November 1, 2024 would have been the 94-th birthday of my piano professor at the National Music Academy of Ukraine - Igor Mikhailovich Ryabov.

I offer you an archival video recording of my performance from a concert dedicated to the memory of the outstanding Ukrainian pianist and teacher in the Column Hall of the National Philharmonic of Ukraine (Kyiv).

11/7/2012

The composition The Last Sutra for piano (2001) was composed after reading a passage from one of the sutras of the ancient Book of the Dead. This piece is a kind of variation on a diatonic "white-key" Ukrainian folk theme from the Podillya region, which I took from the collection Songs of Yavdokha Zuikha.

"Oh, I will die, mother, I will die

Because of an enchanting spell.

Because of an enchanting spell,

Because of the widow's daughter."

The emotional development in the music unfolds through a gradual movement from quiet meditation at the beginning of the section, toward a bright, ecstatic outburst in the climactic variation, and then a gentle dispersal of the main theme into space. In the end, as a conclusion, there emerges a "pure" C major triad, a kind of quintessence of the universe and existence.

The following words served as an epigraph to the composition:

"... And the day will come when the hands will open, and, leaving all her sorrow on that shore, she will step onto the water. Becoming the purity of a cloudless sky, she will go in flowing robes beyond the bounds of thought and words, towards the dazzling waves of light...".