«New simplicity» as a phenomenon of modern musicin the conceptual context of novelty

Abstract

The relevance of research. The music of leading contemporary composers, representing the style of «new simplicity», becomes a manifestation of a certain attitude associated with a «new» approach to the technique of musical composition, in a wide sense – to the ontological foundations of music as a specific form of art and culture. Accordingly, the concept of «new» acquires special significance, which contains the essence of the novelty of the composer's understanding of music as an object of its creative realization and a way of communication with the listener. This issue is not often discussed in native researches of contemporary music (as well as the «new simplicity» in general), it is not presented as a special subject of musicological studies. The purpose of the research is to determine the conceptual foundations of the «new simplicity» as a phenomenon of contemporary musical art in the context of the semantic content of the concept of «new music». The methodological basis of the research is the systemic method, the method of comparative studies, as well as the methods of historical musicology and genre-style analysis. The scientific novelty of the article is determined by the theoretical development of the «new simplicity» as a genre and stylistic phenomenon of musical art in the context of the artistic and aesthetic foundations of contemporary composer's creativity. Main results. The conceptual meaning of «new music» as a phenomenon of professional musical art of the 20th century had a straight influence on the development of the aesthetic idea of the «new simplicity» and its creative implementation in individual composer’s styles at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. The essence of the «new» in the «new simplicity» consists of the fundamental rejection of the need to constantly changing the norms of the musical language and its total individualization, as well as in the return to a more accessible («simple») musical style. The return of the «new simplicity» to triad and consonance as the main constructive elements of the musical language represents a fundamentally different approach of modern composers to the technique of musical composition in the context of the «ban on consonance» proclaimed by the Western European musical avant-garde. «New» in this case is the understanding of the basic function of triad and consonance: it is associated not with the functional side of tonality, but with the phonic image of music – the factor that ensures its harmony in terms of auditory perception and the possibility of an emotional response. Conclusion. Musicological development of the conceptual aspect of the «new simplicity» opens up opportunities for studying this phenomenon of contemporary musical art in a wide historical perspective and understanding it as a natural link in the evolution of European academic music.