Elements of Programme Music in the Instrumental Works of the Late Period by Oleg Meremkulov (the Case of the Symphony Concerto for Cello, Piano and Orchestra)

Abstract

This article reveals some aspects of the creative identity and later works of the greatest Krasnoyarsk composer O. Meremkulov. To understand the artistic aspirations and originality of O. Meremkulov’s works, his Symphony Concerto for Cello, Piano, String Orchestra, Percussion and Wind Ensemble (2015) is an illustrative piece of art. The concerto genre was conceived by the composer as a composition showing the essential problems of human existence, preserving the modus of a personal statement «in the first person». This has led to the introduction of epigraphs and programme titles of parts that not only tune the listener in a certain way, but are elements of concept and means of realising the author’s intentions. The musical analysis regarding the main intonational characteristics of all parts of the concerto, their relations, aspects and orientation of the development of musical thematism are correlated with possible interpretations of titles and epigraphs. This made it possible to come to the conclusion about the original programme music of the concerto. It is revealed by a combination of means functioning at various levels, addressing the sensations of different modalities, individual experience, cultural memory, as well as activating associative thinking and figurative representations. Not only part titles and epigraphs work in this respect, but also the author’s remarks introduced into the musical score and audio records with natural sounds during the performance. Programme music is also recognised in the process of thematic transformations that reflect the orientation of the Hero’s emotional experiences clarifying the essence of a certain image or reproducing a chain of events related to a certain plot. It has been suggested that this plot bizarrely refracts in the composer’s mind the real events experienced by him during different periods of life, sprouted into the subjective perception and understanding of artistic images of world culture. In his dialogue with the authors of past centuries, the composer reached a new level of generalisation, thereby capturing his ideas and feelings in an intonational form. This has led to the originality and unique harmony of the Symphony Concerto