To the Issue of N.N. Sidelnikov’s Instrumental Heritage Systematization

Abstract

The creative heritage of composer N.N. Sidelnikov (1930-1992) covers many musical genres — from piano miniatures and film music to large-scale oratorio and symphonic concepts. As a professor at the Moscow Conservatory, Sidelnikov always followed current artistic trends, masterfully rethinking and refining them in his creative work. Sidelnikov’s instrumental music represents one of the most important and at the same time unexplored areas of his activity. Nevertheless, seventeen works for solo instrument, ensembles and orchestra form a large layer in his legacy and clearly characterize the composer’s creative individuality. Performing instrumentalists in Sidelnikov’s works are not regulated by the traditions of musical genres — for example, his heritage includes symphonies for a solo instrument, an ensemble and an orchestra. The genres are most often mixed, and a set of certain genre features, as a rule, is determined by a specific author’s idea; meanwhile, double genre definitions (symphony-sonata, concert symphony, symphony-divertimento, etc.) raise questions of the relationship between several genre definitions within one composition. In the composer’s diverse and heterogeneous instrumental heritage, there is a clear tendency for him to turn to several favourite topoi — certain ‘common places’ that are characterized by a certain theme and means of musical language characteristic of its expression. From the above it follows that the question of systematizing Sidelnikov’s instrumental works is ambiguous and may involve different approaches — depending on performing instrumentalists in a musical work or a group of compositions belonging to different toposes. In this article we consider both approaches and their relevance in relation to the composer’s legacy.

Keywords

• n.n. sidelnikov
• musical genre
• performing instrumentalists
• genre mix
• topos
• instrumental music
• symphony
• neo-folklorism