Bandura in the Late 1990s and Early 2000s Compositions by Maryna Denysenko: Genre and Stylistic Context of Ideas

Abstract

The article summarizes the use of bandura in the compositional ideas of Maryna Denysenko, a famous Ukrainian composer (1962–2022). The nature of the bandura use in the artist’s works suggests the process of the academicization of the instrument. Engaging bandura in the Winter and Spring play and in the August the Sickle cycle, Maryna Denysenko makes this instrument a mediator between the musical material of a non-folklore nature and the folklore themes declared in the programmatic titles of the works. In general, Denysenko’s results demonstrate high mastery of compositional technique and artistic perfection, corresponding to contemporary musical trends. This once again confirms the urgent need to revive and explore her work. The analysis of Maryna Denysenko’s works featuring bandura revealed the following stylistic features of the composer’s creative method: a tendency to a programmatic approach, to the realization of folklore themes without explicit references to the characteristics of traditional genres of Ukrainian folklore in the musical language, and to a pronounced integrity of the composition. Her ideas in the field of instrumental bandura are characterized by the use of decentralized harmonic systems and modality in the principles of the harmonic basis of her compositions. These are the regularities of constructing colorful intonational material based on movements ofseconds asthe main structural microelements. The components of the author’sstyle of the instrumental chamber works with bandura were revealed, including the exchange ofroles between bandura and piano at certain moments of the work; elaborate composition with the dominating improvisation; a significant role of polyphonic techniques (use of equirhythmic counterpoint, various imitations, canons with two or more voices); numerous instances of inventive sound imagery (for example, the depiction of the sounds of drops and gurgling water in the third movement with the help of bells, a xylophone, or the layering of aleatoric techniques of bandura performance and pizzicato strings).