THE POETICS OF VALENTIN SILVESTROV’S SIXTH SYMPHONY IN THE CONTEXT OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE ARTIST’S STYLE

Abstract

The article is dedicated to studying the ontogeny of symphonism in the works of Valentin Silvestrov, focusing on the period following his early symphonies. It explores both the stylistic constants and changes that occurred in the semiotic sphere of the composer’s symphonic creativity during the 1980s-1990s, with particular attention to the Sixth Symphony. The aim of this scholarly article is to identify significant features of the poetics of Silvestrov’s Sixth Symphony based on a cognitive approach, examining its specificity in terms of musical language, compositional dramaturgy, and at an ontological level. Methodology. The research employs a comprehensive approach dictated by the specifics of the author’s musical language. This involves the application of characteristic musicological methods (genre, structural-functional, interpretative, etc.), classical humanities methodologies (semantic and hermeneutic methods), and the incorporation of modern approaches such as onto-semantic, onto-sonological and spiritual analysis of the musical work. Scientific novelty. The scientific novelty of the results lies in introducing Silvestrov’s Sixth Symphony into scholarly discourse. The article substantiates its poetics and provides a compositional-dramaturgical and semantic analysis of the work. Conclusions. The poetics of the Sixth Symphony accentuate and summarize the subsequent stage (following the integrated system of early symphonies) in the ontogeny of Silvestrov’s symphonism, which is primarily associated with the post-style. Its key features include: a new semantic dimension, specifically the dichotomy of the earthly and the heavenly; the simultaneous coexistence of several principles within the musical language, which the author refers to as the polyphony of systems (sonoristics and pointillism concurrently with a transition to the dimension of homophonic structure emphasizing the horizontal line, the combination of modern and postmodern elements in the language, etc.); fundamental stylistic features essential for understanding the works, such as the categories of time and space; the use of «quiet» climaxes and the symphony’s finale.