The Compositional and Dramaturgical Logic and Musical Expressive Means in the Performance Interpretation of Marian Stârcea’s Variations in G Major for Piano
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31866/2410-1915.24.2023.287671Keywords:
Moldovan folklore, jazz stylistics, modern harmonic language, performance interpretationAbstract
The aim of the article is to reveal the compositional and dramaturgical logic, as well as the features of the expressive musical means used in the Variations for Piano by Moldovan composer Marian Stârcea in relation to their performance interpretation. The research results are based on the presentation of Stârcea's Variations as a composition that exemplifies the Moldovan compositional tradition, created at the beginning of the author’s creative work and reflecting the characteristic features of his individual style. M. Stârcea turned to the genre of piano variations along with other young composers of the Republic of Moldova, such as T. Chiriac, V. Cholac, V. Beliaev, and many others. Each composer demonstrated a desire to find an individual interpretation of this genre form. M. Stârcea's Variations are characterised by an organic synthesis of the compositional logic of the classical and romantic variation cycle, jazz stylistics, and folklore elements of the musical language. The scientific novelty of the article lies in its comprehensive examination of M. Stârcea's Variations for Piano, which is done for the first time. The practical significance of the work is determined by the possibility of using its materials by performing pianists and teachers of musical educational institutions in their work on the piece. The conclusions summarise the main ideas arising from the compositional and dramaturgical features of M. Stârcea's Variations, as well as their interpretation by students and performing pianists. Understanding the logic of the continuous development of the variation form, enriched with jazz techniques and folk elements, is the optimal way to an adequate comprehension and individual performance vision of this piece. The subsequent comparison of M. Stârcea's Variations for Piano with other works by this author, as well as with examples of variations by other composers, will allow us to develop and enrich the results obtained, which will contribute to the further development of a research approach to the issues of performing interpretation.
References
Ciobanu-Suhomlin, I. (2006). Repertoriul general al creației muzicale din Republica Moldova (ultimele două decenii ale secolului XX) [The general repertoire of musical creation from the Republic of Moldova (the last two decades of the 20th century)] [Monograph]. Cartea Moldovei [in Romanian].
Fischer, K. von (1962). Mozarts Klaviervariationen: Zur Editions- und Aufführungspraxis des späten 18. und frühen 19. Jahrhunderte [Mozart’s Piano Variations: On the Edition and Performance Practice of the Late 18th and Early 19th Centuries]. In W. Brennecke, & H. Haase (Eds.), Hans Albrecht in Memoriam: Gedenkschrift mit Beiträgen von Freunden und Schülern [Hans Albrecht in Memoriam: Commemorative writing with contributions from friends and students] (pp. 168–173). Bärenreiter [in German].
Friedland, M. (1930). Zeitstil und Persönlichkeitsstil in den Variationenswerken der musikalischen Romantik. Zur Geistesgeschichte und Schaffenspsycologie der Romantik [Style of the time and style of personality in the variation works of musical romanticism. On the intellectual history and creative psychology of the Romantic period] (Book 14). Breitkopf & Härtel [in German].
Khatipova, I. (2009). Fortepiannye proizvedeniya kompozitorov Respubliki Moldova v uchebnom protsesse muzykal’nykh vuzov [Piano works of composers from the Republic of Moldova in the educational process of higher music education institutions] [Abstract of PhD Dissertation, Institute for Cultural Heritage, Academy of Sciences of Moldova]. CNAA. http://www.cnaa.md/ru/thesis/13345/ [in Russian].
Klauwell, O. (1906). Ludwig van Beethoven und die Variationenform [Ludwig van Beethoven and the variation form]. In O. Klauwell, Studien und Erinnerungen: Gesammelte Aufsätze über Musik [Studies and memoirs: Collected essays on music] (pp. 56–80). Beyer & Mann [in German].
Luithlen, V. (1927). Studien zu Johannes Brahms’ Werken in Variationenform [Studies on Johannes Brahms’ works in variation form]. Studien Zur Musikwissenschaft, 14, 286–320 [in German].
Mamalyga, M. (2020). Proizvedeniya dlya fortepiannogo dueta v tvorchestve kompozitorov Respubliki Moldova [Pieces for piano duet in the works of composers from the Republic of Moldova] [Abstract of PhD Dissertation, Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts]. CNAA. http://www.cnaa.md/files/theses/2020/56226/marina_mamaliga_abstract_ru.pdf [in Russian].
Mies, P. (1937). Die 32 Variationen in c-moll: eine Formuntersuchung [The 32 Variations in C Minor: An Examination of Form]. In Neues Beethoven-Jahrbuch VII [New Beethoven Yearbook VII] (pp. 99–103). Henry Litolffs Verlag [in German].
Müller-Blattau, J. (1950). Der Zyklus der Variationen wird zur Form. Durchdringung mit Elementen der Sonate. Abschluß der Variation; Variation als Abschluß. Die Geburt des Themas [The cycle of variations becomes form. Permeation with elements of the sonata. completion of the variation; Variation as a conclusion. The birth of the subject]. In J. Müller-Blattau, Gestaltung – Umgestaltung: Studien zur Geschichte der Musikalischen Variation [Design – Redesign: Studies in the History of Musical Variation] (pp. 40–53). J. B. Metzler. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-476-99883-5_3 [in German].
Nelson, R. U. (1949). The Technique of Variation. A Study of the Instrumental Variation from Antonio de Cabezón to Max Reger. University of California Press [in English].
Sisman, E. R. (1990). Tradition and Transformation in the Alternating Variations of Haydn and Beethoven. Acta Musicologica, 62(2–3), 152–182. https://doi.org/10.2307/932631 [in English].
Tsukkerman, V. (1974). Analiz muzykal’nykh proizvedenii. Variatsionnaya forma [Analysis of musical compositions. The variational form]. Muzyka [in Russian].
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following terms:
1) The authors reserve the right to the authorship of their work and transfer to the journal the right to first publish this work under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which allows others to freely distribute the published work with a mandatory reference to the authors of the original work and the first publication of the work in this journal.
2) The authors have the right to enter into independent additional agreements for non-exclusive distribution of the work in the form in which it was published by this journal (for example, to place the work in the electronic repository of the institution or to publish it as part of a monograph), provided that the reference to the first publication of the work in this journal is maintained.
3) The journal's policy allows and encourages authors to post their manuscripts on the Internet (for example, in institutional repositories or on personal websites) both before submitting the manuscript to the editorial board and during its editorial processing, as this contributes to the emergence of a productive scientific discussion and has a positive effect on the efficiency and dynamics of citation of published work (see The Effect of Open Access).
