Виктор Екимовский - Композиция 4 - текст песни, слова, перевод, видео

Composition 4 for piano (1969)

The Composition has a fairly free structure, although it has certain features of sonata form. And the stylistic aura here is very peculiar, because I decided to build on the late Scriabin, who in his time outlined interesting ways beyond the usual tonality through altered dominants, but still did not go all the way. And so I became interested: where would he come if he could live longer? Therefore, here in the style, and sometimes in the texture, there is something - some features associated with it, and with such a “post-late” - and I did this quite consciously.

— Where do you see the sonata here?

- It's simple. In the exposition, after a completely obvious introduction, there are 2 spheres, relatively speaking, the sphere of the main party and the sphere of the secondary party. The 1st represents a free, I would even say, athematic and ametric musical fabric, creating a feeling of improvisation. In the 2nd sphere, on the contrary, there is a definite and recognizable intonation core - constantly rising motives, and, in essence, this is the real theme. The contrasting material following the side part is very short - only 2 bars - I consider it as the final part, because a large section will be built on it at the end. And this is my entire exposition, which is clearly separated by the next slow episode - the beginning of a huge development. Here, individual elements of a side party begin to intrude, appearing, which then literally permeate the entire texture in a fast, crazy toccata. The Toccata, by the way, is 6 pages long, although it is only part of the development! And after it begins a long chain of ever increasing and intensifying climaxes. The last climax - the most powerful - is built on the material of the final part, and this is how 2 bars from the exposition turn here into several pages... All this then leads to a repetition of the introductory section, and then it suddenly becomes clear that in the sonata form there is absolutely no... reprise! That is, it turns out such a huge 2-part form, in which the 1st part is a huge exposition, and everything else - the 2nd part - is development, going on at a huge crescendo, and in such powerful waves that by the end, as they told me, many pianists, their hands just fall off. In general, even physically it is very difficult to play this composition: a very fast tempo plus a powerful chord technique. And then also in the toccata, although there is no chord texture here, but at an insanely fast tempo there is a lot of hidden polyphony, and for all these voices to be heard, and even at such a tempo, it is extremely difficult to play... Not to mention the intense emotional tone the entire composition.

I just wanted something bright and emotional. Well, and then, I wanted to make a piano piece that would be difficult to play and which, due to these difficulties, would be very effective. And it really worked out, because at the premiere the hall really froze - everyone was so tense - they were probably watching the “torment” of the pianist; well, but seriously, honestly, so to speak, the impact, of course, was terribly strong.

— Were there any performances after the Novosibirsk premiere?

- No. Did not have. Although, of course, I slipped notes to a variety of pianists. But no one decided to play.

— Maybe pianists are confused by technical difficulties and such a rather unusual recording of the tempo on a separate line of notes?

- Don't know. May be. The music here is physically very difficult - it wears everything out, as they say. Powerful texture and everything is forte and fortissimo. And this line for tempo is actually a very simple scale, even graphically beautiful, in my opinion. And it was invented just for convenience, so that it would be immediately clear: where is the tempo, where is faster or slower, and the dimensions of all sorts of ritenuto, accelerando are clearly outlined...