Musical Style
The art of Gavrilin is one of the most vivid and striking features of contemporary Russian culture. After having composed "The Russian Music Book" he entered into music of the 1960s in the period of the so-called "neo-folklore wave" which was a kind of parallel to the art of such Russian "country-writers" in the genre prose as Vasili Belov, Viktor Astafiyev, and Vasily Shukshin. The truthful picture of the contemporary life of people, their mood, expectation, hopes and sorrows is presented in Gavrilin's music.
Both the esthetics and the style in Gavrilin's art are the vivid example of the neo-romantic. First of all it can be seen in the composer's inclination towards the genre of song mostly favored by romantics, in the ethical and fine development of song forms. To reveal the tragic content the composer uses the developed and symphonized song form which is sometimes close in the manner of intonation to "crying" and "lamentations". They are traditional genres of a Russian village song.
In Gavrilin's instrumental music an appreciable place is given to a programme miniature, to character and genre pieces forming his suites, orchestra suits and variety entertainments. Having been staged in the Naples theatre "San-Carlo" and in the Bolshoy in Moscow by V.Vasiliev, Gavrilin's ballet Anuta became widely known.
Being vocal by nature, Gavrilin's talent has its own unique intonation. Just like his beloved romantics he worships melody. The soul of his music is in a fresh primordial melodiousness. Its pure national character is also expressed in the composer's inclination to the "natural" and "native" harmonies.
Read more about this topic: Valery Gavrilin
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