Performative and Semantic Space of Borys Liatoshynsky’s Instrumental Expressiveness in the 1920s: Sonata for Violin and Piano (1926)

Abstract

The article examines the performance and semantic features of Borys Liatoshynsky’s chamber music style, focusing on the Sonata for Violin and Piano (1926), a landmark work of the composer’s modern period. Actively inspired by new expressive components consonant with the expressive search of European artists of that time, chamber music became a field for the formation of Liatoshynsky’s stylistic discourse aimed at the symphonic expression, exploring the potential of those chamber music expressive means and formative experiments that are later tested in the composition of symphonic works. The principle of symphonicity shapes the corresponding performance and semantic space of instrumental expressiveness. It should be noted that in the Sonata for Violin and Piano, the composer expanded the timbre possibilities of both violin and piano as solo instruments of the chamber ensemble. Several features determine the specificity of the performance drama in this work. Among them, the most crucial role is played by the principles of symphonization, hence the interpretation of the violin and piano parts as original orchestral groups with their timbre and dramatic lines of development, rhythmically complementary layers in the joint image. In the context of the generalized programmatic approach and the specific one-part structure of the sonata, considering these dramatic components is essential, as they largely ensure the perception of the musical content and its compositional logic.