Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov came of age in the 1950s and 1960s when the Soviet Union's grip on composition was strong, but as it loosened he explored the latest modernist trends before settling into the style for which he is best known, a serene simplicity that is similar in tone to much of the work of his contemporaries like Arvo Pärt and Giya Kancheli. His Fourth and Fifth symphonies, from 1976 and 1980-1982, are transitional works written with awareness of modern compositional procedures, but applied with ...
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Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov came of age in the 1950s and 1960s when the Soviet Union's grip on composition was strong, but as it loosened he explored the latest modernist trends before settling into the style for which he is best known, a serene simplicity that is similar in tone to much of the work of his contemporaries like Arvo Pärt and Giya Kancheli. His Fourth and Fifth symphonies, from 1976 and 1980-1982, are transitional works written with awareness of modern compositional procedures, but applied with warmth and an ear for expressive directness. They are large-scale, single-movement works, the Fourth lasting 25 minutes, and the Fifth 40 minutes. Both are soulful, emotionally charged works that use dissonance and disjunction as only several elements in the composer's extensive arsenal of devices to create music that speaks clearly to the conditions of suffering, yearning, and redemption. The warmth that glowed as an undercurrent in the more turbulent Fourth Symphony blossoms with...
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