UDC 78.421; 78.31
Olha Shcherbakova (Odessa, Ukraine)
POETICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL IMAGES OF
“MORNING MUSIC” BY I. ISHCHENKO:
AN INTERPRETATION
Revealing expressive possibilities of a music piece is an important
goal of music mastery interpretation. Such creative activity of the
interpreter foresees broad understanding of a piece and creating own
individual mastery version.
Often not only subjective views help to master the artistic content of
the piece, but also feelings, rich in other interpretation solutions. On the
basis of comparison of one’s intuitive and analytical decisions with the
“model” acoustic idea of the piece, which is being interpreted, there
appears one of the stages of a creative process of “reading” the text. But
completely different feeling – a feeling of peculiar responsibility –
emerges before the interpreter of a composer’s artifact, which he does not
have own preparatory impressions of.
Peculiar specifics of interpretation search can characterize an
instrumental piece, in which the composer uses a poetic epigraph,
creating an association link between two “language” rows (music and
verbal). Here it is the composer’s program intention, which gives a
peculiar new impulse to performance process of learning a piece and
creating music interpretation. In this case performance foreshortening will
be concentrated not only on discovering intonation nature of the music
text, but also on the associative and comparative analysis of connection
between two creative ideas (poetic and musical), which emotionally
reveal one image sphere of a masterpiece.
For detecting some obvious and hidden program-oriented semantic
impulses, which contain poetic and music texts, we chose a program
piece “Morning music” for two pianos by the Ukrainian composer Iurii
Ishchenko. It was performed not once by the author of the article in the
composition of “Oleyuria” piano duo, and in the concert which took place
in Lviv Philharmonic Society in 2002. This experience gives possibility
to claim that imaginary and intonation complex of this piece, which is
combining poetry and music poetics into the artistic unity, is realized in
such concert genre as a two-clavier duo [7, p. 7], undoubtedly opening
new horizons for composer searches on the threshold of the 21st century.
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Poetic lines of Vasyl Chumak, which streamline “foreseeing function”
(L.Kyianovska’s term) of recipients (both performers and listeners) on
lyrical-philosophical perception of artistic artifact, have become program
basis of Iurii Ihchenko’s “Morning music”. Sound realization of the
composition’s content, which is based on combination of semantics of
poetic (verbal) and music (non-verbal) text as well as on creative styles of
two artistic natures (poet’s and composer’s) reflects the program idea as
an integral phenomenon through a piano ensemble.
Ishchenko’s piece is not only a tool for illustrating artistic content of
these poetic lines. By developing musically verbal images he carries new
energetic informational knowledge about the content idea.
According to the genre specifics of a two-clavier duo, a search by
pianists (on the basis of combining poetical and music idea) of common
lyrical-poetical intonation and defining identical for the ensemble
performance methods, connected with realization of emotional image of
the piece by a modern Ukrainian composer, becomes an important task
throughout the whole process of interpretation.
By comparing associative row of a poetic epigraph, rich in content,
and with an artistic realization of its semantic field in the music text, let
us try to realize the connection between expressive performance tools and
deep cause-and-effect layers of imaginary content. According to
O.Samoilenko, “music can absorb and subordinate to the principles of its
language all those meanings, which fill real human existence” [6, с. 99].
Taking into consideration the interpretation of the literary dictionary
that a symbol is “an object or a word sign, which indirectly expresses the
idea of a certain phenomenon, has a philosophical semantic completeness
that is why it is not equal to a sign…” [3, с.635], let us concentrate on the
image symbolic of the poetic text.
Philosophical mood of poetic lines of Vasyl Chumak emphasizes the
combination of nature perception with inner state: “I would like – I will
meet morning in the field – to wind pearls of prayer with cross-shaped
myrtle”. The energy of spiritual desire (I would like) coincides with
certain time of action (morning) – beginning of the day, beginning of
creation, fullness of good vital forces. A “field” is the space, which is
associated with endless width, picturesque beauty of the nature and with
vital field of realization of human spiritual possibilities. The words
“pearls of prayer” fix a praying emotional state of the poet, which in
interaction with music world of the composer refers to the allusion with a
piece “Morning prayer” from P.Tchaikovskiy’s piano cycle “Album for
children”.
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Semantics of the word combination “cross-shaped myrtle” appears as
an image, familiar from Taras Shevchenko’s works, in whose verses [4, с.
717] the prayer is combined in harmony with the image of the cross.
Based on the research of O.Sokol of sound and intonation image of the
world in T.Shevchenko’s poetry, one can see that “the concept field of the
word to pray is very wide – 228 words” [6, с. 70]. Emotional and
psychological perception of the world through praying experience of a
great Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko was forming the concept base of
many national authors, including Vasyl Chumak. Without any doubts
such emotional filling of poetic lines has been reflected in music
intonation of Ishchenko’s piece and this accumulation of spiritual states
of different texts demands from performers highly spiritual inspirational
reflection of a sound form of a piece.
Different elements, including a coloring palette organically combined
in poetic semantics of artistic tissue. It becomes an important feature of
not only bright pictures. In poetic and music activities such artistic
category as colour reflects colours of a real word, reveals emotional and
psychological sides of the artistic image.
In poetic epigraph two colours are contrasted – pearl white (“pearls”)
and blue (“myrtle”). The composer felt inner mood of the poet, who
conveyed light and purity through concept perception of the main
symbolic idea of white, celestial distance, infinity, God’s presence, which
are associated with blue colour.
Iurii Ishchenko (as well as in Capriccio for 2 pianos, Sonata for a
cello and piano, Sonata for a violin and a flute) uses a light feeling of
white atonal writing, on the background of which there are chordstimbres, which resemble B.Bartok’s writing and create a peculiar
brilliance of the sound sphere. Register distance of the parts of the first
and second pianos symbolically pictures infinity of the cosmic space,
using space distance of pianists too.
Starting from the first chord the interpreters’ attention will be fixed
on the symbolic of fis colouring – thematic core of the episode Poco piu
mosso, which is also present in the structure of the last chord. Maybe,
Ishchenko felt that sound colour in the same way as O.Skryabin, in whose
imagination fis-dur is a tonality of the blue colour, the tonality of the
spirit. When shining passages of 16th and 32nd (at the bounds of episodes)
light up with fire light in its culmination (Poco piu mosso, maestoso, ff),
then one can remember swift subjects “Poems of the fire” by O.Skryabin,
which are endowed with the energy of rush and feeling of cosmic space.
Participants of a two-clavier duo should be able to create “brilliant
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score” of the interpretation, in which every sound or interval has a
relevant timbre colouring.
Dynamics of rush, which is established at the beginning of the poetic
epigraph, penetrates into dramaturgy of a music form.
We would like to emphasize a very important function of fermatas,
which plunge listeners in moments of reflection, relevant to the poetics of
the piece. They divide quickly appearing structures, emphasize a
fascinating state and make one “stop the moment” and enjoy silence.
Fermatas have a peculiar illustrative-artistic load in the introduction
and end of a music phrase.
Sound-graphic overflows of sixteenth notes of the first piano (in the
end with fermata over a crotch or fermata over a pause – sound of
silence), which are 6 octaves from the initial chord of the second piano,
like colour “stains” on the pictures of artists-impressionists. It needs
delicate nuancing and sound attention the effect of echo-resonance.
All introductory part (Tempo rubato e capriccioso) is written without
a tact structure (senza misura) and is based on numerous stops with the
help of fermatas on pauses or chords.
However, it does not create statics, but, vice versa, brings an element
of a life breath, natural freedom, with which the birth of a new day is
connected, and turning of a chaos in a well organized structure.
The composer managed to create a lyrical and meditative picture
thanks to such noted by Andriy Shtogarenko in student years qualities as
“big creative fantasy, ability to listen to the music and a good sense of the
form” [2, с. 6].
At the concluding episode (Tranquillo) fermata on each note,
appearing in turn (in total 11 eight notes), makes pianists listen to the
consecutive ascending of a sound wave in all registers and follow the
relay of transferring sound-thought from one participant of the ensemble
to another, feeling smoothness of a flight movement from the earth one to
the celestial.
Dynamic rises organically showing artistic idea of a piece. Poco piu
mosso and Allegretto giocoso episodes are full of contrasts of energy and
dance rhythms. Ensemble needs to feel playfulness of syncope dancing
rhythm.
Play of rhythms (2/4, 4/4, 3/8, 4/8, 5/8) in the middle of the piece in
combination with the arrhythmia of introduction and ending allows a
piano duo to reveal the symbolic of images, which makes an element of
the unknown collide with changes of natural rhythms.
Multicoloured content of Ishchenko’s writing is close to
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achievements of impressionism in rainbow-flowing, timbre-differential
sounding. As well as in vocal cycle “Pearl chain”, in miniatures for violin
and piano “Watercolours” the author’s poetic mood, reflecting synthetic
nature of program basis of “Morning music”, organically passes into
granting them “changing impressionist colours, poetics in soft lyrical,
joking or coloured pictures” [2, с. 37].
Tension of dramatization, directed to ending of a piece, increasing
richness of material and appearance of ringing in upper register,
culmination chords (As-dur, fff), which change into an energetic stream
of endless swirling in both parts – all this receives a symphonic
dimension, reminding of music pages by S.Rachmaninov.
Philosophical-elegy character is shown in contrasting imagery,
connected with the images of nature and dreaming meditation, which
deepens penetration into the issue of existence.
For performers it is important in working on interpretation to boldly
reflect two imagery scenes – dreaminess (at the moments of “calmness”
on fermatas and ostinato) and movement (playful as “life” symbol, or a
quick increase, which symbolizes a “flight”).
Statement of the first person in a poetic epigraph changes into a
dialogue music expression, in which two performers are indivisible in
their emotional mood. Therefore, there appears the most difficult
ensemble-performance task – to create a sound picture of continuous
music stream, perfectly interacting on interpretation-technological level.
“Morning music”, in our view, has become an example of those
fundamental features of chamber-ensemble culture, which, according to
Iryna Polskaya, are connected with “the embodiment of high summaries,
tense ethic-philosophical thoughts and ideas, subtle and deep psychological discovery of human spirituality and emotional world” [5, p.189].
We share Viktor Kaminskiy’s opinion, that “originality as unlikeness
with anybody, self-affirmation by means of a strange combination of
sounds outlived its time long ago”. The analysis of realization of music
program basis of poetic-philosophical images of “Morning music”
demonstrates that our contemporary Iurii Ishchenko has managed to find
(on the basis mainly of traditional music language) realization in the
ensemble of two pianos of a peculiar deeper content, thus making his
contribution to not numerous row of spiritual-philosophical lyrics pieces
in this genre.
Keywords: two piano scores duet, interpretation, lyric and poetic intonation,
ensemble, semantic, Y. Ishchenko.
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