Shalygin has been writing music for solo instruments for many years. These works are part of an ongoing project – a life’s work, as he calls it – to create a series of solo pieces that reflect his belief that only a single instrument can reveal the deepest aspects of human existence through music. In his solo compositions, Shalygin aims to induce a state of ecstasy in the musicians who perform them, and he succeeds.

Shalygin began composing his Preludes (2004) in his hometown of Kamianske, Ukraine, and completed them while studying at the St Petersburg Conservatory. The first major form in Maxim’s extensive list of works, known as the Third Piece, serves as the foundation of his unique musical language and confirms his vocation as a composer.

The etude Au vent sur la pointe des pieds (2019) is a one-voice etude, but it requires impressive technical skill and concentration from the performer. The structure of the etude develops from polytonal passages from which a melody gradually emerges. The melody, in turn, is part of the passages. In other words, it is a kind of shadow of the melody. Shalygin created a feeling of weightlessness, of floating above the ground without gravity, a feeling of total freedom…

Angel (2020) was composed in response to the outbreak of Covid-19 in the year 2020, which sharpened the way we think about a wide range of issues, including the way we treat nature. Melody is used here as the main means of expression.

TO ALL ALIVE (2023) was composed for the project “Music for Empty Spaces: Musical reflections on the mystery of death.” The music was quite dramatic and distant at the same time. This composition marked the beginning of the ongoing creation of a cycle of Fetus Etudes.

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This monographic program gives the listener the opportunity to immerse themselves in the composer’s style – from his first major piano work to his most recent works. Shalygin’s music ranges from fragile gentleness and meditation to extreme forms of expression: dynamics, tempos and emotions.