Spectral Aesthetics and ecological listening in the music of Helena Tulve

This chapter analyzes Estonian composer Helena Tulve's unique timbral process in four works: Sula (1999); L'Équinoxe de l'âme for soprano, triple harp or kannel, and string quartet (2008); Arboles lloran por luvia for voices and nyckelharpa (2006); and I am a River for chamber choir (2009). L'Équinoxe de l'âme (The Equinox of the Soul) is based on a text by the Persian mystic and philosopher Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi on the mythical Persian firebird Simurgh. Rather than portraying dissolving as in the orchestral work ice—Sula means to thaw or melt—the timbral transformations of Équinoxe evoke sparks bursting into flame, as well as a philosophical rumination on existence. The remaining vocal works similarly treat their texts with a programmatic flair that blurs the line between the materiality of the sound and its contemplative mood. Tulve's compositional approach can be considered post-spectral in its influences and attention to timbral detail. However, she is also motivated by ecological concerns, and counts herself among a small group of contemporary Estonian composers devoted to expressing this philosophy through music. Her influences meld in a music that prioritizes “slowness”: a sustained focus on spectral detail that reflects the composer's deep-rooted ecological concerns. The chapter thus draws on ideas from ecological theory, timbral analysis, and speculative aesthetics to show how Tulve's compositions express form through timbre and its expression in space, and reflect an ecological aesthetic of listening.

Сhoir conductor Mykola Hobdych: the facets of a creative personality

The purpose of the article is to analyze the creative personality of Mykola Hobdych, to consider the directions of his multifaceted activity for 30 years, to confirm the significant contribution of the artist to the revival of the national choral art of Ukraine, to draw the attention of musicologists to the study of the creative work of the master of choral performance. Methodology. Historical and general scientific methods were used in the analysis of the choral movement in Ukrainian society during the period of state independence, the comparative method revealed a significant contribution of the Kyiv Chamber Choir to the revival of national traditions of spiritual singing, the systematic method was used to assess the activity of the choir leader Gobdich. The scientific novelty is that for the first time M. Hobdych's creative interaction with such modern composers as Lesya Dychko, Viktor Stepurko, Myroslav Skoryk, Romuald Tvardovsky, Valentyn Silvestrov was noted, the importance of his organizational, publishing, and scientific activity was emphasized. Conclusions. At the turn of the XX and XXI centuries, the flourishing of spiritual choral creativity is strongly connected with the creative activity of M. Hobdych and the Kyiv Chamber Choir, as the founders of the International Festival "Golden-Domed Kyiv", which was able to revive the links between past and present. M. Hobdych's creative activity as a choirmaster. arranger, editor, and cultural figure deserves the more meticulous attention of musicologists.

Viacheslav Palkin: the road to success (dedicated to the 85th anniversary of his birth)

Problem statement. One of the most important directions of modern choral studies is the research on the life and creative path of outstanding choirmasters, while understanding their performing experience, pedagogical approaches and taking into account their aesthetic and artistic beliefs. One of the most honorable places among artists is occupied by Viacheslav Palkin (1935–2008), who contributed greatly to the development and prosperity of both, the choral culture of Slobozhanshchyna and Ukraine. The relevance of topic lies in the necessity to study the creative experience of the remarkable choral conductor V. S. Palkin, to understand the contribution of the luminary of the Kharkiv conducting and choral school to the development of national art. Theoretical background includes the articles of O. Batovska (2005), H. Parfonova (2008) and the thesis of H. Savelieva (2012), N. Bielik(2007), which examines Palkin’s pedagogical approaches, his achievements as the head of the Choral Conducting Department of the Kharkiv I. P. Kotlyarevsky Institute of Arts, as well as the performing style of the Сhamber Сhoir led by him as an artistic director and choirmaster. Other sources of study embody the materials of the national conference, methodological works and articles by V. S. Palkin collected and published in I. Palkin’s book “Viacheslav Palkin. By the roads of choral art” (2011). The objective of the work is to define a periodization of Palkin’s life and career to identify the stages of his professional growth to the crowning achievements at the height of his creative career. The research methodology lies in the application of the principles of historicism, phenomenological and acmeocentric approaches, biographical method and the method of typological analysis. The periodization of the life and career of the distinguished choral conductor, teacher and educator V. S. Palkin is presented for the first time in art studies. Conclusions. The analysis of V. Palkin’s life and career resulted in the periodization. The following criteria were taken into account: biographical, geographical, evolutionary-performing and age-specific. The first period (1935–1951) covers childhood, the second one (1951–1960) represents his years of education. This period is characterized by his desire to comprehend and embrace all the subtleties of choir conducting. The third stage (1960–1978) is the accumulation of choirmaster, pedagogical, and life experience. The fourth one (1978–2008) is the culmination of the master’s life and career, his finest hour and acme phase, when he created a chamber choir, which reached the highest level of choral art under his leadership. It was established that choirs led by V. Palkin reflect changes in his artistic career path. The four stages reflect the evolution of the artist as a conductorinterpreter, organizer and leader of numerous choral groups, teacher and educator.

Choral Works by Rodion Shchedrin. 21 Century

Статья представляет собой обзор сочинений для хора a cappeLLa, созданных Родионом Щедриным в XXI веке. Произведения рассматриваются в хронологическом порядке, многие из них вдохновлены творческими контактами с Камерным хором Московской консерватории и с его руководителями - основателем коллектива Борисом Тевлиным и его преемником Александром Соловьёвым. Среди хоровых сочинений композитора есть и произведения на стихи российских поэтов - Андрея Вознесенского, Владимира Маяковского, Велимира Хлебникова, и опусы, написанные на библейские тексты, - «Эпиграф графа Толстого к роману “Анна Каренина”», «Месса поминовения»; последние можно отнести к области духовной музыки. Ряд сочинений отмечен гражданским пафосом (Диптих, «Два последних хора»). В партитурах 2020 года, созданных в период пандемии, в самоизоляции, автор размышляет о смысле бытия (Триптих). Щедрин постоянно экспериментирует с жанрами хоровой музыки. Ярким примером его изобретательности в творчестве последних лет являются Русские народные пословицы. В более ранней Серенаде (2003) традиционный жанр трактован новаторски: текст произведения целиком основан на междометиях. The article is a review of compositions for a cappella choir, written by Rodion Shchedrin in the 21 century. The works are viewed in chronological order, many of them are inspired by creative reLationships with the Chamber Choir of Moscow Conservatory and with its Leaders-the founder of the collective Boris TevLin and his successor Aleksandr Solovyov. Among the composer's choral works, there are music on verses by Russian poets-Andrei Voznesensky, Vladimir Mayakovsky, VeLimir Khlebnikov, and opuses written on bibLicaL texts-“Count ToLstoy's Epigraph to the NoveL ‘Anna Karenina'”, Mass of Commemoration; the Latters can be attributed to the fieLd of sacred music. A number of works are marked by civic pathos (Diptych, “The Last Two Choirs”). In the 2020 scores, created during the pandemic, in self-isolation, the author reflects on the meaning of being (Triptych). Shchedrin constantLy experiments with genres of choraL music. A striking exampLe of his ingenuity in the current oeuvre is the “Russian FoLk Proverbs”. In the earLier Serenade (2003), the traditionaL genre is interpreted in an innovative way: the text of the work is entireLy based on interjections.

Performing Bollywood Broadway: Shillong Chamber Choir as Bollywood’s Other

This article attempts to explore the performativity that surrounds choral music in contemporary India. 1 1 Choral music was discovered in Western civilization and Christianity. As a starting point, it had the Gregorian reforms of the 6th century. Choir primarily refers to a vocal ensemble practising sacred music inside church settings as opposed to chorus which indicates vocal ensembles performing in secular environments. Multiple singers rendered sacred polyphony 1430 onwards. By the end of the century a standardized four-part range of three octaves or more became a feature. The vocal parts were called superius (later, soprano), altus, tenor (from its function of ‘holding’ the cantus-firmus) and bassus (Unger 2010, 2–3). Moving beyond its religious functions, the Shillong Chamber Choir locates itself within various sounds. Hailing from Meghalaya in the north- eastern part of India, the Shillong Chamber Choir has many folksy and original compositions in languages such as Khasi, Nagamese, Assamese and Malayalam. However, what brought them national fame was the Bollywoodisation 2 2 Bollywood refers to the South Asian film industry situated in Mumbai. The term also includes its film music and scores. of the choir. With its win in the reality TV Show, India’s Got Talent 3 3 India’s Got Talent is a reality TV series on Colors television network founded by Sakib Zakir Ahmed, part of Global British Got Talent franchise. in 2010, the Shillong Chamber Choir introduced two things to the Indian sound-scape—reproducing and inhabiting the Bollywood sound within a choral structure, and introducing to the Indian audience a medley of songs that could be termed ‘popular’, but which ultimately acquired a more eclectic framework. Medley is explored as a genre. The purpose of this article is to understand how ‘Bollywood Broadway’ is the mode through which choral renditions and more mainstream forms of entertainment are coming together.

THE STANDARD OF CHORAL SOUND IN THE PERFORMANCE INTERPRETATION OF UKRAINIAN SACRED MUSIC

The article highlights the issue of achieving a sound standard in the performance interpretation of sacred music by Ukrainian choral groups, which is relevant in the process of understanding the intonation-figurative sphere of performance. We believe that the standard performance version is the performance embodiment of a musical work that corresponds to the sound ideals characteristic of a certain tradition. The sound standard covers a complex of aesthetic and performing means that form a system of physiologically-technological technical-virtuosic, artistic-aesthetic components of the reference sound. Based on the analysis of the choral concert of Maxim Berezovsky "Don't reject me in my old age" in the performance versions of the Lviv state academic men's choral Capella "Dudarik" (conductor – Nikolay Katsal) and the Kiev chamber choir named after B. Lyatoshinsky (conductor – Viktor Ikonnik), the measure of compliance of their performance with the standard parameters of sound is traced.In the performance skills of both groups, the ability to reinterpret a musical work in accordance with its verbal basis can be traced. Depending on the figurative content, a rational reserved approach is used, devoid of emotional sound expression, or, in another situation, the secrets of spiritual experiences are soulfully transmitted. This mobility in the sense of the laws of eternal beauty and the ability to embody them in choral sonority, the combination of properties of the conscious and unconscious, determine the features of performing thinking inherent in the Ukrainian national choral art. The performance of the choral Capella "dudarik" truthfully conveys the performance style of the XVIII century, in which M. Berezovsky created. The combination of high light trebles, timbre- free soft Altos, ringing tenor groups and deep basses creates an impression of directness and sincerity in the transmission of spiritual content. But the choral intonation of the Kiev chamber choir appeals to the Western European style of music making, which is characterized by the most accurate reproduction of the elements of articulation specified in the composer's text – strokes, accents, caesuras, dynamic palette. At the same time, the balance of the single timbre ensemble of the choir with the deep "heart" sound paint characteristic of the Ukrainian tradition is preserved. The interpretation of musical architectonics by both groups brings its own uniqueness to their performing style and image-sound paint – and this is the ability to perceive and report the living matter of the work, to reincarnate the essential meanings of the national spiritual and aesthetic experience. Each of the considered performance versions corresponds to the essential characteristics of the reference sound.

ХОРОВИЙ ПЕРФОРМАНС ЯК НОВИЙ НАПРЯМ У СУЧАСНОМУ КУЛЬТУРНОМУ ПРОСТОРІ

Досліджено новаторську тенденцію в хоровому виконавстві, спричинену пошуком сучасних форм актуалізації хорового співу. Спираючись на результати власних спостережень та аналіз діяльності камерного хору ім. Д. Бортнянського під керівництвом І. Богданова, виявлено нові культурні складові хорових проектів (перформансів). Визначено практичну значимість культурно-просвітницьких заходів даного типу та можливі шляхи розвитку цього напряму. Висвітлено роль використанні психологічних прийомів маніпуляції з елементами тренінгу та використання новітніх інтерактивних технологій в проекті «Welcome to rabstvo». The innovative tendency in choral performance, caused by the search for modern forms of actualization of choral singing, is investigated. Based on the results of his own observations and analysis of the chamber choir. D. Bortniansky under the direction of I. Bogdanov, revealed new cultural components of choral projects (performances). The practical importance of cultural and educational activities of this type and possible ways of development of this direction are determined. The role of the use of psychological techniques of manipulation with the elements of training and the use of the latest interactive technologies in the project «Welcome to rabstvo» are highlighted.

The omnivore turn in cultural production: Case study of China’s Rainbow Chamber Singers

Previous studies on China’s cultural production have concentrated on the tension between state and individual creativity, overlooking the more dynamic and popular expression in China’s complicated cultural market, especially in this information age. This article is inspired by the omnivore–univore argument in cultural consumption and argues there is a similar omnivore turn among China’s independent cultural producers. Drawing on a case study of the Rainbow Chamber Singers (RCS), this article provides a new dimension and perspective to examine omnivore production in China’s ‘unconventional’ chamber choir. Data from the RCS’s music, lyrics, performances, the conductor Jin Chengzhi’s interviews (first-hand and second-hand), and the author’s own participant observation of the RCS’s concerts will be combined and elaborated. This article contends that the RCS adapts to creative thinking from creative industries and blurs conceptual boundaries between state/individual, art/commerce, and highbrow/lowbrow. The process also contributes to forming a participatory culture in the arena of classical chamber music.