Overture “Maslenitsa“ | Увертюра “Масленица“ by Airat Ichmouratov

Airat Ichmouratov Overture “Maslenitsa“ (fragment) Айрат Ишмуратов Увертюра “Масленица“ соч .36 (фргагмент) состав/ orchestration: 2222-4231-T 3-Hp-Str длительность/ duration : 11 мин/min This portrayal of the week prior to Lent is meant to represent an array of Carnival-like festivities, including folk dances, disguises, troika rides, ice sculptures, and blini – the crêpes that adhere to the protocols of the meatless diet already required of the faithful. The beginning, however, establishes the religious context of the celebration with a solemn chorale in woodwinds augmented by tubular bells that might put the listener in mind of Mussorgsky’s pictorial expressions of Russian grandeur in Boris Godunov. A lonely oboe leads to unison horns sounding a fanfare starting with an assertive rising fifth and spanning an octave, which is soon modified slightly to define a major seventh – an interval the composer regards as his personal fate motif. Sombre music r