Ru
EnP. Lopatin
Ambient paradigm as an artistic strategy: Meditation in the electroacoustic music by Eduard Artemiev and Mikhail Chekalin
The article presents a comparative analysis of two electroacoustic compositions from the Soviet period – Eduard Artemiev’s Meditation (a piece adapted for disc release from his music for Andrei Tarkovsky’s film Stalker, 1979) and Mikhail Chekalin’s Two Symphoniettas of Air (from the cycle Meditations for Prepared Organ, 1991 version). The choice of material is determined by the fact that both works belong to the ambient strategy, realizing a meditative stance through electroacoustic means. Each composer – a professional academic musician working in the field of electronic music – demonstrates an independent approach to fulfilling this task. Both compositions correspond to analogous processes in Western electroacoustic music (B. Eno, K. Stockhausen, the minimalists), yet developed in isolation from them, within the context of Soviet unofficial art, which allows them to be considered as manifestations of a local ambient paradigm.
Traditional musicological analysis based on the study of musical scores is not sufficient for these compositions: a notated score of Meditation exists, but access to it currently remains closed, while Two Symphoniettas of Air has no authorial score at all, as it represents the result of real-time live electronic processing. The research methodology integrates aural analysis, spectral analysis, and LUFS analysis to verify the works’ dynamic development. Spectral analysis makes it possible to identify methods of synthesis and processing of sound material, as well as to record microtonal deviations inaccessible to auditory perception.
The results demonstrate two models of implementing the ambient strategy: E. Artemiev constructs a stable virtual space through a microtonally saturated sonorous complex imitating “sacred” acoustics; M. Chekalin unfolds a processual deconstruction of the acoustic source (the prepared organ) through live electronics in real time. In both cases, the meditative effect is achieved through immersion in the sound substance – whether in its static state or its processual transformation – in the absence of narrative development or harmonic functionality.
Key words
electroacoustic composition, ambient, Eduard Artemiev, Mikhail Chekalin, meditation as a compositional method, spectral analysis, spectrum-morphology.
For citation
Lopatin P. Ambient paradigm as an artistic strategy: meditation in the electroacoustic music by Eduard Artemiev and Mikhail Chekalin. In: South-Russian Musical Anthology. 2026. No. 3. Pp. 105–118.
