WNAM REPORT: On March 3, a concert of the chamber choir of the Lebap Specialized School of Arts was held in the Great Hall of the Turkmen National Conservatory named after M. Kulieva.
The artistic director and conductor of the choir is People’s Artist of Turkmenistan Byashim Berdyev. The chamber choir is a laureate of international and national competitions; a permanent participant in all significant regional cultural events. Its performances are always bright events in the musical life of Turkmenistan.
This time, too, the new concert program, which summarized the work of the creative team in the 2024/2025 academic season, focused on studying complex works by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Franz Schubert, and Francesco Durante.
One of the most important tasks of the choir, in addition to performing academic music and songs of the peoples of the world, is the active popularization of works by Turkmen composers. The concert featured works by Sukhan Tuyliyev, Jeren Kurbanklycheva, and Batyr Soltanov.
The main leitmotif of the concert was the song Abadanlyk aýdymy (lyrics by Akmurad Rejepov) by the first Turkmen woman composer, Honored Artist of Turkmenistan Jeren Kurbanklycheva. The bright, solemn melody glorified neutral independent Turkmenistan, the modern era and its great achievements.
The search for true, tender love, the possibility of close happiness, hope, contained in the beautiful poem by Nyazik Annatyeva, set by Jeren Kurbanklycheva to the music of the lyrical-psychological romance “Kim sen”, were masterfully captured by the choir (choral arrangement by D. Sakhatov) in the second number.
The “Legend” by the great Russian composer, a bright representative of musical romanticism Pyotr Tchaikovsky (words by Alexey Pleshcheyev) sounded surprisingly touching. The lyrical-dramatic beginning and deep psychological insight, characteristic of the music, were highly professionally conveyed in the interpretation of the chamber choir.
The next work of Bilmedim on the text of the greatest Turkmen classic of the 18th century and Eastern thinker Magtymguly Fragi, took listeners to the distant historical past, when the poet lived, loved and created.
Preserved in the people’s memory, his poetry became an invaluable source of wisdom and poetic inspiration for the Honored Artist of Turkmenistan, famous ethnographer, research scientist, composer Sukhan Tuyliev. It formed the basis of many of his works – the ode “Türkmen binasy”, written for a reader, soloist, choir and symphony orchestra; the three-part vocal cycle “Dünýe, heý!”
The author skillfully combined in Bilmedim chanting, song intonations with recitative ones and achieved a complete fusion of poetic images with the dynamics of musical development. The choir sounded like a whole sound organ, absorbing different timbre colors, voices, and coloristic nuances.
One of the most amazingly beautiful works in world musical culture is Ave Maria (1825).
Austrian composer Franz Schubert set one of the songs of Walter Scott’s poem “The Lady of the Lake” and “Ellen’s Third Song” to ballad music. Franz Schubert’s romantically sublime melody Ave Maria, arranged for the choir by Yuri Sarkisov, was performed with particular tenderness and fragility by soloist Angela Atamuradova (4th-year student).
Next, the concert program included the song “Näzli ýar”, with a pronounced national-genre flavor, created by the modern composer Batyr Soltanov (lyrics by Magtymguly).
The vocal composition “Söýgi kenary” by Byashim Berdyev, arranged by the Honored Artist of Turkmenistan Dovlet Sakhatov, in which the word and music were intertwined in an elegant pattern, made a strong artistic impression and was warmly received by the audience. It was performed by the youth a’cappella musical group “Ovaz”, the soloists are the 2nd year student (vocal singing mastery) Oredjemal Nepesova and Bahram Khuseynov
Melodic expressiveness and deep polyphonic interpretation were characteristic of the chamber choir’s performance of the work “Dance” by a prominent representative of the Neapolitan school, the Italian composer Francesco Durante (Russian text by M. Uliskov, arrangement for choir by Adrian Shaposhnikov).
The concert evening ended with the temperamental Uzbek song “Kylpyllama” (arranged by B. Umitjanov).
It is worth noting the skillful mastery of the creative group’s accompanist, piano department teacher Aziza Arslanova, who played an important role in preparing the concert program.
Each note was sung from the heart by the harmonious voices of the vocalists and choir members. The unusually heartfelt, beautiful and profound music filled the hall with light, warmth and joy from contact with the highly professional performing culture of the chamber choir.
