Bogdana

Boris Lyatoshynsky was a leading member of a new generation of Ukrainian composers that emerged in the 1920s. His expansively conceived Ukrainian Quintet finds him at his most emotionally overt, with a heartfelt Lento e tranquillo second movement. Dedicated to Lyatoshynsky, Valentin Silvestrov's Piano Quintet dates from the start of his Modernist odyssey of the 1960s, while Victoria Poleva's withdrawn and secretive Simurgh-quintet is part of a style that embraces spiritual themes and musical simplicity defined as 'sacred minimalism'.

The early 20th century saw the Ukrainian region suffer considerable political instability and oppression. Following the long and bitterly fought war of independence (1917 to 1921), the Soviet government introduced a new policy of korenizatsiya (‘putting down roots’) which allowed the Soviet republics much greater freedom. This resulted in a vibrant yet short-lived cultural renaissance, and the emergence of a new generation of artists, writers, and musicians who drew variously on Eastern and Western models while looking to their national heritage.