Arrangements for bandura of polyphonic work by J.-S. Bach in performing and educational practice: methodological aspect

Abstract

Methodological approaches to the problem of arrangements of polyphonic material for bandura are presented. The problem of comparative comparison of performance capabilities of Kyiv and Kharkiv banduras, the corresponding ways of playing them when performing a polyphonic texture is raised. Prospects for wider involvement of the Kharkiv bandura in performing and educational practice are considered. The professional training of a modern bandura performer should be focused on overcoming certain stereotypes about the technical capabilities of the instrument. The task is to expand the means of performance, to develop new methods and techniques, and to enrich the original and interpreted repertoire of various epoch-making, national and individual compositional styles. A modern bandura performer must develop his musical thinking, aimed at mastering different types of textures, including atypical for the instrument, samples of different types of polyphonic presentation. The aim of the article is a methodological analysis of arrangements of a number of polyphonic works by J.-S. Bach for bandura, consideration of possibilities and variants of interpretations of polyphonic material for bandura of Kharkiv type. Among the examples it is a comparison of modern bandura teachers’ interpretations of “Short Preludes and Fugues for Organ” by J.-S. Bach. Our author’s versions of the interpretation of these and other polyphonic works by J.-S. Bach for Kharkiv type bandura have been presented in the performance classes at Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University and Ternopil Solomia Krushelnytska Vocational Music College The research methodology consists in applying a set of relevant methods: the method of systematic analysis, historical-stylistic method to consider the problem of arrangement, comparative method for comparing the features of transcriptions for Kyiv and Kharkiv bandura, and generalization method to formulate relevant conclusions. There has been introduced the arrangement of the Prelude and Fugue № 13 Fis-Dur from the 1-st volume of DTK J.-S. Bach for a bandura of Kharkiv type with a mechanism (design by V. Gerasymenko), which made it possible to illustrate the technical and expressive possibilities that the performer of the bandura of Kharkiv type gives. Thus, Kharkiv way of playing and the modern construction of the bandura of Kharkiv type by V. Gerasymenko proves its perspective in many aspects concerning arrangement and performance of polyphonic works, show significant potential of technical and expressive possibilities for performing Baroque and Classicism music at a high artistic level and is a powerful stimulus for further development of bandura performance in Ukraine.