"Sketches" by Mykhailo Stepanenko: experience of creative development

Abstract

Mykhailo Stepanenko's piano work is characterized by a special brightness and theatrical character of the images. This is a creative diary, where the artist writes down «sketches» of various ideas related to a broad historical and stylistic context with skillful laconic strokes.

The cycle «Sketches» consists of six numbers. Here, the author conducts a creative dialogue with the legacy of masters of theatrical imagery in the music of the 20th century, such as Prokofiev, Bartok, Lyatoshynskyi. The musical language of the cycle testifies to the artistic taste of the author, who chose the golden mean between the sharp harmonies of the 20th century and the accessibility, democracy of the material.

The cycle of metaphors contains two «turns» of the same sequence: «from lyricism – through scherzoness – to energy». The three main pictorial modes of the cycle – lyricism, sarcasticity, energy – are repeated in a new quality: each of the modes seems to be gaining strength.

Despite its outward simplicity, «Sketches» require considerable skill from the performer, in particular in the technique of double notes, mastery of coloristics.