Vladislav Zolotaryov | Composition

Vladislav Zolotaryov was born on September 13, 1942 in the village of De-Kastri in the Primorsk region into the family of an officer of the Soviet Army. From his childhood, Vladislav was passionate about literature, poetry and painting. He was self-taught in composition. He tried to write for various instruments: piano, violin, but also choral works. He turned to the bayan with particular devotion. Already in his first works for this instrument, Zolotaryov's creative principles were evident, from which he did not deviate throughout his entire subsequent life: his attitude to the bayan as a serious academic instrument, his striving for depth in artistic realization, for the realization and dramatization of the pictorial content, and for the discovery of new means of expression of the bayan. In his works, the tendency towards deeply philosophical reflections on our existence, the world and the universe was very clearly noticeable. Unfortunately, the talented composer chose suicide at the peak of his creative power on May 13, 1975.

Vladislav Zolotaryov can rightly be called the creator of the original repertoire for the polyphonic melody bass bayan. His foundations are based primarily on classical music, Russian culture, and the latest achievements of contemporary composers. Zolotaryov's music is essentially programmatic, and is often characterized by a certain theatrical and picturesque character, as well as humor. Zolotaryov makes extensive use of the technique of playing on the melody bass, but also the combination of the stradella basses with the melody bass. Zolotaryov is a wonderful melodist and he brought a new pictorial and emotional sphere to his works. The composer's perception of the world is dominated by a tendency towards dramatic facets of existence. Zolotaryov's works also differ in their variety of playing techniques, such as various clusters, glissando with clusters, bellows tremolo with clusters, cluster glissando on a row, vibrato in the right or left hand, and simultaneous vibrato with both hands. All these techniques must be directed in the right direction to reveal the pictorial content of the work, so that they become artistically grounded color. It is to Vl. Zolotaryov's merit that he used the artistic means of expression of the modern bayan in a new way and thus showed composers new ways in their creative quest.