The residency took place as part of the UK–Russia Year of Music and allowed the composer to immerse himself in the quiet English coast and in an atmosphere where tradition meets modernity.
It was there, in Britten’s archives, that the cycle was born
as a reflection of personal experience
and inner exploration.
False Sonatas is an album written during a British residency in Aldeburgh, a town closely associated with Benjamin Britten.
False Sonatas is an album written during a British residency in Aldeburgh, a town closely associated with Benjamin Britten.
The residency took place as part of the UK–Russia Year of Music and allowed the composer to immerse himself in the quiet English coast and in an atmosphere where tradition meets modernity.
It was there, in Britten’s archives, that the cycle was born as a reflection of personal experience and inner exploration.
Much of the album’s inspiration comes from Britten’s legacy: Yakovenko worked with the composer’s archives, including the manuscript of his last unfinished work, commissioned by Mstislav Rostropovich. A small theme from this piece became the basis for a fugue featured on the album. The principle “to extract truth from small forms,” expressed by poet Edith Sitwell, became central to the cycle: from small details arise greater meanings, and deep exploration of limited material leads to unexpected richness.
The album consists of eight pieces, formally arranged in the structure of classical sonatas but internally breaking those rules. Outwardly they resemble two sonatas, yet their architecture is blurred, which is why the composer calls them “false.” There is no strict development or reprise, but instead a play with form — a statement about the impossibility of recreating “high art” in its pure form today.
A special place in the album is given to the intersection of classical and jazz traditions. Four pieces include improvisational episodes, where the listener can no longer tell where the written score ends and improvisation begins.
The music also hides encrypted references to Britten’s dates, tonal symbols, and even baroque motifs, but despite its conceptual depth, False Sonatas remains accessible and emotional, where structural rigor coexists with the living breath of improvisation.
Composer
Igor Yakovenko
Producer
Sergey Krasin
Recorder
Jon Hart
Ruslan Zaipold
Mastered
