| Valentin Silvestrov - Ukraine, Валентин Сільвестров 1937* Kyiv Ukraine en.wikipedia.org Valentin Vasilyevich Silvestrov Васильевич Ukrainian: Валенти́н Васильйович Сильве́стров,[1][2] born 30 September 1937 in Kyiv, in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union) is a Ukrainian pianist and composer of contemporary classical music. Silvestrov began private music lessons at age 15. He studied piano at the Kyiv Evening Music School from 1955 to 1958, then at the Kyiv Conservatory from 1958--1964; composition under Borys Lyatoshynsky, harmony and counterpoint under Levko Revutsky. Silvestrov is perhaps best known for his post-modern musical style; some, if not most, of his works could be considered neoclassical and post-modernist. Using traditional tonal and modal techniques, Silvestrov creates a unique and delicate tapestry of dramatic and emotional textures, qualities which Silvestrov suggests are otherwise sacrificed in much of contemporary music. "I do not write new music. My music is a response to and an echo of what already exists," Silvestrov has said. In 1974, under pressure to conform to both official precepts of socialist realism and fashionable modernism, Silvestrov chose to withdraw from spotlight. In this period he began to reject his previously modernist style. Instead, he composed Silent Songs (Tихие Песни (1977)) a cycle intended to be played in private. Silvestrov's Symphony No. 5 (1980--1982), considered by some to be his masterpiece, may be viewed as an epilogue ... |
