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Voices of the Silenced (2006)Click here to return to concert music listing. Description A single movement tone poem for symphonic winds. Duration: 15 min. Instrumentation 3 Flutes 4 French Horns Program Notes “Voices of the Silenced” was written in memory of a group of young men who gave their lives fighting for Ukrainian independence against the Soviets in the village of Nestanichi, Ukraine in 1945. Among these men was the composer's great uncle, Ivan Zolna, who was just twenty four years old at the time of his death. This piece tells the story of a people fighting to protect their homeland and to preserve their cultural identity. It opens with a slow introduction that portrays the difficult life that most people led in the Ukraine at that time. A life that was tied to the land through farming and devoid of any modern comforts. It was also forbidden in this life to celebrate or practice any aspects of Ukrainian culture, including language, music, art, dance, or religion. The following dance like section quotes traditional Ukrainian folk songs and represents the preservation of the Ukrainian identity in the face of oppression. Throughout the dance theme there are numerous interruptions by dissonant chords, which foreshadow the tragic deaths of these young men, and lead to the musical representation of this oppression. The piece ends however with a celebration of the preservation of the Ukrainian identity and the realization of Ukrainian independence in 1991. |
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