«4′33″ ON NAUKA AVENUE» BY SVYATOSLAV KRUTYKOV: CONCEPTUAL ASPECT

Abstract

The relevance of the study is determined by the lack of a systematic analysis of compositions built exclusively on noise material without further processing using computer technologies or other sound processing tools. Analysis of the specifics of the composer’s creative practice through the lens of his conceptual thinking — incorporating materials from personal communication, as well as the interpretation of Svyatoslav Krutykov’s work within the context of soundscape composition (with an emphasis on documenting and preserving the local sound environment) — contributes to the development of new receptive models.

The main objectives of the study are to identify the specific features of the soundscape composition in the work «4′33″ on Naukа Avenue» for fixed media by Svyatoslav Krutykov; to determine the main semantic guidelines of the composer’s intention.

The research methodology: historical and functional method to reveal the conceptual foundations of the work and its artistic value; analytical method to identify the features of the implementation of philosophical and ideological concepts; intent analysis for the find the author’s intentions; comparative method for comparing related artistic concepts; the method of theoretical generalization for summarizing the results of the research.

Results and conclusions. Therefore, in «4′33″ on Naukа Avenue» for fixed media Svyatoslav Krutykov operates with noise material of untempered sonorities as a structural element of the composition, reproducing the natural sound of the street without involving computer technologies for processing the material. The practical and ideological implementation of the idea is close to the concept of soundscape compositions, which are always based on themes of the sound environment with the possibility of minor technical manipulations to achieve a certain level of musical abstraction (however, they never create an exclusively abstract sound space, as is the case in musique concrète). Since the soundscape composition is based on the principles of acoustic ecology, even with some reconfiguration of the ecological component, the contextual factor that characterizes the acoustic environment remains important. Not belonging to this disciplinary field, Svyatoslav Krutykov, nevertheless, created a sound structure in which, due to recorded reality, the sound inherent to a specific local area during a certain historical period was preserved (such as the changes in the sound landscape of Nauka Avenue under martial law and curfew). Environmental sounds form a powerful channel of memory, triggering a chain of connected memories; this is exactly the kind of sonic journey that composers who work with soundscapes try to create.

The analysis of the author’s conceptual and aesthetic intentions demonstrated a certain continuity of the ideas of the Second Avant-Garde, in particular some aspects of the author’s worldview, close to the views of John Cage. The composer interprets the concept of the musical manifesto «silence» through his own optics, allowing the sounds of the environment to remain themselves, without the author’s interpretation.

A work of art is an open communicative system. In various scientific interpretations, new aspects can be revealed that can kaleidoscopically complement the general dimension of the study of compositions created on noise material. At the same time, it remains important to understand the work of Svyatoslav Krutykov, which will contribute to the awareness of the diversity and scale of the composer’s personality.