«ALBUM FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH: IMAGERY, GENRE AND STYLISTIC FEATURES» BY VOLODYMYR RUNCHAK

Abstract

This article examines Album for Children and Youth in Eight Parts: ‘Children Under 16 Are Allowed to Perform’ (2016), a cycle of works for solo bayan/button accordion by Ukrainian composer Volodymyr Runchak. The aim of the study is to identify the genre and stylistic characteristics of the composition, as well as to explore the range of performance challenges it presents for the accordionist.The research methodology involves a combination of approaches to analyzing a composer’s creative output. These include: structural-functional analysis for investigating the composition’s form, dramaturgy, and imagery; genre and stylistic analysis to highlight the specifics of Runchak’s compositional language; phenomenological methods to understand the unique creative identity of Runchak; analytical and synthetic approaches to examine relevant musicological literature on the composer’s work.The article’s scientific novelty lies in identifying the distinctive features of Runchak’s compositional style in children's music for accordion.The study highlights the cyclical nature of Runchak’s chamber works for button accordion. Album for Children and Youth in Eight Parts is notable for its eccentric subtitle and vivid, humorous movement titles that contrast sharply with the work’s serious content and complex performance demands. Characterized by virtuosity and concert-level expressiveness, the cycle serves as an anthology of contemporary accordion performance techniques aimed at young musicians. It utilizes the full range of accordion articulations and incorporates a variety of advanced techniques, including bow tremolo, triple ricochet, glissandi (upward and downward chordal), repeated notes, vibrato, and others.The conclusion asserts that Album for Children and Youth in Eight Parts is a significant modern work. Mastering it demonstrates a young performer’s command of the essential skills required of a contemporary accordionist, including a rich textural palette, diverse articulations and strokes, and a wide dynamic range. The suite features figurative unity across movements while offering contrast in character and tempo, alternating between lively and calm sections.Overall, the cycle can be regarded as a brilliant, highly artistic etude of transcendental difficulty, designed to develop various performance techniques in gifted children of the 21st century. Through this composition, Runchak introduces young performers to the world of contemporary accordion music, intimately tied to the imagery of childhood. He evokes fundamental childhood values such as family, friendship, joy, and play. The work also revitalizes a broad spectrum of classical genres – prelude, march, etude, waltz, toccata, and invention – within the context of the modern accordion repertoire.