Poslaniye

Artists

Album Info

Label: Bandura Records

”To The Living, The Dead, And To Those Yet Unborn... My Testament” - text of Taras Shevchenko.

In this tone-poem, Melnyk took Shevchenko's passionate plea to his countrymen as the basis for his musical expression, reflecting the powerful words and their meaning. The soprano-and-piano form the melodic essence of the music, while the ensemble appears as an external element with dramatic effect. The ensemble here was created using ”Geometric Form”, a type of chance/mathematical creation developed by Melnyk (in this instance based on the Cyrillic lettering of T.S.) in the 1970's.

Taras Shevchenko, the 19 th century poet, is by far the greatest national poet of Ukraine. He is a symbol of the Ukrainian people's struggle to survive the Russian occupation and oppression. Throughout his difficult life, Shevchenko stood as a beacon of hope for the entire Ukrainian nation. But more than that, Shevchenko would speak out against all the injustices and oppression around him, on behalf of all the downtrodden. During his entire life, he remained a champion of human rights, defending the weak in both his actions and his creative work... and he was to suffer terribly for his steadfast devotion to truth and the hope of freedom for his people.

Shevchenko was arrested by the Russians and banished to a slow death in their far-off military camps. But his poetic works and his suffering have sustained the hopes and spirit of his people throughout decades of brutal oppression. Poslaniye was his call to all Ukrainians to unite and resurrect their country from the ruins of occupation. As he predicted in this very poem, the worst terrors were yet to come, for the Russians, in their attempt to crush the Ukrainian nation, were to kill over 15,000,000 Ukrainians between the years 1920-1956. And though he belongs to Ukraine, the beauty of his works and their enormously passionate energy, remain an inspiration to all mankind.

This CD is a copy of the 12 inch original vinyl LP issued by Bandura Records in 1983. – The front cover is the same, but the LP (still available in virgin recordings from Bandura) jacket was a fold-out, with a copious text detailing the life of Taras Shevchenko, as well as ample background on the history of Ukraine. This sleeve material also included a full transcription of the Ukrainian text, as it is sung , line for line - along with a full trans-literation (sound for sound) and translation, so that you could follow the singing, word by word. This material is too large to be included in the small Cd packaging. ... unfortunate since the emotional force of the music is greatly enhanced for the listener who can follow the text. Since the original studio analogue master-tapes have been lost, this CD had to be re-mastered from a virgin Hi-Fi vinyl LP using a magnetic pick-up and a Thorens high-end preamplifier.