Confession
solo piano from the cycle “From the Deep Darkness of Ages”
Performed by Anna Shelest (Piano)
During his studies at the Kyiv Conservatory in the studio of Borys Liatoshynsky, Huba learned 12-tone technique together with the Kyiv avant-garde group. He wrote a number of piano works using this method, but eventually his intuitive nature took over. Already in the late 1960s, his style, exemplified by the miniature piano piece Confession, resembles neither Socialist Realism nor the modernist strivings of his colleagues. The piece comes from the piano cycle Iz Pit’my Vikiv (From the Deep Darkness of Ages), composed in 1959-1992. Huba was inspired by visits to empty churches, including a landmark monastery Kyivo-Pecherska Lavra, which was open to the public as a museum of atheism at the time he was working on this piece. The contemplation of Baroque architecture and frescoes allowed the rhythm of his life to slow down and let him experience what he later called “spiritual spheres” which “relate to ancient times and epochs.” The quietness, as well as an imitation of the sounds of bells, are certainly audible in this composition.