“A friend among strangers, a stranger among his own”: paradoxes of the genre in the Saxophone Concerto by Alexey Krasheninnikov

Abstract
The article focuses on the Saxophone Concerto (2022) by the St. Petersburg composer Alexey Krasheninnikov. The subject of the study is interpretation of the concert genre, which is viewed through the prism of a paradox. The paradox is found primarily in the discrepancy between the declared (saxophone concerto) and the actual genre (double concerto, in which the bayan also performs a solo function), marked by the “absolute” nature of the music and its quite tangible and readable “programmatic” content. The authors of the article designate the artistic concept of the Saxophone Concerto by the metaphor “a friend among strangers, a stranger among his own”, since the idea of the composition is based on the desire of timbres, initially alien to the academic style of the symphony orchestra, to adapt to the symphonic sound environment. The article reveals the features of thematism, musical language, form and dramaturgy of the concert, identifies signs of “poem” quality, and notes the processes of symphonization of the genre.

Keywords
Music of the 21 century, Alexey Krasheninnikov, Saxophone Concerto, genre of instru-mental concert, musical dramaturgy, symphonization, paradox