Accordions Worldwide Celebrity Interview of Viatcheslav Semionov about the new Sonata No. 3 he has composed.
Celebrity Interviews

Manfred Gabler

May 2014


Exclusive Celebrity Interview with Viatcheslav Semionov about his new Sonata №3 “Reminiscence of the Future” by Yulia Amerikova.

Cover of Sonata No. 3 "Reminiscence of the Future"
Introduction: I present a Celebrity Interview with the wonderful musician, teacher and composer Viatcheslav Semionov, where he answers questions about his new composition – Sonata № 3 "Reminiscence of the Future".

Written in 2013 and published in 2014, Sonata № 3 with its intensity of images, ideas and energy of statement, purports to be the symbol of a new stage of the composer’s oeuvre.

Viatcheslav Semionov answers my questions about his new work.

Q: Almost 30 years after your First sonata, you have completed Sonata №3 "Reminiscence of the Future". This sonata is perhaps the most extensive work in your oeuvre after the Concerto "Frescos" as in concept and in implementation. How did it all start? Tell us, please, how, when and why you felt a need for such an extensive statement? Was your idea to write exactly sonata, or just a new work, which has grown into a sonata in the process?

A: Actually everything in my life is unconventional and I rarely do something especially planned. This is possibly because I never had a systematic work in my life. That is to say, I work constantly and a lot, but the system I have is so, let’s say, ‘branched’ that it may seem it is non-existent. Nevertheless something fused. As the tree has many branches and my life – it's a tree, and it has so many branches, some come near, some move away. But in general, for some reason, something is always coming out of my work.

And I'll start from afar. Throughout every person’s life, and especially, a creative and reflecting person, there constantly arise questions we want to find the answers for. Life does not stand still, and although many things in life are repeated, this repetition occurs at some new stage of development of human history, society, perception.

I remember in 2002, after the death of submarine "Kursk" in 2000, I wanted to create a piece that would reflect what I have accumulated in my soul. People sometimes get into compelling circumstances, extreme situations and they show themselves in very different ways. There are real men, with a capital M, and there are humanoid creatures. I would like to reflect what concerns a real Man, my comprehension of this.

The music material that became a basis of Caprice №2 “S.O.S.”, should be the first movement of the Third Sonata. But the subject is so sore that I just spared people and decided not to torment with the large tragic composition. I also really worried about all these tragedies, because I pass all the feelings through me. When you are writing something significant, five minutes will not be enough, and people would have had to listen to quite a large sonata. I decided that caprice is enough, and listeners accepted it. So I tried to start the Third Sonata at that time.

Then in 2003 I wrote "Frescos" (Concerto for accordion and chamber orchestra). Here I posed the wider issues and tried to find answers through the Christian idea. And it seems I’ve found them. Music speaks for itself, it was accepted. Although, when I started writing this Concerto, I was not going to write such a major work. I needed to write a composition for accordion and chamber orchestra (app. 8 minutes) for the national competition in Surgut. But I started writing, and got carried away and so the conception grew in the process.

And then after some of CIA Coupe Mondiale, following Deschamps asking the question publicly (Frederic Deschamps, famous French accordion teacher), others started to ask regularly: “When will we listen to the third sonata?”. They asked me on the internet, on Facebook, everywhere. I started to think that maybe time has come. But I was afraid to start. For example Third Sonata by Vl. Zolotarev is significant and a turning-point. After it has appeared, many things then changed in accordion repertoire. First time in accordion history, such serious questions were posed. Well, here I ventured ... to infinity.

Q: Why did you decide that it will be exactly sonata?

A: Well, sonata, symphony – for me it's the same thing. Symphony is for orchestra and sonata is for solo instrument. Beethoven treats many of his sonatas like a symphony; I notice immodestly (smiles). Well, we usually are guided to have in mind the great persons. So, if Beethoven called them sonatas, why should we call any significant composition as a symphony? After all, the symphony development can be also in sonata, of course. And due to the fact that I decided to devote perhaps one of my most important works to our accordion community, this composition became a sonata.

Q: The creative process is complex and multifaceted, because something new is born at this moment. Something that did not exist before. You compare this process with a disease. Why? How does the process occur, how do you start to see the plan of future composition?

All processes in my life always proceed with difficulty because I do not like to do anything formally – to play, to teach, and especially to compose. The easy way is to work according to certain rules – you have an idea, it's what you set out, here are the ready resources. But you cannot use the same resources in various works, you know?

So it's really difficult moment. Sometimes it happens that the composer accumulates some materials, and then he starts to do something with them. But I had to create almost everything from scratch. Only for the second movement, I had created by a happy chance, a couple of melodies during one summer in Kursk, when we were all together at the master classes. They became the basis of the second movement. But other things – it really was quite a challenge.

And why the disease? Well, never anything new can come painlessly. Only Mozart could create easily. But, sorry, second Mozart cannot exist. What about others... Even childbirth is pleasant memories, because somebody was born, but the women say that it is really very painful. For me, any kind of new work is like this – it's a painful process, I even feel sick physically.

Probably it becomes a little easier, when almost everything is done and you are just changing some small issues. But the process of creation - it's a disaster. Please, just try to compose one theme, at least seven notes, and it shouldn’t repeat what has been created before!

The way of using folklore I already has passed. And it is impossible to use folklore in a composition like this. That means, I had to find some material that can express my feelings and will reflect in the souls of the listeners. Besides, it should be material, which you can work with, can develop. Therefore I worked for such a long time.

The whole process took me several months. I say a year. In fact, I did not work a year of course, but a couple of months I worked with the first and second movements and a couple of months in the next year with the Finale. So Sonata No. 3 dates from the 2013 year, but it is in fact 2012 and 2013. I could not finish it in 2012 because I did not know yet, the outcome of this Sonata and how it will end.

Like in a novel, remember, “Love lasts three years”, the love can live not only 3 years, so you don’t know what will be in the end. An author sometimes doesn’t know how he will finish his novel and the finale might not be the way it was presented. So with this composition, it was the same. I gifted a large part of my soul to this Sonata. And probably not just mine, also my surroundings, transformed through my soul, through my perception.

Q: Sonata has a very interesting title "Reminiscence of the Future". Is it just a beautiful image, or is this title also comprising something much deeper?

I’ve heard from someone, that there is even a movie with the same name. But, as I remember, there was "We're from the Future". “Reminiscence of the Future” – I do not remember something like that. Maybe, I do not know.
The idea behind the name is the multi-dimensionality of the world. There is a lot of information that everything which we have now on Earth, it happens not for the first time. Civilizations appeared, were completely erased, disappeared, and then appeared again. And there are also many other ideas – about aliens, and some other things. It is so difficult, a global issue – everything to do with us, with humanity. Sometimes you learn something new and it turns out that somehow you knew it long before. Maybe in a previous life you already lived through it all. This also could be.

Interviewed by Yulia Amerikova, educator and performer of duo “Una Sinistra”.
Q: Like an idea that everything in the world is in spiral motion?

A: You know, I'm not even sure that it is a spiral. Rather, some tectonic tremors that changed the world in general. Spiral – it's too easy, I think it is not the best thought of the philosophers. It’s just easier to refer to when you come up to the same question but the next level. But sometimes, absolutely different things happen unexpectedly; therefore I can compare all the evolutionary history with some tectonic shifts. And not only human history but also Earth. We do not know anything about what's going on in the Universe. But we can assume pretty much.

Q: Sonata is dedicated to your former student who now is one of the leaders of accordion performing, Yuri Shishkin. How did you get the idea to make a dedication and why did you choose Yuri Shishkin?

A:I honestly can tell you how it has happened. (Is lost in thought). I usually don’t think about dedications. As they say, it was His Majesty the chance. One day, I realized that one of my best students (let’s say, the second generation) Yuri Shishkin, is already half-century of age. Wow.

I started to think what kind of gift I can make for him. Generally such people, dedicated to our accordion art ... I even do not know ... There are few examples in the whole accordion world, that you can compare with this contribution that makes Yuri to accordion performing art. All his life he devotes himself to it and he did so much.

I decided to present him on his 50th anniversary these 50 pages. Moreover, Sonata is so complicated and I decided he can be the world premiere performer of it like no other. I asked him and hoped that he would do it, and he really lived up to my expectations. Especially - there was another complication: I didn’t know how the Sonata will sound only with accordion. I felt it more like a symphony. And it still sounds like symphony in my ears.

Yuri is always trying to do something more with the accordion, trying to perform as a one man band. So I think this Sonata suits him very well, especially for the premiere performance. So this is a story how Yuri Shishkin found himself in such a role, and why I made this mark in the score. This is due to his 50th anniversary, his achievements, and, if you want, my assessment of his contribution to chamber performing. So I dedicated to him a worthy gift.

If we will talk deeply, perhaps it should be dedicate to the closest friends, people who parallel me in all aspects, very closely. People which are always in my thoughts. This is a complex question.

Q: If we talk about the idea of Sonata No. 3, there is an introduction to the edition where Yuri Shishkin writes: "The emergence of the Third Sonata – a kind of symphony – was a new step by the maestro, where he continues to look for answers to the questions posed with realism and accuracy in the First Sonata. In his new composition, the composer refers to all mankind: is a person able to protect his love, is he able to survive, to hear the voice of reason? The composer denounces those who incite evil, appeals to all not to lose faith and reminds us of the main – "{ If } love lives inside us, we are eternal " (quote by Heinrich Heine, which Yulia Amerikova has found for her teacher) – encrypting these words with Morse code. This phrase of German poet open and, as an outgoing to infinity message for our descendants, ends the 3rd movement of the Sonata, because only things made ​​with love can remain immortal".

Do you have anything more to say?


A: The things made with love, they will live forever. Love may be is the best and most sublime thing that Homo sapiens have in their life. The wonderful Heine quote, you presented to me, is many-valued. In general, nothing great or significant can be created without love. After all, life itself cannot exist without love. And the continuation of life. It will also be the same in some other civilizations, I guess. And even if parallel Universes exist, why shouldn’t they have love either?

In this sense, this quote is priceless. It somehow gives us an infinite ... not even development, it’s not enough ... an endless flight of a man, mankind, of soul. We do not know exactly what was before us, what will come after us, but we are free to rush to this bigness. And I allowed it to myself in this Sonata. I didn’t say everything in it, but probably it is not necessary. Let everyone finds their own aspirations, thoughts, their own flight of the soul. But I’m sure this Sonata will make you think. And this is already happening in the way how people have accepted it.

Q: Could you please, tell us about the images of this composition? Which images are reflected in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd movements of this Sonata? For example, first movement is Passacaglia.

A: Yes, it's a very interesting question. Actually, I really like the passacaglia form, you know why? Sometimes we think about something and the same main idea doesn’t give up. And all the other content accumulates around… I will say it another way… Subject, contents – it is an idea, the theme. First chorale, which appears in the first movement – this is the main them of the whole Sonata, this is it. And then, like in life, more different events start to happen – sometimes greater, sometimes minor, sometimes subjective, sometimes objective, sometimes irreversible.

The special part of the Sonata is second movement. A lot of people told me, that the second movements of my compositions are very special, that they love them all. It’s nice to hear. I also love them. So here the second movement is also not straightforward. There are some, I do not know, the subtle matter of my soul.

Concerning the musical form, it has no form at all. I did not want it. There's a summary of some thoughts, feelings, something very personal, which is not for others. It's like a meditation. I already composed “Two meditations” and "In the land of dreams". The second movement of Sonata, let’s say, is the next meditation with the same images. It has two main themes. First one is the pursuit of happiness; it is only sunny theme in the entire Sonata. And the second theme... this is a sort of sadness that has no end, just a bottomless sadness. And if the performer will not feel it, he had better not play this Sonata. These intonations appear several times. In the first movement you can also hear them. It's not for nothing "reminiscence of the future".

Q: The 3rd movement is full of different images and thoughts. The theme of the values ​​of love, based on a quote by Heinrich Heine – is a result of the foregoing. Do you agree?

Viatcheslav Semionov in Concert
A: Yes, there are so many things inside. If you do the analysis in terms of the form, it will be one story; in terms of images – a little different. I think it is godsend that in the Finale of this Sonata, I could continue the idea that I started in the Caprice "S.O.S.". There are only three letters in Caprice, but they mean a lot. And here is this quote.

By the way, when Sonata was premiered, remember, we did not declare the encrypted words but audience have understood this aspiration to infinity. So this quote works even when it is not announced.

But in the edition, I put all letters in the score with a view to performers, so they do not just play the rhythm but give to audience the meaning of this rhythm. And it helps a lot. I was wondering – in fact just the formal rhythm, one or the other, it quickly becomes boring. But when the rhythm is meaningful, even if it is Morse code, which only few people know, you listen to it quite differently, you feel more freshness and depth.

Well, after this quote which combined with first movement chorale theme (generally everything in the Sonata's based on the first chorale theme), there is a kaleidoscope of images. Variations begin. There you can hear echoes of the theme of the second movement with aspiration upward, because the man is always striving for the light, striving to joy. But it does not work for a long time and in this piece either. After a couple of pages appear other images, and it will put all things in their rightful place, unfortunately.

Of course in order to philosophize, it is necessary to touch upon some matters, something we must deal with. For example, episode appears in the middle of the movement – a kind of sarcastic dance with Jewish music intonations. It is not folklore, this is my own theme. But, sorry, I think Jews made a lot in history, both ​​positive and negative, and they occupy, of course, a significant step in the hierarchy of human achievement.

Then, for example, the idea of ​​war – it exists since the origins of humanity. As long as people live on Earth, they fight – for women, for the best place for living. I guess it's the survival of the fittest. Therefore, the idea of militarism appears. Militarism, yes, but to what extent? Militarism, for example, in the Middle Ages or earlier or even in prehistoric times, when people just started to explore the lands - it is different thing. At various times, this subject is differently illuminated and differently estimated, even exactly the same events.

Q: There is Rákóczi March in this episode. In your compositions, you rarely quote non-folkloric material. The exceptions are, perhaps, the only Brahms theme in second movement of "Bramsiana" and “Kalina Krasnaya” by Frenkel. If you will listen to this Sonata carefully you will easily find transformed quotations from Prelude in C Minor from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Volume I, by J. S. Bach and Rákóczi March. Why did you feel the need to use quotes?

A: You're absolutely right. These allusions show connection of times. There should be more, but the history of music is incomparably shorter even in our civilization...

Q: And why did you choose exactly these quotes?

A: Bach is a symbol of wisdom, incomprehensibility. This material in the right hand is easily recognizable and associated with Bach. Of course, it is not the real theme, it is just an allusion. Baroque for me, is a symbol of the beginning of flourishing musical art. Well, Rákóczi March appears as a symbol of endless wars.

Mankind never had an easy life, and apparently never will. There will always be some problems, because it is connected with the clash of interests of people, individuals and groups of people. I've talked about these tectonic shifts. So a variety of images, also encounter each other in this Sonata.

There is one more episode, my favorite, between two parts of the Finale. It's like a moan of the soul, I do not know how better to name it. You know, it is like echoes of the past, when something happened and the pain remains. When the melody is interrupted, disappeared music still sounds in the left hand. This is, on the one hand, dialectic of fragments and at the same time a continuous deep state of soul, if you want. I specifically did not come up, so it has happened.

And after all everything goes to infinity. It's like a message to Eternity, to other worlds. Even when we are not here anymore, we'll be somewhere, or our ideas will, or our descendants, or our thoughts. Nobody knows, but something will. Because it cannot be, that there was nothing. It is impossible that anything appears from nothing and goes away into nowhere.

In general, the problem of Finales is very crucial for every composer. There are interesting works by contemporary composers (I will not tell their names), but these works will not live long just because they have failed Finales. They are formal. But in the end, they should be a synthesis of all the above. And audience shouldn’t get off the shelf all conclusions, but should make the conclusions by itself, using what was heard. I have had here in Sonata No. 3, this important challenge. I remember, I was successful with the Finale in my Concerto, when three notes could show the ascent of the soul. Here is the same idea. And the same rhythm of encrypted quote at the beginning and in the final section – it is perceived quite differently after all. Probably that’s it. It's difficult to say something more…

Q: Please tell us a few words about the form of the composition and its individual parts.

A: First of all, there is, like in the opera or in any more or less significant symphony, something related to the main theme. So we can say there is monothematic moment in this Sonata. Throughout the first movement, from the first to the last note, the theme of the first chorale constantly presents itself. It could be in bass part or not, it could be an inversion or something else, but it always exists. And I'm sure, that not every theorist will find in it each episode. But it is everywhere.

At the same time, there are a lot of other things sometimes contrasting and it seems, there are completely separate episodes, which are not related to the previous material. I would say first movement is not Passacaglia but Chorale and Variations. Passacaglia was in the Concerto. There was the theme constantly in the bass. Here it is a little bit different.

For example, the fast part begins after the chorale. And then suddenly, a slow episode. But there is the same chorale theme in the bass! It just does not come out at first and even second place but it combines everything. Therefore you feel the Sonata, despite its huge size (I never thought that it would be a 25-minute duration), like one unified complex. And more than that, in the Finale, where the quote by Heine appears, it sounds again using the chorale theme! It has different harmony, different rhythm, but the theme is the same. And the result is a giant arch from the first to the third movement.

By the way I have double movements in my Concerto. Here is the same. It was not my special idea. Maybe these are the givens of me. The second movement is double. And the Finale is double too. Generally it is a triform Sonata, but actually it has five. There is the same in the Concerto. There are double first movement (laughs) and double Final – Hell and Ascension.


On the 21st November 2013 was held the long awaited world premiere of Sonata No. 3 “Reminiscence of the Future”. The world premiere was performed at the Big Concert Hall of the Moscow House of Composers, and was part of the XXXV International Contemporary Music Festival "Moscow Autumn". The performance was by an outstanding musician who has received international acclaim, Honored Artist of Russia, Yuri Shishkin. One person in the audience said "the clapping continued, nearly to eternity!"

Video above is a performance of Sonata No. 3 “Reminiscence of the Future” on 29th March 2014 in Rostov Philharmonic Hall at the special anniversary evening for Yuri Shishkin's 50th Birthday. Yuri Shishkin performed the new Sonata No. 3 by Viatcheslav Semionov for the first time in Rostov-on-Don at this special anniversary concert, for which event, the work was dedicated.


Q: What can you say about the musical language of the Sonata? Which methods of presentation, methods of development did you use there?

A: I sometimes joke with my students, that there are not too many subjects in the world. It's not even my idea; I do not remember where I read it. But, if you will take some of the best compositions, you will not find so many subjects in them: love, jealousy, some conflicts. Maybe you can find ten or fifteen images, but in general we all – composers, performers – talk about the same things in different ways. Thereby, what's the difference, if I speak about love in Chinese, or I speak in Russian or in English? Love is love. So why should I follow the mode? Is it necessary to compose only dissonances, for example dodekafonia? For me dodekafonia is outmoded style. The Germans started to use it because it was attempt to refresh the tonal language and also rhythm. Nevertheless, the most popular work by Schoenberg is not dodekafonia but "Verklarte Nacht" (“Transfigured Night”). So it means something.

So I use a variety of facilities, including the modern ones. I do not speak, of course, about things like throwing a bottle into the soul of the piano and the like. I believe that we should not do the vulgar things.

In my Concerto "Frescos" I need to express Hell. There all modern composer trends were very pertinent – a complicated musical language, and the like - although I wouldn’t say that there is a very difficult language in Concerto. Rather more complex intervals and chords. There are not only the clusters, but the series and not necessarily of 12 sounds. But there I really used all these composer methods.

At the same time, if you need to show clear pure character, I think the music should be the same. I don’t want to present a beautiful theme using the seventh or ninth. When I need modern language, I use modern methods. When I need pure beauty, of course, I use absolutely different methods – and harmony, and everything else. I love beautiful harmony.

By the way, let’s take a look at any classical music. Everything they composed - it was some variations for a certain harmonic plan. It generally dictates the entire musical form, even content. Those or other harmony – consonance or dissonance, light or replete. I guess I have this idea too.

If we will talk about tonality, I can say my music in this Sonata is often tonal. I mean some episodes sound quite tonal during long periods. But I cannot say that Sonata has exactly tonality. I didn’t need it. In general I believe that the musical language of the Sonata is quite modern, sophisticated and I used different methods of compositions depending on images and characters. Those methods, I learned from the great composers and passed through myself.

Q: Sonata "Reminiscence of the Future" became the third in your oeuvre. Is it possible to make any parallels with previous sonatas according to the idea, images, the creative process?

A:It is possible to compare this composition with First Sonata I think. It is known, that I composed First Sonata in 1984 when I became older, not only in terms of age, but also in the perception of life, intelligence. Man and society – these were the questions I illuminated in First Sonata, which are still in repertoire. I don’t want to say that I always opposed myself to everybody, although I often did. Therefore, First sonata tells about me and others – the conflict, my inner protest. When you are alone against the wind all the time, you know? Whatever you may be strong, it is difficult and sometimes it is tiring.

So First Sonata is a kind of confession of a man who reached 37-38 years. This is such an age when a lot of people begin to realize and understand something in life. You can just remember our great poets and actors. This age is a sign for men. Well, I decided to express myself in a serious way.

By the way, during my concert tours, I noticed that if you play it with all your passion, with all your heart, it takes away all your power and energy, so it is very difficult to perform something else after it. Physically, it is also quite difficult, but this is not so important.

Q: May be this is a reason why you didn’t play it often.

A: Of course! I just tried to spare myself - I could not play it often. The tour schedule was very busy then, and every time you need to play with all your energy, so as people who listen to you for the first time could understand, could feel what you want to say them. After one of the concerts a man from the audience said: "It's like I lived my life". And I understand that. I also lived my life at that moment.

Q: In this sense, I think you really can find parallel moments with Third Sonata. Second Sonata is little bit different. It is a return to the folklore style.

A:Yes, Second sonata in my oeuvre - it's like P. Tchaikovsky, as he applies to folk in his Fourth symphony. And I expressed my impression about Basques and Basques music in my Second Sonata. Though it is based on folklore, there is a fugato in the second movement. It is unique. I don’t know any fugato like that. This is also my know-how, if you want. There is a polyphonic section and the theme goes in different voices in one tonality but it sounds atonal. After 2 bars, a second voice appears, and the first one develops in a different direction. This is a very interesting moment.

But if we will talk about intention, then First and Third sonatas and Concerto “Frescos” can be compared. There are some issues that were formulated and solved at different levels in these compositions. If First Sonata tells about a man and society, if “Frescos” shows us the formation of humanity through Christian ideas, Third sonata has a really global concept. Probably I need to stop composing the sonatas.

Q: So we can say, it is always possible to find a semantic arch between the first and the third movement in your triform sonatas, and also this arch can be found between First and Third sonatas – it is an attempt to comprehend the world.

A: Yes, it is an idea by ​​the way (laughs).

Viatcheslav Semionov
Q: How do you see the position of Third sonata in your oeuvre? Are you satisfied with the result of your work?

A: I’m very grateful you decided to write about my Sonata. I think nobody will do it better than you, because you're very close to the process of creating, you have seen the Sonata just from start. And it gave me a lot, because I know how to listen to well-intentioned criticism. Maybe otherwise, Sonata would not be so perfect. It is quite perfect, I think. I do not see any extra notes in it. Conversely, when I finished it and showed it to one composer, it seemed to him, that the code was slightly short. And finally I wrote one more page, and rightly so. When you create something, you repeat the same thing many times, and start to think that it is enough. But for those people, who listen to it for the first time or not very often it could be not enough.

If you take a look at rock or pop music you will see they always repeat the same over and over again. It is not because there are not clear words there or something else, but because when you listen to the same thought several times, you start perceiving it in a different way. Not coincidentally, that there were reprises in old sonatas and modern performers ignore them quite often.

By the way I walked in college after the concert today and have heard somebody playing the Jewish episode from the Finale of my Sonata. I’ve asked my student, who has learned this Sonata. "So ... - he said – half of the students already play this episode by ear".

I immediately remembered as people sang arias from Verdi or Mozart operas. It is other times now and other songs, but the fact that people are singing themes from my Sonata, it is interesting, yes. This means they are hooked. And they play by ear, you know, scores just appeared and they are already playing (smiling).

So I'm satisfied. But I have already said, the intention is wider and, of course, one accordion is not enough. Initially, the idea was to compose it for accordion and orchestra. But for the symphonic version, an accordion is maybe not needed. I do not know. On the other hand, there is the material which requires exactly an accordion.

Q: May be you can use the accordion not as solo instrument with orchestra but a part of orchestra, inside of it.

A: Yes, I think so. When needed, it will appear. I don’t want to call it concerto, it is not.

Q: To sum up, what can you say about position of this Sonata in your oeuvre in common?

A: Well, many people say it is a peak so far. I do not know, maybe I would have said the same thing. But I don’t want to belittle my previous compositions. There is also something unique in those.

Q: Do you agree with my thoughts which precedes our interview, that the Third Sonata with its intensity of images, ideas, energy of statement, purports to be the symbol of a new stage of your oeuvre?

A: Of course ... Yes, yes, yes.

Q: Thank you very much for having found the time to answer my questions and share your thoughts and ideas with our readers and future performers of your compositions. I have no doubt that this new work, like previous ones, will take its worthy place in the world accordion repertoire. Thank you and I wish you many further creative achievements.

A: Thank you! Thanks that you chose me first for your series of articles about Russian composers.

Q: Suddenly, huh?

A: (Laughs).

In conclusion I would like to say that the appearance of Sonata No. 3 is a big event in a world of accordion art. After the premiere performance, I’ve heard the opinion of one authoritative listener, that as it has happened with the Third sonata by Vladislav Zolotariev, the new work by Viatcheslav Semionov will undoubtedly have an impact on future accordion compositions.

It's safe to say that there are not many works, especially in accordion literature, where global issues of human existence arise and are resolved at such a serious level.

Currently, Viatcheslav Semionov is working on a new composition, and we hope, that soon he will again delight us all with another new work, full of emotion, sincerity and clarity and brightness of images.



Yulia Amerikova

CD's and printed music of Semionov are available online at: Viatcheslav Semionov


General Information:

In Europe, Sonata No. 3 should be published very soon in Norway - Noteservice (www.noteservice.no).
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