Ukrainian Music Criticism of the 2010s: General Situation, Problems, Directions of Development (Based on the Examples from Contemporary Art Music Scene)

Abstract

The paper focuses on the 2010s in the history of Ukrainian music criticism. The materials on contemporary art music were chosen to support the authors’ reflections and conclusions. Selection of the time, period and material for the research are conditioned both with the specific social situation of Ukraine and with the recent developments in its music scene. The paper characterizes the main media, most popular critical genres, and methods of critical coverage. It is highlighted that the problems of Ukrainian music criticism during the 2010s were linked to the post-Soviet past and, in general, to the colonial status of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire and later in the Soviet Union. Such problems include the absence of independent journals for music criticism, dominance of information genres over reviews, general stable positive evaluation of musical scene activity etc. A few examples illustrate the gradual changing of situation during the 2010s. The authors offer to consider that new period of Ukraine music criticism history began in 2020 when The Claquers, a critical media about art music in Ukraine and abroad aiming to solve the mentioned problems, was established.