FULL Symphony No 2 Hymn to the Dnipro-Slavutych (Kaminskyi) Lviv 2024 Halyna Honcharova, Ivan-Danylo Lykhach
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Symphony No 2 Hymn to the Dnipro-Slavutych
- Composer: Kaminskyi Viktor : Symphony No 2
- Libretto: Based on the poem of Bohdan Stelmakh
- Venue & Opera Company: Lviv Organ Hall, Lviv, Ukraine
- Recorded: April 7, 2024
- Type: Concert Live
- Singers: Halyna Honcharova, Ivan-Danylo Lykhach
- Conductor: Ivan Ostapovych
- Orchestra: Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Luhansk Regional Philharmonic
- Chorus: Lviv Municipal Choir "Homin"
- Chorus Master: Vadym Yatsenko
- Stage Director:
- Costume Designer:
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Ukrainian Live Classic
- Date Published: 2024
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: nosubs
- Video Recording from: YouTube FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Symphony No. 2 “Hymn to the Dnipro-Slavutych” was written between 1983 and 1986 to the verses of the renowned poet Bohdan Stelmakh, with whom Viktor Kaminskyi became friends during their student years. Composing a symphony to a poetic text is quite rare in Ukrainian music. “In Ukrainian music, I can only name the Third Symphony by Yevhen Stankovych ‘I Affirm Myself.’ It made a great impression on me in the late 1970s. I wanted to create something similar. This inspired me to write my symphony,” Viktor Kaminskyi recalls in an interview with the Lviv Organ Hall.
The powerful text of the symphony manifests the unity of Ukraine and the solidarity of Ukrainians in the struggle for a free and strong state. The work features symbols of the Dnipro, and national leaders Bohdan Khmelnytskyi and Taras Shevchenko, who unite and inspire generations. “Despite all the ‘Aesopian euphemisms’ of the poet and the composer, the symphony never received ideological approval for public performance,” notes musicologist Lyubov Kyianovska. “Such a text could not be performed for political reasons,” says the composer. “And Bohdan Stelmakh as a poet was banned from performance in the second half of the 1980s.” Thus, the manuscript of the Symphony’s score remained on the shelf for many years.
The conductor and head of the Lviv Organ Hall, Ivan Ostapovych, discovered the unknown work of Kaminsky in the catalogs. He and Taras Demko, co-director of the Organ Hall, proposed performing this piece on the Organ Hall stage. The Lviv Organ Hall team, which has been consistently promoting Ukrainian music for several years, brings forgotten or previously unperformed national artifacts to the stage.
The premiere of Viktor Kaminskyi’s Symphony No. 2 took place on April 7, 2024. The monumental work was performed by the Lviv Municipal Choir “Homin,” soloists Ivan-Danylo Lykhach and Halyna Honcharova, and the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Luhansk Regional Philharmonic under the direction of Ivan Ostapovych.
The symphony has five parts: Prologue, Monologue, Intermezzo, Ballad, Finale. According to the musicologist, the dramaturgy of the five-part symphony is very coherent, built on the dialectical unity-contrast of theatrical (1st part – prologue, 2nd part – monologue), instrumental (3rd part – intermezzo), song-folkloric (4th part – ballad) genres, concluding with a solemn finale, in which the turns of the Baroque laudatory cantus-vivace are clearly heard.