Content:

1. Elegy
2. Yearning
3. Fantasy on the themes of the WW II songs "Dedicated to Victory Day"

From the editor

This fifth issue of the release "Premiere" is a continuation of a series of issues of concert works by the famous Rostov composer and performer Alexander Letunov.

This release includes three works written earlier. All of them have their own concert history. "Elegy" (2004) is a light (sereno), filled with spirituality, romantic cantilena. Graceful harmonic ligature, capturing a wide range of melody, are woven into the multi-layered polyphonic texture of a dramatic, elegiac confession. The writing of "Elegy" was timed to coincide with the International Competition "North Cup", at the request of the author of these lines, where it was first performed.

Cantilena "Yearning" (2008) is the author's stylization of a Russian folk lyrical song. The composer defined the figurative structure of the play with the word Destino. The most deeply psychological, expressing personal feelings in Russian folklore were conversational songs, the features of which are visible in "Yearning". Dialogue is emphasized by timbre personification. A. Letunov carefully, distantly, with academic delicacy conveyed the typical contrast of moods of Russian lyrical songs, about which A. Pushkin: "sometimes a daring revelry, then a heartache."

"Dedicated to Victory Day" (Fantasy on the themes of the WW II songs) is a large-scale detailed composition written on the themes of eleven songs. The dramaturgy of fantasy is determined by the plot outline, built on a single line of concept deployment with pronounced theatricality, manifested in the contrast of episodes, constant changes in tempo, orchestral sound, textured original finds, sound writing, timbre ingenuity. Democracy of the composition, its intonational sociability, focus on a wide audience are combined with a fairly high degree of complexity of the work, requiring an adequate professional level of skill from the performer. The following songs are used in fantasy:

• “At the Nameless Height” (1963), the author of the words is M. Matusovsky, the composer is B. Basner;
• “If There Is War Tomorrow” (1938), the author of the words is B. Lebedev-Kumach, the composers are the Pokrass brothers;
• "Farewell Rocky Mountains" (1944), the author of the words N. Bukin, the composer is E. Zharkovsky;
• “On a Sunny Meadow” (1943), the author of the words is A. Fatyanov, the composer is B. Solovyov-Sedoy;
• "Blue Handkerchief" (1940), the author of the words is J. Galitsky, the composer is G. Peterburgsky;
• "Get Up, Huge Country" (1941), the author of the words is B. Lebedev-Kumach, the composer is A. Alexandrov;
• "Nightingales" (1944), the author of the words is A. Fatyanov, the composer is B. Solovyov-Sedoy;
• "Into the Dark Night" (1943), the author of the words is V. Agatov, the composer is N. Bogoslovsky;
• "Katiusha" (1938), the author of the words is M. Isakovsky, the composer is M. Blanter;
• "Smuglianka" (1940), the author of the words is J. Shvedov, the composer is A. Novikov;
• "Victory Day" (1975), the author of the words is V. Kharitonov, the composer is D. Tukhmanov.

The release is addressed to students of music colleges and universities, as well as concert performers.

L. Varavina,
Honored Worker of the Higher School of Russia, professor,
Head of the Department of Folk Instruments of the Rostov State Conservatory named after S. Rachmaninov