What the Finch Sang About: Nature in the Narrative of Nikolai Sidelnikov’s Children’s Piano Album

Abstract

The article examines the specificity of manifestation of the images of nature on the material of children’s piano album What the Finch Sang About by Nikolai Sidelnikov (1930–1992). The image of nature is own of the predominant features in the composer’s musical output. In the narrative such aspects as landscapes, the vegetative and animal worlds, weather conditions, water, and the heavenly hosts are reflected. An analysis of the miniatures makes it possible to see the ambiguousness of the image, and also reveals the emotional-psychological significance which reveals itself in the pieces. The author comes up with the conclusion that the image of nature in the composer’s narrative is presented on the level of the musical-expressive means – genre, figurativeness and theatricality, which creates a particular mood and is conducive for expansion of the concert and pedagogical repertoire.