"From the Black Box" by Kirill Molchanov: Sergey Yakovenko's artistic reading of the musical and prose text of the vocal cycle

The object of the study is the vocal cycle "From the Black Box" by K. Molchanov – one of the forgotten chamber vocal compositions of the second half of the twentieth century. The subject of the study is the performance interpretation of this work by the famous singer Sergey Yakovenko. Based on the study of the clavier preserved in the musician's home archive and the audio recording of the vocal cycle, the author reveals the important properties of the singer's performing interpretation. A sharp change from reading to singing is noted, which is a distinctive feature of this vocal cycle, in which reader's and singer's words are matched. The researcher focuses on Yakovenko's performing principles, the rich colorful palette of his voice and the actor's approach to interpreting the artwork, thanks to which he was able to create visible theatrical images of various characters appearing in the vocal cycle. The article uses a comprehensive method that has developed both in historical and theoretical musicology, as well as in the field of vocal performance interpretation. As a result of the analysis, the author comes to the conclusion that the vocal cycle "From the Black Box" is of a great interest both from the point of view of figurative, thematic and stylistic development, and from the standpoint of S. Yakovenko's performing interpretation. A special contribution of the author to the research of the topic is a detailed study of the performance of Molchanov's vocal cycle in the context of an intensive search for "new music". The scientific novelty lies in the fact that the cycle "From the Black Box" is for the first time in the field of view of the study, considered in detail and comprehensively with the identification of a special performing interpretation of the outstanding singer S. Yakovenko.

Sergey Yakovenko, vocal cycle, Kirill Molchanov, Ludwik Ashkenazi, Russian music, performing interpretation, reading, singing, vocal skills, singer-actor