of the composer Mikhail Shukh
Meditations and allusions...
These two mysterious words are met in numerous responses and publications about the composer Mikhail Shukh. In the article лLooking for Harmony╗ from the Russian magazine лMusical Academy╗ (1996-12) such words are addressed to his creativity: лProperty and purpose of all kinds of meditation are found in an eminence above ordinary, in aspiration to Unity, Integrity, Harmony. Meditative music approaches to achievement of these purposes in any time, any culture, epoch, style, individual author's environment╗.
Mikhail Shukh constantly deeps into itself, tries to find internal freedom, to overtake the secrets of the device of the world, order of the Beauty and Harmony. It already became his lifestyle, the main creative credo.
The formation of creative individuality of Mikhail Shukh occurred in 1970s during the studding in the Kharkov Institute of Arts on the composition with the professors Dmitriy Klebanov, Vladimir Zolotukhin. That was the time of the total communist ideology, the priority of it above the creative person. It was the situation, when the rating in a subject лhistorical materialism╗ characterised the person; when Komsomol forbade to the young men to have long head-dress, and music had to be written under the standard. The life and creative searches of Mikhail Shukh were under construction with the devise of "non-compliance": His hair was lower than his shoulders, the negative mark on the discipline of "Marksism-Leninism", and his musical works were perceived by the members of Composition department as the result of лharmful influence of the West╗ and were called as лideological sabotage╗. And that could be expected because of the great interest of M. Shukh to the music of A. Schonberg, K. Stockhausen, C. Orff, K. Penderecki, A. Shnitke.
Today in creative luggage of Mikhail Shukh - symphonies , masses, cantatas, pieces for organ, choir, chamber ensembles, music for theatre and cinema. The significant part of his creativity, since 1988, is connected to traditional genres of sacred music: Requiem
лLux aeterna╗, masses лAnd I said in my heart╗ and лIn excelsis et in terra╗, organ mass лVia dolorosa╗, sacred concertos, choruses лDies irae╗, лLacrimosa╗, лStabat Mater╗ etc. These eternal philosophic and religious ideas underlying in many of his compositions, representing modern vision of the artist of the end of 20th century. Presently the closest by spirit creators for Mikhail Shukh are G. Kantscheli, A. Piart, V. Silvestrov.
Mikhail Shukh is the participant of many international forums of modern music. Among them one can mention eleven festivals of лKiev-Music-Fest╗ (1990 - 2000), International choral festival in Burn (Georgia, 1990), The Week of organ spiritual music in Bonn (Germany, 1991), International festival of organ music in 11 cities of CIS (1992), Kiev organ festivals (1994 - 1997), Festival of contemporary music in Alikante (Spain, 1996), International festival N/A V. Gorovits (1997), choral festivals лZolotoverhiy Kiev ╗ (1998, 1999, 2000), Days of music in the cities of Poland (1999) etc.
In 1997 by the invitation of Association of the actors of Soltau (Germany) M. Shukh represented the art of East Europe within the framework of the cultural program лEast - West╗.
For the period 1986 - 2000 the composer organised a plenty of author's concerts in the cities of Ukraine, Poland, Germany and Australia with the participance of outstanding musicians such as Olga Dmitrenko, Natalia Chesnokova, Ludmila Voinarovskaya, Valentina Ivanenko, Tamara Lagunova, лARCHI╗ orchestra (Ukraine), Wolfgang Weigel, Soltau Kammerorchester (Germany), Piter Schmelzer (└ustria), Victorian Boys Choir, Michael Solovey, Andre de Quadros (└ustralia).
Probably, spiritual music - for the elite audience, for the people of certain intellectual level. This are them who arrange to the composer ovations after the concert. But let us keep silence - we can hear the sounds of лLacrimosa╗, and it seems, as if the melody smoothly falls down to the people cries above each passer-by, consoling our poor Universe.
Someone from great philosophers said: life is the LordТs gift to the man, and what the man does with it - his gift to the God. In such case the God can not take offence at the composer Mikhail Shukh...
Svetlana Kuralekh
