The Formation of Anna Korsun’s Individual Style in the Sound Space of Vocal Creativity

Abstract

Relevance of the study. Studying of individual composer styles allows learning musical art in its individual, unique manifestations. It is also a necessary component in studying of styles of more general levels. The study of the music of young talented composers, one of which is the Ukrainian-German composer A. Korsun, ensures the inclusion of Ukrainian musicology in the most advanced processes of contemporary national and world music culture.

The lack of scientific research on vocal music by A. Korsun defines the scientific novelty of this article, which deals with all so far existing vocal pieces of the composer. The main objective of the study is to identify the features of A. Korsun's individual style and the process of their formation in the sound space of vocal creativity.

The following methods form a methodology of this article: analytical — to reveal sound features of vocal music by A. Korsun; comparative — for comparison of common and distinctive features in composer's vocal works; chronological — to consider the forming of methods of working with sound consistently from the first to the last vocal piece; historical — for inclusion of A. Korsun’s vocal creativity in the general historical and cultural musical context.

Results. A versatile work with sound is one of the main factors in the organization of vocal works by A. Korsun. It includes active engagement of noise sounds, non-traditional sound production techniques, coloristic interpretations of verbal text, modification or addition to a human voice by additional tools, experimentation with stereo effects, sound illusions, «mobile» sound by using space possibilities in placing the performers, and their movement while singing. The performers basis is the non-academic manner of singing with the superiority of soft sound not in the full voice and the manner of croon (the term by A. Korsun) in fragments with a closed mouth that means humming, singing without trying to do it clear.

Conclusions include the marking of the significance of the timbre in the formation of the dramaturgy in vocal scores by A. Korsun, its influence on the feeling of tempo and rhythm. The presence of the most important individual-style elements of composer’s music is noted already in the first vocal works. Overcoming the limits of performance elitism and the availability of Korsun’s works for non-professional musical performers are specified. Beyond-national nature of the composer’s vocal creativity and its orientation to the contemporary world music practice are accented. The significance of results of the study is the possibility to use them in courses of the history of contemporary Ukrainian and world music, composition, history and theory of vocal performance.