Based on the analysis of the musical works this article deals with the peculiarities of the art of modern composers of the Republic of Tatarstan (Anatoly Luppov, Rashid Kalimullin, Leonid Lyubovsky), originally refracting the traditional musical material belonging to the radical ethnoses of the Volga region (the Slavic, Finno-Ugric and Turkic people). It is revealed that composers create highly artistic samples of symphonic, stage, chamber-instrumental, vocal and choral music on the basis of artistic-figurative, genre, intonational and stylistic features of folk melodies. The problems of organic unity in the Tatar professional musical culture of Western and Eastern traditions, the national lexicon of the composer’s musical style and its objective value, traditionality and innovation, problems of interaction of ethnotraditions are touched upon.

Melodic interpretation of an instrument (the piano) is the main part of piano performance. One of the most important criteria of the quality of a pianist’s performance is an ability to show piano’s melodic potential, to convey the vocal expressiveness to the sound of a melodic “tapestry”. Many well-known concert pianists used exquisite piano cantilena, a piano “sang” in their performances, relaying a palette of nuances of vocal intonation using the means of pianistic sonority. The study and research of the subject of teaching the cantilena-like performance is predicated on the conceptual analysis of the theory of piano performance; as an example, a theory of the “piano intonation” (by Avgusta Malinkovskaya), the study of methodical and scientific sources, the usage of the scientific knowledge; the empirical method of observation, auditory performance and methodical analysis. A research shows that the musical and psychological basic of performing a cantilena is the performer’s internal “intonation” of the musical “tapestry” (or fabric of a piece of music). The sonoric realization of the cantilena performance is connected with articulation, sound forming, phrasing, timbre, musical dynamics, touché, the performing apparatus, pedaling, etc. The teaching to perform “cantilena-like” starts at the beginning of studying the piano, although mastering the technique of legato becomes quite difficult for a student. The unformed performer’s apparatus and underdeveloped auditory and motor skills of the beginners makes it hard to achieve a full-blown melodious performance. The necessity of having a finger connectivity of the notes in the melodic line often creates muscular clamping; and the striving for expressiveness through the means of dynamic forcing prevents smoothness and flexibility of melodic voice leading. In the teaching to perform “cantilena-like”, there are certain effective methods based on the piano arrangements of the Tatar folk songs. The proposed techniques allow to draw upon the vocal source as a foundation of the intonation and phrasing; also to learn legato “positionally”, within the song’s intonation or motif; and to actualize lyrical images of Tatar literature.