Lullaby

Each part fits on one face of a piece of A4 paper, but this gentle lullaby nonetheless extends for a full two and a half minutes. Set in no sharps, the music begins in A minor with a little motif based on the harmonic minor scale that immediately connects the listener with the Russian origins of this modern composer. The writing has a delightful Bach-like imitation about it, with each part entering and leaving, sampling the little melodies as it does so, in a waterfall of pleasing note progressions. Time and again the tune is followed six notes below by its shadow. and though keeping the two parts in step would be a challenge when employing the amount of rubato that the music cries out for, there's no doubt that with a little eye contact, the players on lines one and two would find this a particularly satisfying and expressive piece.
As the music develops, it never wanders far from its home key, but picks up a surprisingly large number of accidentals as it does so. Many of these are pivotal notes in some of the beautifully poignant progressions that unfurl.
Nothing here is particularly hard. Although the top part goes very high, the pace is relaxed. Line three has the arpeggios, and these are nicely under the fingers with easy changes. Line four is a very straightforward bass-line, though in the hands of a skilled player, there would be some amazingly powerful cello-like sounds to be had by taking the notes high onto the wound strings.
This is a piece with tremendous potential and a very powerful atmosphere to it. It might be a lullaby, but it woke me right up when I heard the sheer beauty of the melodies and the powerful, almost yearning, phrases.
Derek Hasted (Classical Guitar Magazine)