STYLISTIC AND COMPOSITIONAL FEATURES OF GEORGE CRUMB’S “GNOMIC VARIATIONS”

The article examines one of the most vivid piano works of George Crumb, a classic of modern American music, “Gnomic Variations”, in the context of its stylistic features and compositional principles of construction. Variation is one of the leading features of the composer’s style as a whole. In this cycle, this compositional technique is presented multidimensionally and polystylistically, which leads to a special dramatic integrity of the entire series of the theme and 18 variations. Special attention in the analysis is paid to timbre variation, which is carefully worked out by the composer and reflected in detailed score and text instructions. In addition, the end-to-end intonation-thematic arches between the theme and variations are noted as the author’s characteristic technique, which is also found in the composer’s two-volume “Macrocosm”.

GNOMIC VARIATIONS, GEORG CRUMB, VARIATION CYCLE, POLYSTYLISTICS, EXTENDED PIANO PLAYING METHODS