Analysis of sonata ''Passione'' (1985-1989) by V. Runchak

The works of a Ukrainian composer Volodymyr Runchak (1960) are known in many countries, and are oftenheard at contemporary music festivals. The composer wrote many works for accordion including Sonata #1 ''Passione''. Today there isan urgent need for performers to focus on the accordion, and the development of new composers and performing arts. In moderncompositions for accordion, modern technology, new specific sound reflecting and textural possibilities of the instrument areincreasingly used along with the traditional ones. The synthesis of tradition and innovation in the works of composers of the second halfof the twentieth century characterizes the era of postmodernism. In ''Passione'' one of the means of expression is the system of musicalrhetoricalfigures. The known rhetorical figures (''the motif of the cross '', circulation, catabasis, anabasis), which V. Runchak uses,transform into a polysemantic symbol. The combination of these figures (the first type of themes of the sonata) forms a system ofleitmotifs identifying this song to the genre of Passiones. In addition to the rhetorical figures a twelve-note row (sequence of 12 heightswith minimal repetition used as a melodic construction, themes of the second type) is used in the composition. The interpretation ofRunchak's row is thematic, the combination of a twelve-metric row and an eight-bar period manifests the tradition of the New ViennaSchool. The third type of thematism is the sonorous harmony (harmony-timbre accord, clusters) built on elements of the small second,diatonic and chromatic clusters in the range of quarts and quints. The one piece of B. Runchak's sonata unites four of the sonata forms.The change of beats in the sonata represents the boundary of the four sections within the one-part sonata. This system of the keynoteskeeps the sections of the sonata together. In the sonata the composer combines an appeal to the tradition via symbols, rhetorical figures,forms interpretation with the new techniques: vibrato, ricochet, sonority, aleatory rate, twelve-note row. Consideration of some aspectsof logical thinking of the composer allows the player to have a completely different look at the reading and performing of the work.

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