PHILHARMONICA. International Music Journal

Abstract: The subject of this research is Béla Bartók pantomime ballet “The Miraculous Mandarin”, reviewed as an example of manifestation of the expressionist aesthetics in the composer’s creative work. During the prolonged period of time within the Russian musicology, the composing work of Bartók was being explored through the prism of examination and transformation of the Hungarian folklore; the belonging of his music to the expressionist direction was even out of question. Some scholars very carefully considered “The Miraculous Mandarin” ballet expressionistic. The author makes an attempt to examine this oeuvre from the perspective of its belonging to the expressionistic aesthetics, as well as determine its features in the composer’s musical language. During the course of this research, the author detected certain peculiarities of reconceptualization by composer the used literary storyline, properties of the musical description of the characters, as well as certain specificity of the musical-expressive means, which allows considering the ballet a real example of the expressionistic art. The article illustrates the examples of musical solutions and identifies multiple parameters of dramaturgy: various interpretations of compositional structure of the ballet; characteristic manifestations of the symmetry principles; specific system of dramaturgical culmination, constructively connected with the “golden ratio” proportions.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2017.3.25012

Abstract: The article focuses on visualization of the sound image in New Music. The visual image is aligned with the concept of gestalt, and the sound perception - with Gestalt psychology. Gestalt belongs to Art even more than to Science. Each recipient can practice it in his own way which reflects his personality, experience and life philosophy. In the process of research the author considers various examples of sound visualization in New Music (Ya. Xenakis, K. Stockhausen, S. Sciarrino) as well as specific concepts of sound perception, described in works by the composers of New Music. A holistic approach applied to the phenomenon under study involved the use of various analytical methods. The conclusion from the conducted study is importance of the principle of isomorphism as an expression of structural integrity of the physical, physiological and psychological worlds. The article is intended for professional musicians occupied with aesthetics and technique of modern musical composition, as well as for a wide range of readers interested in music art in general.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2017.1.24970

Abstract: In his article Denisov demonstrates that the fundamental feature of absurdity is the total desintegration of expected attitudes or relations. Absurdity causes inversion of cause-and-effect relationships and destroys the logical order of such relationships in the general meaning of the word. It also shifts the scale of relevance of events and what events should be expected. The idea to overcome inertion of perceiving such a text is brought to the extreme point, in a word, such a text is being created at the point of structural and semantic break-down as a result of noncoincidence of intra- and inter-text relations. Particular means of absurdity poetics in music can be classifed into three groups: means which actual application opposes to the function they are supposed to perform (for example, hypercollage, or virtual quotation); discordance between different components of the text structure through aleatory composition of the external form and choatic distruction of composition borders; and use of non-artistic material in an artistic context, or vice versa. In consluion, the author of the article analyzes the reasons that determine the role of the absurdity way of thinking in the culture of the last decades.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2018.3.27832

Abstract: This article is devoted to a fundamental work of a famous French composer, spectral music representative Tristan Murail 'Revolution of Complex Sounds'. In her research Litvinova tries to provide an in-depth review of the composer's aesthetic views and concepts and demonstrate the main principles of his attitude to the sound and sound environment of modern music art in general. These views include the influence of electro-accoustic music on the creation of a new sound, i.e. composition of music using studio equipment; new approach to the sound and new ways of the sound creation, use of overtones, enrichment of composition techniques with new sounds such as noise and percussion instruments. The novelty of the research is caused by the fact that until this moment music researches have not focused on Tristan Murail's compositions as they deserve. For the first time in the literature Murail's aesthetic positions are viewed from the point of view of his creativity and composing. The article will be of interest for music experts, performers and non-specialist audience.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2019.4.30510

Abstract: The life of Dmitri Shostakovich was disputable and full of, on the one hand, various patriotic explosions, on the other hand, different tragic concepts, full of bitterness of witnessing of global developments. The latter ones become more perceptible in the last years of the composer’s creative work. The article focuses on these developments which characterise the composer as a philosopher, doomed but reconciling reality with dignity. The research subject is determined by the fact that these compositions have been studied poorly in the context of historic events and particular developments in Shostakovich’s life. The author uses a comprehensive approach to study the latest works of the composer. The historical method helps to understand the specificity of writing the author’s works, the peculiarities of their especially tragic figurativeness, their definite structural and conceptual plans. The scientific novelty also consists in the use of literary observations of the composer himself and his personal friends and opponents, which helps to express the context of existence of artistic works in the world of Shostakovich more clearly.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2021.4.36033

Abstract: The author reconsiders the interpretation of the concept of Shostakovich’s Symphony No 5 based on the fact that the composition was created during Stalin’s Great Terror of the 1930s and after a harsh criticism of his compositions by the Communist Party and the USSR government in the early 1930s. During the creation of the Symphony No 5, the Soviet music experts defined its concept as a celebration of a “happy” life of Soviet people, However, in the author’s opinion, the symphony has another idea. The researcher notes that the triumph of the Symphony No 5 in the global culture had happened only owing to the director’s interpretation by Yevgeny Mravinsky during the premiere at Leningrad Philharmonic Hall on November 21, 1937, after which the Symphony was performed all over the world and became the gold standard of the Soviet music. Probably, Shostakovich intended to create an optimistic finale for the Symphony. But there are many examples when the composer’s goal doesn’t correspond with the final result. The author provides the conclusion that almost all music experts, who analyze this symphony, use abstract phrases: contrast themes, lyrical image, enemy, etc. But the only proven fact is that a “mechanistic” march is a heavy and ponderous advance of the power of a tyrant eliminating everything he wants based on the principle “who is not with us is against us”. This idea pierces into the Forth and later the Seventh Symphonies by Shostakovich. Today, the Symphony is still a music masterpiece and a part of the global music heritage, but the new socio-cultural interpretations of modern directors each time reveal the new faces of this composition.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2021.6.37395

Abstract: Chamber music attracts the audience with its wide range, diverse sounds, and rich expressiveness. Even if it is still the same chamber music, the influence of geography, ethnicity, and culture, styles and varieties of Chinese and Western chamber music are widely different. By comparing pieces of Chinese chamber music with the Western chamber music, one can find out that Chinese chamber music focuses on the expression of the artistic concept through the melody, while the Western chamber music gives more attention to logic and festive genres. Within the Chinese musical aesthetics, influenced by Laozi’s Tao Te Ching, there’s an idea that «music has in it neither grief nor joy», saying that music itself is not emotional, and is objective, it is just an incentive and an instrument of emotions. In Western countries, the art of music gives attention to the technique, and considers music as a real and important substance, and tends to a more «autonomous» point of view. The authors of this research give special attention to the analysis of aesthetic differences between Chinese and Western music, as well as creative differences caused by the influence of aesthetic differences. In view of these facts the authors formulate the conclusion that the music of China and the West should be compared based on the ideas about aesthetics and their detailed analysis. The authors consider the typical features and characteristics of the music aesthetics of the West and China, their diversity and influence on the creative work in chamber music, hold a comparative research, and offer new models and directions of development. The main theme of traditional Chinese chamber music is poetry, and the arrangement is more free, and focuses on conveying the artistic idea. The Western chamber music has a strict creative routine, and gives more attention to the characteristics of music itself.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2017.1.24977

Abstract: The article is devoted to the concept of phonorealism that became the basis for the composition style of an Austrian composer Peter Ablinger. The aim of the research is to define analogies in texnological techniques of the digital epoch. Photography and accoustic phonography, 3D modeling and pixelisation used by Ablinger, granular sythesis used by Xenakis - these are the creative techniques of modern technology that are involved in the author's comparative analysis. The author studies compositions of Ablinger that were created using the method of phonorealism, in particular, vocal series 'Voices and Piano', series of sound installations 'Quadraturen', as well as series 'The Book of Songs' and 'Instruments and Phonographs'. Series 'Weiss/Weisslich is taken as an example of Ablinger's special method of working with white noise. As a result of her research, Lavrova concludes that artistic methods are identical in music, literature and fine arts. All of them make us rethink over the reality and see it in a different light. Ablinger believed that music serves as an analyzer of reality and provokes fundamental changes in a recepient's perception based on a completely different relationship between noise and music sound. The article will be of interest to both professional musicians who want to get an insight into musical phenomena of the 20th century and non-specialist audience who are interested in modern music.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2015.4.16833

Abstract: This article examines the issue of style definition in the work of the renowned XIX century Belgian violinist-virtuoso and composer Henri Vieuxtemps. The subject of this research is Henri Vieuxtemps’ concerts for violin with orchestra, reviewed from the position of determination of the “symphonization” principles of the musical dramaturgy of these oeuvres. The theoretical analysis is conducted on the First, Fourth, and Fifth violin concerts, in which, based upon synthesizing the virtuoso-romantic and symphonic origins, the composer vividly expounds the principles of dramaturgical development that reflect the essence of musical aesthetics of the Romantic era. The scientific novelty is defined by several factors: based on the analysis of his compositions, this article is first to give the typology of style coordinates of the work of Henri Vieuxtemps; the author introduces the details of the peculiarities of the musical dramaturgy of his concepts, which allow substantiating the conclusions about the innovative aspects of the interpretation of the violin concert genre in the work of Henri Vieuxtemps. As a result of the conducted research, the author creates an analytical base, which contains the conclusions on the maneuvers of symphonization of the musical dramaturgy of Vieuxtemps’ violin concerts.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2015.1.15027

Abstract: The subjects of study in this article are two concepts: soul-image and image. Offers the author's view on understanding the differences and similarities of these concepts. An attempt to explain the motivation of the choice. What meaning lies in them and that mean people who choose specific a soul- image, and creating a particular image. How important is it to have a creative soul-image and creative image for a popular artist, in particular, in English musical culture. The methodology of the study lies in the comparative analysis of these concepts using the known writings on the subject and personal observations of the author. The novelty of this work consists in introducing into the scientific circulation of creative soul-image and creative image, using as an example the images of popular English artists 70-80 years of XX century. However, the problem understanding of image has created a demand for an ongoing philosophical reflection, and the concept of "soul-image" requires further research.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2015.1.66494

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2018.2.26252

Abstract: The article considers one of the most influential music approaches of analytical philosophy to the problem of emotional expressiveness of music – arousalism or evocationism according to which the constitutive moment of music expression of emotions is an affective response generated by music. The article is focused on the two most vulnerable points of this approach: justification of (1) the link between the audience response generated by music through causal means and the emotion attributed to music and (2) the identity of the emotion evoked/expressed by music. The author analyses the attempts to resolve these issues which are based on the postulation of intentional affective reactions generated by music (Mew, Greenspan, Madell), and the alternative Matravers concept (based on an analogy with the perception of colour) consistently supporting the causal principle. The main method of study is the analysis of concepts and argumentative strategies, reconstruction of positions of individual authors. The article also applies a comparative method. The author introduces and analyzes a collection of writings in the analytical philosophy of music of the last two decades into scientific parlance in the Russian-language literature, which deal with the problem of emotional expressiveness of music in the context of arousalism. The article reveals the explicative potential of alternative versions of this approach with the involvement of modern (mainly English) empirical studies.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2015.1.15018

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2021.4.36350

Abstract: The authors give theoretical substantiation and offer the ways to define the metaphoric images of perpetuum mobile in European music of the 19th - the first half of the 20th century. The research considers the common formative characteristics of an image (monothematism, variational nature, subordination to the continuous flow-through tempo), intonational components (noise and onomatopoeical effects, ostinato character, repetition of rithmic, texture and melodic formulae). The authors detect individual stylistic peculiarities in the realization of perpetuum mobile in the process of conducting a piece of music: sarcastic invariants of a theme (D. Shostakovich). Using the material of musical compositions, the authors substantiate and explain the universal character of the image of perpetuum mobile and its strong potential. The transformations of the image reflect the development of European music from pantheism of romanticists to the newest technicist tendencies of the 20th century, and represent complex conflict processes of the spiritual life of a person in the age of industrial civilization. The research of the image of perpetuum mobile of the previous ages doesn’t explain all the peculiarities of the phenomenon and determines the need for further research of the postmodernist music art of the late 20th - the early 21st century. Based on the offered images of perpetuum mobile in music, the authors detect their transformation from the sound images of the 19th century to anthropogenic allusions of the first half of the 20th century. It is proved that in the music of the early 20th century, perpetuum mobile is one of the implementations of the image of a “human-machine” - in music culture, becomes controversial due to wars and confrontation in the world, therefore the sound images of perpetuum mobile reflect a militarized conflict (a vivid example is Shostakovich’s Symphony No 7). The article characterizes the artistic and stylistic aspects of perpetuum mobile in the instrumental music of the 20th century. The authors note that in the beginning of the century, the image of perpetuum mobile gains the features of technicism, which promotes the development of a different interpretation and means of conducting a piece of music.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2015.1.66495

Abstract: Предметом исследования в данной статье стали два понятия: образ и имидж. Предлагается авторский взгляд на осмысление проблемы различия и схожести этих понятий. Предпринята попытка объяснения мотивации выбора. Какой смысл кроется в них и что подразумевают люди, выбирающие себе тот или иной образ, и создающие себе тот или иной имидж. Насколько важно иметь творческий образ и творческий имидж для популярного артиста, в частности, английской музыкальной культуры. Методология исследования заключается в сравнительном анализе этих понятий с использованием уже известных трудов по этой теме и личных наблюдений автора. Новизна этой работы заключается во введении в научный оборот понятий творческий образ и творческий имидж, используя в качестве примера образы популярных английский исполнителей 70-80 годов XX века. Однако проблема понимания имиджа обозначила потребность в постоянной философской рефлексии, а понятие «образ» требует дальнейших исследований.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2020.1.31813

Abstract: The research subject is the types of musical action art - instrumental theatre, director’s action art, instrumental multimedia. The research object is the works of several third stream composers of the late 20th - the early 21st century which contain the distinctive features of musical action art. Based on the typology formulated by the researcher V.O.Petrov, the author studies the issues connected with the synthesis of music, text, theatrical elements and multimedia. Special attention is given to the instrumental theatre genre. The research field contains: the synthetic opus by the third stream theorist G. Schuller ‘Journey into Jazz’; an orchestra cycle by a modern Brooklyn band leader D.Argue ‘Real Enemies’; an orchestra play ‘W.A.Mozart VS Random Generator’ from the creative project Live on Planet Earth by Brooklyn composer and a leader of a big band Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra D. Glatzel; a double concert R.A.P. by Schuller’s follower and junior colleague in New England Conservatory in Boston, American composer T. McKinley. The author analyzes their works and detects the signs of the synthesis of music, text, visual multimedia action and particular theatrical elements. In all the works under study the esthetic principles of the instrumental theatre genre can be identified, which prove its importance and topicality during the development of the musical art of the late 20th - the early 21st century.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2019.5.30777

Abstract: The meaning of music is the subject of this research. It is represented in a dialogue with the method of immanent analysis of a music text of L.O. Akopian. The purpose of the research is to show that the system of paradigm-syntagmatic relations of F. de Saussure as a basis of “genuine” structural analysis of a music and artistic text can be successfully applied to the processes of music sensemaking as an effective instrument of analysis. Sequential comparison of two methods on the example of Chopin’s Nokturn H-dur op.32 helps the author to see the limiting character of “genuine” structural approach to a music text not only leaving aside the semantic layer of the composition, but even denying its existence, considering the artist’s idea as an impersonalized structure. On the contrary, the sensemaking discourse within which the abstract model of Saussure gains the meaning of a chronotope as an internal form of sense and can be realized only in the unity of the content and the form. In junction with the methodology of sense explosion of Yu.M.Lotman, the analysis of sensemaking gives music experts and performers an instrument, which helps to penetrate into the deep sense layers of the works, correlating with the “texts of consciousness”, and to discover individuality of a music and artistic text as an intimate saying determining an exclusive image of its sense structure. The represented method can be effectively used as an instrument of comprehensive analysis of the works of the 20th and 21st centuries continuing the traditions of classic and romantic music in the context of a dominating type of individual and creative consciousness

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2016.2.19470

Abstract: The subject of this research is the artistic interpretation of the archetypal plot in various historical-cultural contexts. Based on the work of the medieval painter Bernt Notke “Danse Macabre” (Dance of Death) and oeuvre of the contemporary composer Thomas Adès, the author demonstrates the despite the restrictions imposed by the cultural codes of a specific era, a creative personality finds opportunities for self-expression, as well as revelation of the new essences of the archetypal plot. The author examines the peculiarities of artistic work in various historical-cultural contexts and forms of artistic expressivity. The material of this article is introduced into the academic discourse for the first time. Special attention is given to the problem of creative work during the “post-cultural” era, which is known for depletion of the creative impulse and exhaustion of culture. It is demonstrated that the creative beginning is an anthropologically universal category, which finds opportunities to express the eternal existential problems of a man, particularly perception of death, by means of artistic language. The conclusion is made that various types of interpretation of the archetypal plot contain the creative beginning, which in turn, represents the underlying human need.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2016.2.19472

Abstract: The paper examines the problem of creative interpretation of an archetypal plot in different historical and cultural contexts. Basing on the work by a Mideaval painter Bernt Notke “Danse macabre” and on the work “Totentaz” by a modern composer Thomas Ades the author shows that, despite the limitations imposed by cultural codes of a period, creative personality finds possibilities both for self-expression and for disclosing new meanings of an archetypal plot. Special attention is paid to the problem of creativity in “post-cultural” epoch, which is characterized by diminishing of creative impulse and insistence of exhaustion of culture. It is shown in the paper that creativity is a universal anthropological category which finds possibilities to express by a new artistic language existential problems of mankind, including the attitude to death.With the help of textual analysis, descriptive and comparative methods the author conducts research of the subject on the basis of the material of different cultural forms. The material of the article is new to Russian academic discourse. Special attention is given to the problem of creativity in “post-cultural” epoch which is characterized by diminishing of creative impulse and declaration of exhaustion of culture. It has been shown that creativity is a universal anthropological category which finds possibilities to express eternal existential problems of people, in particular the attitude to death, in a new artistic language. The conclusion is made that different interpretations of an archetypal plot contain creative impulse expressing the deepest necessities of human beings.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2021.3.35588

Abstract: The research subject is the national parameters of the chronotope of the Kalmyk ethno-music worldview. In the mindset of the Mongolian language peoples, time and space are inseparable, interconnected, and interpenetrating. The chronotope composes a unique system of axes which is later complemented with other components of the national worldview. This explains the topicality of the research subject. The purpose of the research is to detect the music peculiarities of the national chronotope. The research is based on the previously studied manifestations of the national chronotope as a whole (the philological and linguistic aspect of the Kalmyk chronotope is studied by Ts. Ayushova, E. Golubeva, E. Omakayeva, V. Salykova, and others); the author systematizes them and establishes the most significant features. In the understanding and feeling of a nomad, a steppe-dweller, a Kalmyk, space is an unlimited, vast and extended category, which is measured not only horizontally, but also vertically. In the study of the music space patterns, the most significant are the properties of sound, its spatial and acoustic characteristics. The dominant idea in the interpretation of time within a Kalmyk worldview is repeatability, which manifests itself in a twelve-digit period of the national calendar and other things. The temporal properties of the national chronotope are concentrated in a binary opposition of two genres of singing: Ut dun (long song) and Akhr dun (short song). The music culture of the Kalmyks is one of the ways of semiotization of the space and time of the steppe world.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2014.2.13699

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2014.2.65759

Abstract: The article offers the author's opinion on the popular music of the second half of the twentieth century, as the expression “new romantic” tendencies in the culture. Deals with the formation and development of musical culture in the context of subcultural movements. The protests, the associated General spiritual climate of Europe in the 60-80-ies of XX century. Investigated virtualization political processes through the introduction of certain dogmas in a musical environment. The author analyzes the process of nucleation of a new direction in the musical culture. The development of new aesthetics and club movement, media culture. Determines what is the role of video in development of these processes . Explores the phenomenon of the flagships of the “new romantics”. The period of the “new romantics” in the world of art and culture by the standards of history was very short, but, nevertheless, he became eras, the echoes of which still appear in the world of music and cultural space in General and deserve more detailed study.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2014.2.13576

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2014.2.65760

Abstract: В статье предлагается авторский взгляд на популярную музыку второй половины XX века, как на выражение неоромантических тенденций в культуре. Рассматривается становление и развитие музыкальной культуры в контексте субкультурных движений. Протестные настроения, связанные с общим духовным климатом Европы 60-80-х годов XX века. Исследуется виртуализация политических процессов путем внедрения определенных догматов в музыкальную среду. Анализируется процесс зарождения нового направления в музыкальной культуре, развитие новой эстетики и клубного движения, медиакультуры. Исследуется феномен флагманов «новой романтики». Используется метод выявления стилевой ассоциации как вторичного средства музыкальной выразительности, поиска стилевого единства и стилевых сопоставлений. Научная новизна данного исследования заключается в самом предмете исследования - "новой романтике". Этот интересный и многообразный пласт современной культуры воспринимается зачастую, как некий побочный продукт музыкальной культуры, в отличии, например, от рока и даже панка. В статье автор отдает дань движению "новой романтики", которое по мнению исследователя, до сих пор подпитывает своими соками многие направления в современной музыкальной культуре.