Master Thesis

The Post-Avant-Garde Aesthetics and the Musical Language

of Silvestrov’s Late Piano Works

Image: from a CD cover “Valentin Silvestrov – Silent Songs”

ECM New Series – ECM 1898/99
Photography: Vladimir Mishukov

Denis Zhdanov
Hochschule Luzern-Musik
Master of Music Major Solo Performance, HS19
 Table of Contents

Preface 3

Chapter 1: Stylistic Evolution and the Formation of a New Musical Language 5

1.1. Moving away from serialist techniques 5

1.2. Silent Songs, new aesthetics 7

Chapter 2: Aesthetics of Post-music in Silvestrov’s Oeuvre 9

2.1. Text 9

2.2. Eschatology in the music of postmodernism 11

2.3. Influence from the East 12

Chapter 3: Characteristic features of the musical language in

Silvestrov’s late piano pieces 13
3.1. “Sounding silence”. Sound palette, touch 13

3.2. Pauses 15

3.3. Melody 18

4.3. Harmony and structure exemplified by Barcarola (2001) 20

Conclusion 23

Bibliography 24

2
Preface

Assured of kinship with all things

And with the future closely knit,
We can't but fall — a heresy! —
To unbelievable simplicity.1

There are relatively few research papers on Silvestrov’s piano oeuvre, especially of his late
period. Kuznetsova explains by saying that his “music … is very pleasant to hear, but almost
impossible to analyse… because of … nonconceptual conceptuality”.2

Zhaleyko’s dissertation,3 in which she dedicates a whole subchapter to Silvestrov’s piano

miniatures, is an exception. However, she analyses all of the pieces solely from the
perspective of the “kitsch” and its transformation during the composer’s creative life.
Besides, the author dedicates a substantial part of the research to the comparison of
interpretations, which takes the reader away from the analysis to the sphere of
performance approaches. In my work, I study the influences that lead Silvestrov into his
post-avant-garde style, and how his style evolved from a conceptual and a musical
perspective.

I argue that Silvestrov’s dissatisfaction with serialism’s expressive limitations, combined

with his desire to express mystical sentiments was the main cause of his move towards a
post-avant-garde style. Along with other influences such as popular music, Silvestrov took
an approach that focuses on a passive role of the artist as preserving or representing rather
than creating meaning. Despite his move away from avant-garde as a musical style, certain
conceptual elements of the avant-garde remain. In order to establish my claims, I have
studied the following works: post-avant-garde aesthetics of his oeuvre (Schmelz,

1
B. Pasternak, from George Reavey's The Poetry of Boris Pasternak (New York, 1959)
2
Kuznetsova (2013), 18
3
Zhaleyko (2016)

3
Pospelova, Martynov, Lianskaya); the meditative side and influence of the East on his style
(Silvestrov, Kuznetsova, Martynov); the nature of kitsch per se and the possibility of using
this notion in connection with Silvestrov’s works (Poliakov, Zhaleiko, Rozhnovsky); as well
a range of works dedicated to post avant-garde, musical semantics, semiotics and musical
topoi.

On the basis of this research, I have tried to sum up the most important aspects of the
transformation of the composer’s style and his main aesthetic principles in Chapter One
and Two in order to be ready to thoroughly analyse his late piano pieces in Chapter Three
and come closer to understanding the material which is “impossible to analyse”. In the
analytic section I concentrated on the three pieces written in 2001: Barcarola, Sanctus and
Benedictus; in the process of work I have used the following edition: M.P.Belaieff –
Silvestrov Klavierwerke Band III.

I would like to express my gratitude to Alexandra Yefimova and Dilectiss Liu for the help
with the translation and stylistic editing, and to Tihomir Popovic, whose exciting theory
lessons have given me a lot of experience and a better insight into the research practice.

4
Chapter 1:

Stylistic Evolution and the Formation of a New Musical Language

1.1. Moving away from serialist techniques

At the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s, many composers abandoned
serialist techniques in search of personal style and language. Silvestrov, despite having
successfully mastered the serialist style,4 was one of the first composers from the former
USSR to give it up around 1970.5

The composer confesses that one of the pivotal moments which turned him away from the
avant-garde completely was his exposure to popular music, which was gradually seeping
through the iron curtain.6 However, the influence of popular music on Silvestrov’s oeuvre
should be lightly weighed, as it is rather an additional stimulus for his separation from
atonal music in search of a new form of expression.

Schmelz, speculating on the reasons of Silvestrov’s separation from avant-garde styles,

supposes that “one factor in its genesis was the economic straits confronting the composer
in the 1970s, the lasting effects of his two-year expulsion from the Ukrainian Union of
Composers at the beginning of the decade.”7

However, I argue that the main reason for this separation is that semantic and expressive
potential of the serialist technique did not answer Silvestrov’s developing aesthetic
requirements. In the early 20th century, following postmodern sentiments, new
compositional devices and their respective genres have sometimes been invented and
implemented not for the sake of expression, but for the sake of creation. One such trend
was the avant-garde, in which experimentation was regarded as having not only

4
Blazhkov reports that Silvestrov was extremely convincing in serialism even while still being a student:
https://youtu.be/M9CYVWdXxDw?t=575
5
Schmelz (2014), 238
6
From an interview in Munipov (Ed.). (2017, October 5)
7
Schmelz (2014), 239

5
instrumental, but final value. Its aftermath was a void for Silvestrov from the 1970s on,
who sought for expressive authenticity and freedom, in order to convey his ideas. Hence, he
moved away from the constraints and the overtly postmodern nature of the avant-garde
and serialism.

Silvestrov said: “Actually, this [separation from avant-garde] is in the spirit of the avant-
garde. The essence of the avant-garde is risk. When everything has come to stability,
everyone risks and no one dies — something is wrong. I left, and I was beaten up rather
brutally. Avant-garde is leaving some situation, a polemic exit; it’s always a kind of a
question.”8

Indeed, Silvestrov did not always receive a supportive reaction to his creative pursuit. After
listening to Silent Songs, a vocal cycle in the new style, E. Denisov grimly speculated that if
Silvestrov continues going “that way”, he will cease to be a composer.9

Thirty-five years later, Silvestrov, as if proving Denisov’s prediction correct, states: “I

cannot say now that I am a composer. I am sitting with a fishing-rod on the river bank and
catching music. I don’t invent it. The title “composer” has a technical component in it –
“making music.” I am just catching it, as if just listening attentively. It already exists, and I
am a catcher, a hunter. I don’t need a gun, just a hearing aid.”10

Thus, we can argue that Silvestrov’s post-avant-garde creative work bears the imprint of
mysticism. The composer presents himself as an observer, rather than a creator. Hence, the
composer’s task is to let mystical imageries invoke music, and faithfully reconstruct that
onto paper, without deliberate meddling. This attitude is in contrast with avant-garde
styles, which emphasise on experimentation.

According to Silvestrov, the most important lesson that avant-garde has taught him is “to
be free of all preconceived ideas, particularly those of the avant-garde”.11 At the same time

8
Interview in Munipov (Ed.). (2017, October 5)
9
Martynov (2005). Chapter “From Opus-Music to Opus Posth-Music”
10
Interview in Munipov (Ed.). (2017, September 30)
11
Frumkis (1990), 12

6
he points out that “there was no truly radical change. In reality it was more of a transition
than a stylistic breach: the avant-garde has not disappeared, but has merely withdrawn and
pervades the entire musical fabric like a ‘grain of salt”12. Frumkis supports this statement
saying that in later works one can find the influence of “pointillist and serialist empiricism
of Silvestrov’s avant-garde period”, while in earlier works one can discover the expressivity
characteristic for his later style.13

1.2. Silent Songs, new aesthetics

The vocal cycle Silent Songs (1974-1984) is one of the first compositions fully representing
the basic features of Silvestrov’s new style, characteristic of his late piano works.14 Frumkis
states that all of the late compositions written by Silvestrov in line with the principles of
the late “metaphorical style” can be viewed as songs without words having this very cycle
as their paradigmatic basis.15

It is not surprising that in this vocal cycle, the composer thought of the piano part as almost
the leading one. In the preface to the cycle he indicates the following: “The voice should not
detach itself from the piano, but should come so to speak from the depths of the piano’s
sound, now rising out of it, now plunging into it”.16

Some researchers, for example, Polyakov and Rozhnovsky,17 define the style of that period
and the Silent Songs cycle as kitsch. The composer, certainly, also contributed to this idea,

12
Frumkis (2006)
13
Ibid
14
“Silent Songs” are a vocal cycle of 24 songs for voice and piano written in 1974-84 and based on the famous
poems by predominately Russian and Ukrainian poets of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century.
Its hallmark is the general dimness of sound and overtly lyrical “heartiness” of the manner, with an utter refusal
from dynamic, harmonic or tempo contrasts and other effects of this kind.
15
Ibid
16
Ibid
17
Polyakov (2012), 230 and Rozhnovsky (1993)

7
having given a controversial name Kitsch-Music to one of the first piano cycles in the new
style. “But his was kitsch with an idiosyncratic twist”, Schmelz specifies.18

Silvestrov’s music from this late period is filled with seemingly paradoxical ideas. For
example, the musical fabric itself seems to be “untimely out-of-date or banal”19 at first
glance; yet upon closer examination, the informational value and metaphoricity of these
works exceed all expectations.

The musical language of Silent Songs is generally based on melodic idioms and harmony
that are characteristic of the 19th century. The composer explains why: “Now, I think, it is
important to hear the poem, to understand how it wishes to voice itself. Of course, it speaks
not in the up-to-date language I would like it to. I wish it were not the case, but the poem
resists me”.20 Silvestrov explains that, in his opinion, the very structure of the poetry
chosen by him required this style. At the same time he denies that the work was stylised.
He thinks that it is about bringing back the “lost time”, but with all signs of it having been
lost. According to Silvestrov, the main difference of this cycle from the song genre in the
19th century is that the poetry itself is the main character, not the persona that can usually
be observed in vocal cycles by Schubert, Schumann, etc.21

Thus, this opus already contains the basis of Silvestrov’s “post musical” aesthetics which
includes aspects such as “commenting” on the music of past epochs and special
metaphoricity, meaning that the music exists in the “code zone”22 regarding its relationship
with the music of past epochs.

The most distinctive features of Silent Songs are their elegy-like character and
estrangement. These features prevail in Silvestrov’s late piano pieces. Moreover, the
composer firmly disapproves of the performers’ tendencies to add external affectation,

18
Schmelz (2014), 239
19
Frumkis (1990), 14
20
Silvestrov & Pilyutikov (2010), 116
21
Ibid
22
“Code zone” concept means that the development of the piece starts from that point where music of last
centuries has finished, and exists in some additional dimension of the precedent music. See also Schmelz (2014)

8
which would make their rendition “brighter and more vivid”, instead of completely
dissolving their ego in the musical material. For example, Silvestrov complains that
Yakovenko, 23 in his opinion, sometimes demonstrated excessive expressiveness. The
performer’s task, as Silvestrov envisaged it, is to let “poetry speak for itself” and be the
medium of the “sounding silence”.24

Chapter 2:

Aesthetics of Post-music in Silvestrov’s Oeuvre

2.1. Text

Despite the diversity and the sometimes conflicting nature of postmodern musical styles,25
it is possible to identify some representative elements, which can be seen in Silvestrov’s
music.

Pospelova points out that reevaluation of a text can be achieved via using post-modernist
language as “meta-text”: “Everything is a text according to the logic and aesthetics of
postmodernism, and art is the ultimate playing with cultural traditions, archetypes,
allusions, historical clichés”.26 Lianskaya defines a certain dualism of postmodern meta-
text: on the one hand, “each new text is written after an old text”. She thus emphasises on
the synthetic nature of the post avant-garde, which is likely the source of Silvestrov’s idea
of “Postludium” – commenting on the past. On the other hand, postmodern aesthetics
strives to go beyond the limits of verbal expression: the semantics of silence and keeping

23
S. Yakovenko (baritone) and I. Sheps (piano) were first to record a CD with this opus in 1986 in a collaboration
with the composer
24
Silvestrov & Pilyutikov (2010), 117, 122
The concept of “Sounding Silence” will be discussed in more detail in chapter 3
25
T. Eagleton: “Postmodernism is such a portmanteau phenomenon that anything you assert of one piece of it is
almost bound to be untrue of another”. Wierzbicki (2011), 284
26
Pospelova (2007), 71

9
quiet, which, in her opinion, is overtly expressed by Pärt and Knaifel, but can also be used
to describe Silvestrov’s style.27

According to Silvestrov, music of the avant-garde period is guided by the “motivation of

novelty”, where the text is some kind of “thicket”: the listener just needs to examine the
text carefully and understand it through the effort of comprehension. With his post-avant-
garde style, Silvestrov suggests a fundamentally different motivation: to listen very
attentively to the material, which seems to be absolutely clear and comprehensible at first
glance, but upon further examination turns out to be not so straightforward.28

This complexity is preconditioned not only by connections between epochs and allusions to
music of past centuries, but also by the composer’s extensive indications of tempo, rubato,
touch, dynamics, etc., which is characteristic of Silvestrov’s writing. According to
Martynov,29 these indications create the whole conceptual layer, without which the score
itself would totally lose its sense. As an example, Martynov mentions the composition
Distant Music, written by Silvestrov in 1956 as “urtext” without any indications for the
performer. In 1993, Silvestrov returned to it wishing to revise it from the perspective of his
new style. He “deformed” it only with the help of agogics and dynamic indications and yet
received a completely new composition. Martynov also quotes Schnittke’s statement that
Silent Songs are impossible to listen to as a bare score, but if the performer carefully fulfils
all the requirements of the composer, the work transforms.30

Thus, the text of Silvestrov’s oeuvre usually has several levels of meaning:

 The score as the basis of the composition, which is often deliberately “transparent”
or even “banal”.

 The most detailed indications for the performer which actively “deform” the text,
exaggerating the links between musical elements and transforming this text.

27
Lianskaya (2003), 17
28
From an interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yeDOlD1Uqw
29
Martynov (2005) Chapter “From Opus-Music to Opus Posth-Music”
30
Ibid

10
  Features of post-avant-garde aesthetics: overt or covert references to the music of
the past, allusions to specific works or to a style/genre as a whole, metaphoricity.

2.2. Eschatology in the music of postmodernism

The eschatological mood of postmodernism is another important aspect in Silvestrov’s

compositions. Both Martynov and Schmelz31 thoroughly analysed the problem of the “end
of time”, which is rampant during the post avant-garde period and which has touched
Silvestrov as well. Schmelz quotes Danto: “art is something which reaches a sort of
historical end, beyond which it turns into something else — beyond which it in fact turns
into philosophy”. Thus, Schmelz supports the thought that “conceptual justifications
became a crucial, albeit often conflicted component of their [Silvestrov’s and Martynov’s]
eschatological music”.32

Martynov argues that since 20th century the formula “cogito ergo sum” no longer justifies
the view that a person is his mind, which can be understood as an interpretation of the
prerequisites for the genesis of this post-avant-garde aesthetics. He states that an idea
comes from the outside, spontaneously, “as an event or a blow”. Taking this into account, he
suggests raising the issue in a different way: “I am perceived by the idea” or “the idea
perceives me”.33

This is in line with the viewpoint of Silvestrov who constantly states that he does not
compose, but only catches music as a fisherman does. For example, he deliberately refuses
from developing texture in the vocal cycle because “the poem resists it”.34

Thus, I argue that postmodern composers like Silvestrov and Martynov believe that the
mind is a part of the world and therefore ideas are caused by external affairs rather than

31
Martynov (2005), Schmelz (2014)
32
Schmelz (2014)
33
Martynov (2005) Chapter “From Opus-Music to Opus Posth-Music”
34
Silvestrov & Pilyutikov (2010), 116

11
deliberated. The acceptance of such deterministic/fatalistic world view is eventually one of
the main causes of eschatological mood in the postmodernism.

Another manifestation of the eschatological sentiment is Silvestrov’s idea of the

“Postludium” as a special philosophy of art, which features a sensation of memory, parting.
According to the composer, everything has been written, and he sees his creative process
as kind of commenting, finishing something that has already been created.35

2.3. Influence from the East

Silvestrov points out a certain connection of his music with Zen Buddhism aesthetics. Zen
Buddhism finds the sublime in prosaic affairs. Silvestrov thinks that his task is to remove
the “high-low” dualism with the help of his Bagatelle36 style and find the sublime and the
original in trite and banal occurrences.37

Some researchers have analysed Silvestrov’s music in connection with the concept of
meditation. Kuznetsova identifies the following features of meditativeness in Silvestrov’s
works: dimness of dynamics, dwelling in one emotional state for a long time, trail of
harmonies prolonged by the use of pedal, repetitiveness of the material, etc. However, she
thinks that Silvestrov’s meditativeness can be rather traced back to the European tradition
of the Renaissance, tradition of a person contemplating themselves and striving to solve
existentialistic and ontological issues. She views the influence of the East as an indirect
heritage of the avant-garde aesthetics. 38 A slightly similar opinion is expressed by
Martynov.39 He argues that this influence of the East on the Western musical world in the
20th century in general is nothing more than indirect results of the revaluation of the

35
More on the topic: Mishina (2006)
36
The composer has been calling his piano miniatures under the general designation “Bagatelles” since the 2000s.
37
Silvestrov & Pilyutikov (2010), 152
38
Kuznetsova (2007), 124, 130, 131
39
Martynov (2005) Chapter “From Opus-Music to Opus Posth-Music”

12
person and wreckage of the emotional experience and expressional devices, discussed from
the perspective of the eschatological mood in postmodernism.

Chapter 3: Characteristic features of the musical language in Silvestrov’s

late piano pieces

3.1. “Sounding silence”. Sound palette, touch

The observations stated in sections 3.1. and 3.2. reveal some of the aspects of Silvestrov’s
musical aesthetics, which is often described in the Russian-language literature under the
rather vague term “sounding silence”.

The vast majority of the piano pieces composed by Silvestrov after the 90s are
characterised by the dimness of sound. They offer the performer all possible gradations of
the quiet sound from рррр to mp, increasing the dynamic range to mf from time to time.
Indeed, it is very difficult to find a late period piece with indication of even only one f.
Moreover, in places where this nuance can be met, it is connected with a separate
chord/motif. Yet, even in these cases the composer warns the performer against overly
direct sound very thoughtfully, combining f with such denotations as dolce or leggierо, like,
for example, in Intermezzo (1956-2000), Moments of Mozart II (2003). Besides, the vast
majority of the pieces have indications una corda/quasi una corda at the beginning, and
these indications, evidently, can be extended to the whole piece. Such a sound palette is one
of the key principles of the composer who consistently developed the idea of the genesis of
“something” out of “nothing”, as Kuznetsova put it,40 and it is a direct continuation of the
aesthetics found in Silent Songs.

40
Kuznetsova (2013), 20

13
Zhaleyko points out that the performer should approach the sound in Silvestrov’s late
pieces very carefully: “[the performer] should not press the keys down to the bottom of the
keyboard, preferring not to play “into the instrument”, but rather taking the sounds out of
the instrument”.41 Thus, it is more important to work with the subtlest overtones and hues
of the timbre rather than achieving sonority. The author examines evolution of the “kitsch”
side of the composer’s oeuvre in detail and justifies the idea that “kitsch motifs (according
to the author’s original interpretation of kitsch)42 reduced to the intonemas level, form the
quintessence of music and making music as manifestation of the transcendent, spiritual
mode”.43 Analysing a range of interpretations, she states that the quality of the sound
palette is able to both lift these compositions up to the transcendent level, and to decrease
their artistic potential down to the kitsch level. 44

At the same time, the frequency of changing the dynamic markings in Silvestrov’s pieces
within the boundaries of this sonority is highly impressing. With these tools the composer
not only creates the “map” of the musical territory, but also creates another level of
semantic charge, as Martynov states.45 For example, dynamics is often used to create the
impression of “draught”,46 and is often combined with tempo markings such as accel./rit.:

Example 1 Barcarola (2001)

41
Zhaleyko (2016), 152
42
Zhaleyko’s clarification. She means that Silvestrov treated his “kitsch” rather conceptually - opposing with it
overtly technical nature of avant-garde, than in the sense of banality, low quality etc.
43
Ibid, 154
44
Ibid, 171
45
Martynov (2005) Chapter “From Opus-Music to Opus Posth-Music”
46
The author points out the presence of “pneuma”, the breath or the “wind” in his music, as its natural character,
which can be expressed both in dynamics and interval sequences and combinations: Silvestrov & Pilyutikov (2010),
145

14
At the same time, dynamics is almost always used by the composer to give more detail
about phrasing, and thus the attentive performer can also obtain additional ideas for
forming the interpretation of the work: for example, in Benedictus (2001), repeated motifs
have symmetric dynamics (ррр<рр>ррр) leading to the middle of the phrase. However,
beginning from the middle of the piece, Silvestrov omits cresc., which moves the motif to
the centre, and indicates dim. in repeated patterns later, so that dim. becomes more
connected with the echo of the motif, rather than the motif itself (example 2).

Therefore, the dynamics contain a form-generating, or in this case rather form-destroying

factor, which seems to dissolve or break the work into its own pieces at the end.

Example 2 Benedictus (2001) bars 3-4 and 20-23

3.2 Pauses

Silvestrov believes that silence is an important element of musical texture. Silence gives a
piece of music meaning, which is no less than that given by sound.47 One can also see here
the influence of Eastern art: “In the same way silence is so important in music: everything
comes out and dies into it”48 - T. Hosokawa.

47
Silvestrov & Pilyutikov (2010), 81
48
Rota (2012)

15
Let us consider Sanctus (2001). Other than phrasing pauses, which imitate vocal breath in
the melody, other pauses can be divided into two types. The first type is pauses between
sentences, which divide the sentences and create the assumed sections in a piece (for
example, bars 15, 33, 44). Another type refers to pauses within the phrases which the
composer uses before the target sounds to increase the effect.

For example, in bars 23-28 and 45-53 the composer uses an ascending sequence the
character of which can be described as blissful ascension.49 After a couple of repetitions
within such sequence, even an untrained listener would have no difficulty “forelistening”
the logic of development and predict the coming sounds. However, the “point of
destination” of both sequences, their last sounds (bars 28 and 53), which, definitely, have
been awaited for by the listener, are divided by an expressive pause. This device is used to
its ultimate extent in the second case (bars 52-53). The last repetition of the sequence is
divided by such a long pause that its appearance in the end is like a device used in scripts
with the characters being saved when all hope has been lost. This creates a powerful effect
of surprise in a seemingly predictable material with the purpose to greatly increase the
emotional effect.

This technique of Silvestrov reminds of the research conducted by Mirka and Margulis,
which regards the pauses as an instrument of increasing the affectation.50 In this research
of perceiving musical topoi by general public, the authors used both original excerpts from
the musical compositions and edited ones, which had pauses inserted into the key places.
The effect has exceeded all expectations, having convincingly shown what kind of crucial
influence a pause can have on perceiving the character of a piece, forming the said
perception at the moment when it is needed.

In Sanctus, like in many other late piano pieces, the sustain pedal is raised and so the sound
rings on during the pauses. Thus, from the perspective of Silvestrov’s late piano pieces,

49
The composer endows sequences with an enormous significance, indicating that the melody, hidden or explicit,
moves “on the wings of the sequence”, which are its inertia: Silvestrov & Pilyutikov (2010), 308
50
Mirka & Margulis (2014)

16
pauses do not usually mean the total absence of sound: the trail of harmony preceding the
pause continues through all of the pauses and creates a kind of background, a field, the
flowing of energy in the air, and this energy generates musical events which happen in the
foreground and then return back to this field. This assumption seems to be especially true
for Sanctus and Benedictus: both of these pieces begin and end with a couple of major
triads, which stand out from the other material. These chords jump-start the piece,
launching the “sounding field” (metaphorical “In the beginning was the Word”) and
finishing it by framing the structure on its ends:

Example 3 Sanctus (2001), beginning

In search of the expression of silence, Silvestrov feeds on the concept of dissolution of

music by Nono and Lachenmann. At the same time, in the composer’s opinion, they
understood this idea very directly, using the muteness to denote itself. Silvestrov’s
approach is radically different: creation of the material which symbolises muteness and is
not equal to this muteness in a direct sense. Silvestrov interprets his late piano miniatures
which have the common title “bagatelles” as “metaphorical silence” where the melody is a
symbol of the inexpressible.51

51
Silvestrov & Pilyutikov (2010), 319

17
3.3 Melody

Silvestrov incessantly emphasises that the melody is the most important element of his
works. This is in line with the characterisation of his piano oeuvre as “songs without
words”.52

In his search for melodism, Silvestrov relies on deeply-rooted stereotypes stating that his
goal is to stop interfering with the music and controlling its natural processes. His melodies
have evident post-romantic qualities. However, this does not lead to banality because the
melody always interacts with a whole range of other elements (time, touch, harmony,
metaphoricity, etc). As R. Monelle noted, “The fact that a figure is common or clichéd does
not deprive it of its meaning — no more than it does in verbal language”.53 In Silvestrov’s
works, one can see the strive for metaphoricity and the enigmatic nature of an utterance,
where markedly simple words are pronounced in such a way that they possess an implied
meaning.

“I have signals here”,54 this enigmatic sentence of the composer still gives cues for
understanding the nature of his melodies. By using conventional melodic turns as
“metaphorical music”,55 he aims to pronounce trite, long-known “phrases” in such a way
that they sound with newly-found cleanness and power of influence.

Mattheson states the following: “Since, for example, joy is felt [empfunden] as an expansion
of our animal spirits [Lebens-Geister], thus it follows reasonably and naturally that I could
best express this affect by large and enlarged [erweiterte] intervals. Instead, if one knows

52
Frumkis (2006)
53
Monelle & Hatten (2000), 199
54
Silvestrov & Pilyutikov (2010), 81
55
Munipov explains that the Silvestrov's philosophy of metaphorical music (which composer often calls as “meta-
music”) was developed by the composer over the years, and in essence is “overtones, echoes and postscripts of
the existing music array”. Munipov (2019) Chapter Valentin Silvestrov

18
that sadness is a contraction of these subtle parts of our body, then it is easy to see that the
small and smallest intervals are the most suitable for this passion [Leidenschaft].56

In Silvestrov’s melodies one of the most characteristic patterns is leaping, prevalently by a

seventh or a ninth. These sharp intervals, which Silvestrov uses in his melodies, are very
common in avant-garde music, and represent avant-garde influence on his melodies.
Kusnetsova characterises such leaps as semantics of “intonation of exclamation” and
describes their imagery as states of quiet ecstasy and standing still in an entrancement and
bliss, etc.57 Such intonations of exclamation can be met in the whole range of piano pieces
with a “light” character, as well in some of Silvestrov’s symphonies. In my opinion, they
always have personalised nature because of their emotional colouration.

However, among the widest spectre of Silvestrov’s melodies one can find the opposite
examples: melodies, which, because of their self-containment and restraint, resemble some
collective action or ritual, where there is no place for a separate person. For example,
Benedictus, while written together with Sanctus (examples 2 and 3), actually represents its
melodic contrast. This piece, developing only one chorale intonation built on encircling
adjacent sounds, directly refers back to medieval church music and evokes the sensation of
antiquity. Floating fifths in the accompaniment enhance this feeling. At the same time, it is
the accompaniment which brings the avant-garde feeling into this composition. Moving in
whole and half tones (major and minor seconds), the fifths in the accompaniment create
the effect of polytonality in relation to the diatonic melody revolving around the A sound.

This is apparently an example of the language which sums up everything which has been
said in the previous epochs and it is rather a comment on the idea of music itself rather
than on a particular piece or period. For instance, intonations of Silvestrov’s Benedictus can
resemble melodic turns of Mozart’s Benedictus from Requiem, which do not represent a
quote to this particular composition, but rather constitute a “signal” or “iconic”
generalisation of a Benedictus.

56
Mattheson & Harriss (1981), 104
57
Kuznetsova (2013), 20

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Another typical feature is the retention of the melody, which seems to hang in the air
dividing the texture into many layers. In the piano pieces, this function is carried out by the
pedal: the composer incessantly draws glide indications which cross the bar lines and show
which sounds should be prolonged. This device has moved to his piano oeuvre from his
symphonies in which one can find a lot of parts where, while the melody moves up, each
sound hangs up in the air, in that manner dividing the strings and the winds into layers as
the piano pedal does. This creates the effect of depletion, dematerialisation, and dying out
of the melody as it leaves its own parts after each sound.

Example 4 Silvestrov’s Symphony 5. Four bars before number 11

4.3 Harmony and structure exemplified by Barcarola (2001)

Although the harmonic language of late piano pieces seems to be very simple, upon closer
examination of the piano miniatures, it turns out that each of them represents a unique
harmonic and structural decision. In each piece, the composer chooses a harmonic model
and follows it throughout the whole piece, avoiding contrasts and noticeable harmonic
development. This creates the impression of absolute simplicity, transparency, and
diminutiveness of the form. The harmony is also deeply connected with the form and
structure of the piece, which invites me to study these aspects together, taking Barcarola
(2001) as the example.

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Barcarola is harmonically based on the ninth chord, which is used in its incomplete, draft
form as an initiator, and then becomes an element of harmonisation for topic material in
bars 16-17.

Since his early avant-garde works, Silvestrov has placed great emphasis on the initial
impulse as the intonational and harmonic “grain”, from which all the other parts of
compositions grow. He declares the importance of this principle, talking about his early
work, as “Spectres”. This device has also been pointed out by Schmelz in his analysis of the
beginning of the 5th Symphony.58

Example 5 Barcarola (2001)

Barcarola is no exception: the first introductory exclamation is denoted by a chord which

represents a kind of “credo” for the whole piece. This chord is metaphoric, because it refers
us back to the first two chords of Chopin’s Barcarola. However, a cadence-like descending
sequence of 10 bars immediately brings us to the “code zone” and indicates the
‘postludium’ character of the piece. Thus, the first impulse is a metaphor and a reference.
Yet, the development of the piece happens in the postmusical space and represents a
comment on the idea of barcarola as such.

58 Silvestrov & Pilyutikov (2010), 36 and Schmelz (2014), 247

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Sometimes these “sketchy”, hollow chords are filled with arpeggios as, for, in example, in
bar 3 (example 5). By the 11th bar this content has gathered enough power to transform
into a separate element of the piece – long arpeggio along the sounds of the diminished
seventh chord. From that time on, it flashes at some points, like a blasting wind, along the
whole keyboard (see example 1), tearing apart the quiet melodic flow which begins at the
15th bar.

Thus, there are three acting forces in this piece:

1) a song-like melody which becomes active in bar 15 and, like flowing water, moves very
naturally with very little resistance. Silvestrov uses a lot of sequences, supporting voices
separated by thirds, lead-in notes for adjacent sounds and melodic slowdowns in its
presentation: all these devices create the sentiment of absolute simplicity and flowing
sincerity. The melody is harmonised with the help of triads, seventh chords and sometimes
ninth chords with their inversions in arpeggios, which is traditional for romantic music.
The mood of the melody can be characterised as pinching nostalgia.

2) The material of the introduction, which has a postludium colouring, is based on the
sequence of descending ninth chords and has a rather fatal, hopeless character. This
material, apart from the introduction, is repeated two more times, each time rather
abruptly, interrupting the development of melody in bars 48 and 67.

3) Waves of whirling arpeggio along the sounds of the diminished seventh chord. This
element appeared because of the ninth chords at the beginning, which turned into a
separate element of the same destructive nature as the material of the introduction in bar
11. However, it undermines the melody from inside: it intrudes into it like a virus and
grows extraneous malicious elements in it, like, for example, in bars 18, 33, 58. At the end
of the piece this element starts prevailing and the third phase of the melodic development,
which begins in bar 79, is swallowed by it completely.

Finally, there is a well-balanced proportion of dying out of the melody: the first wave of its
development begins in bar 15 and continues over 33 bars. Then it is interrupted by the first
element, the material of introduction, in bar 48. The second wave of development (the
second “verse”) begins in bar 55 and continues over 12 bars, after that it is interrupted by
22
the first element in the same manner. The third attempt begins in bar 79, but it only lasts 3
bars. In this case it is not necessary to interrupt it: it dies out naturally and finally
disappears in waves of arpeggios of the third element. The final C major chord does not
sound like a “happy ending”: it rather symbolises smooth water, under which the lost
melody rests, as if nothing has happened.

Conclusion

According to U. Eco, difficult structures - ratio difficilis, when repeated many times, can
become commonplace and be perceived by a person familiar with that cultural tradition as
ratio facilis. The most vivid example is in the semantics of musical topoi when “the
expression is recognised as being conventionally linked to certain content”.59 When
analysing Silvestrov’s late miniatures, the opposite mechanism comes into action: things
which look simple at first glance, upon further investigation appear to be multi-faceted,
deeply thought out, and raising questions.
Silvestrov gives up on the idea of the avant-garde, having decided that in the 70s avant-
garde transformed from a revolutionary modern art to an established tradition. The
composer consistently develops his concepts of “sounding silence” and “postludium” and
enriches his aesthetics with metaphoricity and eschatological mood. Moreover, he presents
himself as a guide of music, not its creator, taking the passive position of the one who
receives. These changes require a language which is completely different from Silvestrov’s
early serialism. The new aesthetics, which he found in Silent Songs and developed up to the
late “bagatelle” period, is a kind of convention: it is deliberately very simple from the
textual perspective. The biggest role is played by the text’s implied rather than literal
meaning.

59 Monelle & Hatten (2010), 16

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Bibliography

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17–23.
4. Kuznetsova, M. (2007). Медитативность как свойство музыкального
мышления (Meditation as a characteristic of musical thinking) (dissertation).
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 Russian Musical Almanac), 1, 146–154. Retrieved December 7, 2019 from
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primere-kamerno-instrumentalnyh-proizvedeniy-1980-h-godov
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Composers). Moscow: Novoe Izdatel'svto. Retrieved December 3, 2019 from
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artistic culture phenomena) (dissertation). Ulan-Ude.
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постмодерна (Text and ways of its Interpretation in the Postmodern
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16. Silvestrov, V., & Pilyutikov, S. (2010). Дождаться музыки: Лекции-беседы (Wait for
the music: Lecture conversations). Dukh i Litera.
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Websites/Interviews

19. Munipov, A. (Ed.). (2017, October 5). Валентин Сильвестров: «Музыка должна
вызывать настороженную собачью стойку» (Valentin Silvestrov: “Music should
evoke a wary dog stance”). Retrieved December 3, 2019, from
https://www.classicalmusicnews.ru/interview/valentin-silvestrov-2017-3/.

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20. Munipov, A. (Ed.). (2017, September 30). Валентин Сильвестров: “Сейчас я не
могу сказать, что я – композитор” (Valentin Silvestrov: “Now I can’t say that I am
a composer”). Retrieved December 3, 2019, from
https://www.classicalmusicnews.ru/interview/valentin-silvestrov-2017-1/.
21. Rota, F. (Ed.). (2012, May 7). Toshio Hosokawa. Retrieved December 3, 2019, from
http://fuori--campo.blogspot.com/p/pagina-1.html.

Media

22. Alexei Lubimov. Silvestrov Silent Songs. YouTube. November 8, 2019. Accessed
December 3, 2019.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kkrEgn1ab_jko_gv8wUyjD6-h-
qSIRAs0
23. Denis Zhdanov performs Ukrainian Music, incl. Benedictus, Sanctus, Barcarolle and
Lullaby (2001) by Silvestrov. YouTube. November 21, 2019. Accessed December 3,
2019. https://youtu.be/v7T87KUOnks
24. DUHiLIT. Film Діалоги (Dialogues). YouTube. November 28, 2011. Accessed
December 3, 2019. https://youtu.be/M9CYVWdXxDw
25. Interview with I. Blazhkov and Silvestrov. YouTube. October 2, 2017. Accessed
December 3, 2019. https://youtu.be/7yeDOlD1Uqw
26. Ural Philharmonic Orchestra. Silvestrov Symphony No.5. YouTube. May 2, 2015.
Accessed December 3, 2019. https://youtu.be/q9tSSxuT1bg

Musical Scores:

27. Valentin Silvestrov Klavierwerke (Vol. 3). Frankfurt: P. Belaieff

26