masters, reveals the new, original, fresh that they brought to the music of piano accompaniment in the wake of the Khrushchev "thaw". First of all, in the field of texture, rhythm, avant-garde performance techniques, timbral-register organization of musical fabric. The main conclusion of the study is the idea that the fruitful synthesis of the achievements of the European avant-garde and domestic experience led to the emergence of a new "sounding image" of the piano in Soviet music of the 1960s, which was fully in demand in the vocal cycle. Each of the composers followed his own unique path in art, individually refracted tradition, but the overall panorama of musical art, chamber vocal creativity turned out to be rich and saturated with outstanding achievements. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that the piano accompaniment of the Russian vocal cycle was first subjected to a separate and fairly broad analysis.