What usually happens in the spring? Drops of crystal beads are knocking, greenery is blooming, and the sun is warming. Nature "composes" spring symphonies performed by a chorus of songbirds and murmuring streams and "paints" floral landscapes, dipping a brush in raindrops and mixing colors in a rainbow palette.

That is why the annual festival of music by Turkmen composers, held within the walls of the Maya Kuliyeva Turkmen National Conservatory, is called "Spring Inspiration". This year, the opening of the festival coincided with the birthday of Maya Kuliyeva, an outstanding Turkmen artist.

The organizers of the festival did their best. These days, like spring birds, musicians from all over the country have flocked to alma mater. In parallel with the festival, competitions, master classes, and conferences are held here. There are happy faces everywhere, someone is happy with a successful performance, someone has met an old friend with whom he was separated by a distance, and someone is already discussing new joint musical projects and ideas. The atmosphere of creativity reigns everywhere.

The big festival concert, which included works by both classical authors and young composers of the country, was so intense that it was divided into two evenings. Rehearsals and preparation for them took place both within the walls of the conservatory, and throughout Ashgabat – in the classrooms of music schools and a music college.

On the first evening, the concert featured music of various genres and directions – from chamber instrumental to symphonic numbers. So, for example, a flurry of applause was caused by the performance of the symphonic works of Rejep Allayarov "Three Dances" and "Memory of Nesimi". This is a musical offering to the master performed by the Conservatory Chamber Orchestra under the baton of conductor Nury Muhiyev, who was not only a colleague, but also a friend of Allayarov.

Vocal music was also played that evening. There were many new names, but there were also works by famous masters, such as Danatar Ovezov and Veli Muhadov. Listeners had the opportunity to enjoy fragments from the operas of these outstanding composers.

The real opening of the festival was the work of composer Ayna Shirova. Her compositions were included in the program of the first and second days of the festival. On the first day, at the numerous requests of friends and colleagues of the composer, a piece for a quintet of wind instruments "Once" was performed. It was performed on stage by the teachers of the RMSH O. Najafov, A.Abayev, E. Agaev, a student of the RMSH S.Ergeshov, as well as the teacher of the conservatory R. Charyev.

The melody of Ayna Shirova's play is light, elegant, filled with warmth and nostalgia for childhood. She seems to be telling the listener amazing fairy-tale stories, many of which usually begin with the words "Once, a long time ago ...". Hence the name.

The composition of the quintet is unusual: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and bass clarinet. At the moment, this piece is the first in Turkmenistan written for such a rare instrument as the bass clarinet.

People's Artist of Turkmenistan Danatar Hidyrov highly appreciated this work by Ayna Shirova after its premiere performance two years ago, saying that the composer needs to start writing music for films.

On the second day of the festival, the premiere performance of Shirova's composition "Three Words on the theme of DGFF" for two pianos will take place. Many who have heard this composition at rehearsals have asked what these letters, "three words" mean? Some even put forward versions like: Denisov, Gershwin, Fried, Fore.

But as it turned out, the title of the composition is a kind of intellectual riddle for musicologists. The letters DGFF encode the sounds of the folk maiden song "Lale". In addition to the usual names of notes, there is also a letter notation, where the letter "A", for example, denotes the note "la".

Three words on the theme "DGFF" are three plays united by the theme "Lale". The composer preferred to replace the term play in the title with "word", meaning the author's word, the utterance of a creative person. And the very idea of the unity of all the arts, which runs through the red thread in each of the performances of the composer Ayna Shirova, is also presented here. After all, composers call their compositions "symphonic paintings," for example. Why not use the literary term "word" in the title of a musical work?

The performance of the new composition was entrusted to the best young pianists of the country - students of the Conservatory Perman Yagdiyev and Arslan Nobatov. Despite their young age, they are both winners of performance competitions. The guys were enthusiastic about the interpretation of the new composition, discussed with the author the nuances of sound and strokes.

In conclusion, as the author of these lines and the teacher of the special music boarding school at the Maya Kuliyeva Turkmen National Conservatory, it remains for me to say that the Spring Inspiration Festival can become a launching pad for many talented musicians of the country and present "presents" to the most sophisticated music lovers.

Elhan AGAYEV