Melody (1981)

• Skoryk composed this work in 1981,¹ and has released many arrangements for various ensembles through his publisher Duma Music. 
  • Duma Music observes that the full-orchestra version of this work was featured in the 2017 tour of Ukraine’s National Symphony Orchestra.² 
• Skoryk originally wrote this theme for the film Vysokyy pereval (The High Pass) and it is sometimes programmed as “Melody from “The High Pass.”³

“The heart of the CD might well be Skoryk’s Melody. This composition is so well-known throughout Ukraine that most people are certain it is native folk music. Very few laymen realize Melody is in fact an original composition by a living composer. I remember sitting with Skoryk outside a café in downtown Kiev a year ago, where a trio of street musicians happened to be playing his Melody, and asking the young waitress if she knew who wrote the music they were playing. Although she knew the music, she had no idea who the composer might be. When I told her the elderly gentleman sitting opposite me was the composer, the expression on her face was simply unforgettable.”

Hobart Earle, conductor of the 2014 Naxos album Skoryk: Carpathian Concerto⁴

1. Richard Whitehouse, liner notes to Skoryk: Carpathian Concerto et al, Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra, Hobart Earle, Naxos 8.573333, CD, 2014.
2. “The Music of Myroslav Skoryk,” Duma Music, accessed May 11, 2022, http://www.dumamusic.com/composers/myroslavskoryk.html.
3. “OPO Recordings,” The Odessa Philharmonic, accessed May 11, 2022, https://odessaphil.org/en/recordings/.
4. “Myrosla Skoryk: Ukraine’s National Treasure,” Naxos, accessed May 11, 2022, https://www.naxos.com/feature/Myroslav_Skoryk_National_Treasure.asp.