Nikita Koshkin - Program Notes

The composer calls his Prelude and Waltz: Homage to Segovia "a light remembrance" of the master. Written in the year of Segovia's death (1987), the two-movement form derives from early examples of paired movements, especially pavanne-galliard. The brooding prelude leads easily to the whimsical waltz by way of motific relationship: the theme of the waltz mirrors the prelude's five-note motto.

An early example of Koshkin's desire to exploit "the impressionistic possibilities" of his instrument is Rain, composed in 1974. As with many Koshkin pieces, it is programmatic. The program here depicts a gentle rain that becomes a torrent, then a major storm, and then a few vestigial drops. Koshkin had in mind as vague models some of the water-oriented piano pieces of Debussy and Ravel, but his approach is wholly idiomatic to the guitar. Freely structured, written without barlines, Rain conjures the initial muttering of its subject matter by playing on a combination of closed and open strings, and goes on to press the guitar and texturally. "It was my first attempt to make a cinematic effect," the composer recalls.

The Elves: Suite for guitar was inspired by fairy-tales as were many of Koshkin's other early guitar works. According to the composer, "Five movements reflect different states of those mystical creatures who could be lovely and angry, friendly and frightening, funny and ugly. Merrily stumbling Gavotta opens the cycle. It is followed by easy flying Valse, clumsy March and extremely lyrical Melody. The final Galop, filled with a dark grotesque and ruthless rhythmical pulse, is what I imagine to be an Elves' party."

"From the very beginning," says Koshkin, "I felt that the guitar could express itself in many various styles while still being a classical instrument. That's why I like very much to turn from one style to another reaching diversity within my only touch of the instrument. Three Stations On One Road expresses my interest in jazz music on classical guitar. It is ballad-like with a fast middle section, typical jazzy octaves, wide chords and closed strings' rhythm. In recent years I have also collected many impressions from folk and popular music.

The Ballads: suite for solo guitar appears as a reflection of all these impressions, supported by the experience of my youth when I was a rock guitarist. Notwithstanding the popular style in which I've written on this occasion, I consider this work to be absolutely one of my very best."

The Returning of Winds: Suite for Two Guitars is dedicated to Carlos and Luis Molina, two brothers from Cuba separated for about twenty years. Carlos (the eldest) lives in America, and Luis lives in Cuba. Koshkin recalls, "I met both in different music festivals, Carlos in France and Luis in Germany. It was Luis who actually gave me the idea of the title. He told me a strange story about how the weather changed in Cuba right after the rupture of friendship between Cuba and Russia. The winds in Havana disappeared completely. I don't know if they are back now but I was touched by the image of winds that go away and return back together with friendship." All four movements are in one tonality on purpose to create the same atmosphere through the whole work. The first and the third ones have a Latin-American flavor. They form an arch, with the second movement in the middle, and together they make a solid construction before the Coda (fourth movement). There are several leit-motifs that penetrate all four movements.

The Cambridge Suite for Two Guitars, dedicated to Koshkin's close friends Chris Kilvington and Lorraine Eastwood, was composed after his first visit to Cambridge, England. It reflects a specific mixture of old fashioned traditions and the modern-day lifestyle that he saw there. The music displays humor in the counterpoint "to individualize the parts and make the music more vivid."

According to Koshkin, "Merlin's Dream was composed just after Avalon, and both were inspired by the legends about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Merlin, Arthur's wizard, was very powerful and omnipotent, but he became helpless when he fell in love with the Lady of the Lake. In teaching her his magic and witchcraft, he didn't sense the danger coming from this perfidious woman. Turning the sorcerer's magical powers to her own advantage, she put him to sleep and confined him in a cave without an exit. From time to time Merlin would awaken, knock on the rock trying to find the way out, only to fall asleep again." A section played with tremolo suggests Merlin's sleep. The melody comes and goes while the accompaniment changes to a monodic line to support the hypnotizing effect. In the central episode, sforzando chords and pushing intonations in the melody represent Merlin's passionate endeavors to reach freedom. The despondent Coda leads to the reprise with an ending that gives the impression of flying away, an effect produced by the combination of a single-string tremolo and a muted ascending glissando on first string.

Kenneth LaFave