Choral concert “The soul calls for an owner...” by Yurii Alzhniev: genre­stylistic and compositional features
Authors: Kliuka T. 
Published: October 2023

The relevance of the research. The musical work of the well-known Ukrainian composer, a bright representative of the Kharkiv school of composers — Yurii Alzhniev — is widely known and respected in the modern musical culture of Ukraine. The artist is the author of a large number of large-scale and small-scale works for symphony and chamber orchestras, orchestra and ensemble of folk instruments, a significant number of choral, vocal, vocal-symphonic works, theatre music, separate compositions for various instruments and instrumental ensembles, etc. Today, the most significant samples of Yurii Alzhniev’s works are deservedly within the scope of scientific and research attention of domestic musicologists. After all, these works are now increasingly being performed by leading Ukrainian groups and soloists, on concert stages in various regions of Ukraine and abroad. At the same time, many bright musical compositions of the artist, which were created by him in recent years and represent a high artistic value, remain out of research attention. One of such opuses in Yurii Alzhniev’s creative portfolio is the choral concert “The sound of the Master’s soul...” for a mixed unaccompanied choir, in which national features of Ukrainian traditional choral singing and original author’s decisions regarding the organization of the compositional structure and stylistic filling of the work are skilfully and highly artistically interwoven.

The purpose of this article is to identify the compositional and genre-stylistic features of Yuri Alzhnev’s choral concert “The sound of the Master’s soul...” for a mixed a capella choir, through a musico-logical analysis of this work.

At the heart of the methodology of the work are the methods and techniques of musicological analysis used in theoretical musicology. In particular, this is a method of complex analysis, which is used in the implementation of a holistic analysis of a selected piece of music, as well as separate theoretical methods: genre and style analysis, analysis of musical form, intonation analysis, analysis of elements of musical language. In addition, systematic and system-forming methods, the method of comparative analysis, methods of systematization, synthesis, and generalization are involved in the work methodology.

The results obtained in the course of achieving the goals in this article are focused on revealing the compositional and genre-stylistic features of the choral concert “The sound of the Master’s soul...” for a mixed a capella choir, through the musicological analysis of this work.

The novelty of the work lies in the fact that the choral work of the famous Ukrainian composer Yuriy Alzhnev in recent years has found its musicological interpretation for the first time in the form of his choral concert “The soul calls for an owner...” The genre-stylistic and compositional specifics of this work are defined, the authorial approaches to the realization of this composition in the outlined aspects are summarized.

The practical significance of the performed musicological analysis of the selected work lies in the possibility of using it in the study of the musical work of modern Ukrainian composers, disciplines related to musical composition and choral art, as well as a musicological supplement to the use of this music in concert performance practice.

Conclusions. Turning to the creation of his choral concert “The soul calls for an owner...” Yurii Alzhniev chose this genre typical for choral music, relying mostly on a complex of traditional means and canons. At the same time, he created a rather interesting and individualized musical drama in this work, in which he skilfully used and expanded the possibilities of a simple verse form, integrating features of the three-part and rondo forms into it. In terms of style, the composer, once again, significantly enriches the relatively traditional musical presentation of the concert, “decorating” it with intonation freshness, interesting textural and compositional solutions, “spiciness” of harmonic language, etc. At the same time, the intonation basis of the work radiates its deep national character and belonging to the Ukrainian choral tradition. This is the essence of the authorial musical and linguistic specificity and the originality of Yurii Alzhniev’s choral style, which was deeply and vividly manifested in the choral concert “The soul calls for an owner...”.