Valentin Silvestrov (born 1937) is probably the most widely recognised member of the “Kyiv Avant-garde” of the sixties in the West. His use of dodecaphony, serialism and aleatoric ideas left him at loggerheads with the censors and ultimately led to his exclusion from the Composers’ Union of Ukraine. In the seventies, his artistic style changed course as he shifted focus towards melody and diatonic. This is also the style in which he wrote his Hymn for string orchestra in 2001. Silvestroy described his piece as “enveloped in silence”, highlighting the absence of sound as the main feature of the work. But the search for silence is also present in his activism – both during the Orange Revolution of 2004 and Euromaidan in 2013–2014. In his recent interviews he has made a number of statements against the military actions of Russia – declarations that are of extreme importance, especially in light of events today.
Edvard Grieg composed his Symphony in C Minor in 1863-1864, and in 1867 he added the following note in the score: “It can never be performed”. It was not until 1980 that the work was finally played before an audience, when an illegally made copy of the score was used in its debut in Moscow; a gala performance took place in Bergen the following year. The Symphony is quite conservative in its form and musical idiom, and one can hear the influences of Stravinsky’s illustrious predecessors, especially Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Schumann. It does, however, feature many beautiful, original themes, a clear expression, logical construction and, above all, a youthful freshness and passion, thus foreshadowing Grieg’s later creative accomplishments.
In 2001-2002 Krzysztof Penderecki composed his Piano Concerto “Resurrection”, which was inspired by the tragic fate of the victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. After the piece was performed at the “Warsaw Autumn” International Festival of Contemporary Music in 2002, some members of the audience expressed their dissatisfaction by booing and whistling, which resulted in a lengthy and vociferous debate in the media: critics accused the work of lacking originality and verging on the kitsch, while Penderecki himself was accused of resorting to emotional blackmail. Today, almost 20 years after its premiere, “Resurrection” remains one of Penderecki’s most frequently performed concertos, and dozens of pianists from all over the world have included it in their repertoires.
[Paweł Markuszewski]
