Estonian piano music: ways of development (comprehension of foreign repertoire by a modern performer)

Abstract

Statement of the problem. The article is devoted to the problem of studying the foreign repertoire by the performer. By studying the works of composers of any country, the performer gets the opportunity to comprehend the achievements of another culture, thereby deepening the imagery of their own interpretations and expanding their audience. This determines the relevance of the presented study, the purpose of which is to try to outline the ways of development of Estonian piano music and to reveal the originality of the musical language of prominent Estonian composers, based on iconic works of different periods. Literature review. It should be noted that today there are few scientific works in Estonia that help an international performers to understand the essence and originality of the piano works by Estonian composers. Some scientific studies were written still in the 60-90s of the last century. Most of the authors (Roizman, 1960; Normet and Vakhter, 1968; Leichter, 1970; Olt, 1972; Sviridov, 1983) cover the piano works of the Estonian composers in the context of the general development of Estonian musical culture. The lack of the special researches, concerned with piano art of Estonian composers stipulates the novelty of this study. For the first time not only in Ukrainian musicology, but also in the world, the piano heritage of the Estonian composers became the focus of attention. The research methodology. For revealing the abovementioned issues it was necessary to use a set of scientific approaches uniting the principles of music-theoretical, historical and performing analysis. The results and conclusions. The historical overview of the development of Estonian piano music presented in the article provides an opportunity for a modern international performer to get an idea of its most characteristic features. It was found that the formation of piano works took place in Estonia in three stages, in each of which the features of the national mentality were embodied with the help of historically determined stylistics of musical language and the use of appropriate compositional techniques. It is argued that Estonian mental traits such as restraint, contemplation, meditation, rationality, striving for simplicity and conciseness have also manifested themselves in piano works: over the centuries, this mental identity has been reflected in the work of composers of different generations. The practical significance. The obtained results allow to outline the genre system of piano works of Estonian composers and provide an opportunity to promote their works in the musical circles of Ukraine, expanding the modern performing repertoire.