Sonoric features in the cycle of Hanna Havrylets “Piano Pieces for Young Pianists”

Abstract

Subject of the study is Hanna Havrylets’ cycle “Piano Pieces for Young Pianists”. Hanna Havrylets (born in 1958) is a Ukrainian composer and teacher, professor at the Chair of Composition, Instrumentation and Musical-information Technologies at the Tchaikovsky National Musical Academy of Ukraine, head of the Kyiv organization of the National Union of Composers of Ukraine. The works of H. Havrylets are constantly performed in Ukraine and abroad and they are a compulsory part of the programs of many performances. Despite significant achievements both in the composer’s and in the pedagogical areas, her creativity has been studied a little. The attention of musicologists is often attracted to performed choral and stage compositions whereas instrumental genres are not considered at all.Scientific novelty of the work is that the cycle “Piano Pieces for Young Pianists” is firstly looked at from the point of sonorism that has been used as a compositional technique.The main objectives of the study are to analyze the cycle as an example of the principle of sonority, to determine the signs of sonorism, to identify stylistic features.Methodology. The article uses general scientific and musical approaches to the investigated phenomenon. A review of the literature on the issue was carried out and the main perspectives of research interests were determined using the analytical method. Biographical one traced the ways of becoming H. Havrylets as a composer (first of all as the author of piano music). The method of holistic analysis was used to reveal the stylistic features of the cycle “Piano Pieces for Young Pianists”. It was analyzed using the results of the study of sonorism, reflected in the writings of A. Maklygin and T. Kjuregjan.Main results and conclusions of the study. Sonorism is among the most popular techniques of composition, therefore it is natural that H. Havrylets as a composer and a pedagogue came up with an idea of creating a repertoire for young pianists, which will enable them to get acquainted with the specifics of this modern technique.“Piano Pieces for Young Pianists” is a cycle of three varied works written in simple forms. In the musical language of the first composition the composer adheres to classical-romantic traditions, uses the piano arrangement of a folk song. The second is a composition of cross-sectional structure, inside of which we observe the development of a strong psycho-emotional state. The third one is a virtuoso toccata in three parts, in the first and last sections of which there is one intonation turn (the lower minor third “E flat – C”) in an even rhythmic pulsation.The highest level of concentration of sonority is observed in two last compositions. The first piece is characterized by classical and romantic harmonic means, which produce a vivid difference between individual musical language elements, and this eliminates the pure sonority as such (although hints of sonoric effects are still traced). In the other two works of the cycle, the basic principle of sonorism is embodied – one sound palette taking a long time. In “Echo” this principle is realized by the unhurried revealing of one clear musical material. In “Impromptu” attention is focused on the texture, saturated with consonants which are rapidly changing and create a vivid emotional impression through the sound. According to the typology of A. Maklygin, the pieces respectively belong to the sonorics (sonorous music with tone) and sonorism (sonorous music without tonality).The typical features of sonorism in “Piano Pieces for Young Pianists” by H. Havrylets are considered a strip (or a thickened line), a point, a line, a stream.So, H. Havrylets uses already crystallized techniques of sonorism and “Piano Pieces for Young Pianists” is a typical example of their implementation.