"Among the Flowers" by Vladimir Rebikov: The Whisper of a Second Garden

Rebikov doesn’t write music about flowers—he creates a garden. A garden that grows not in the soil but in the listener’s soul. Here, there are no bright colors or striking contrasts—only subtle transitions, half-tones, hints. The music of *Among the Flowers* is not an explosion of spring but its whisper. It doesn’t shout about beauty—it allows beauty to exist.

Rebikov’s harmonies are not chords but shadows. They fall on the ear like light on petals, creating a sense of lightness and, at the same time, depth. The melody doesn’t strive forward—it swirls, like a bee, flitting from one flower to another. Sometimes it pauses, as if listening to the silence, and then comes alive again, but in a different shade, in a different mood.

What kind of flowers are these? We don’t know. Rebikov gives us no clues. Perhaps they are delicate lilies of the valley hiding in the shade, or proud roses opening to the sun. Or maybe they are not real flowers at all but images born in the imagination when the music touches the soul.

"Among the Flowers" is not just a piece. It is a meditation. It doesn’t require analysis or understanding—it requires feeling. It has no beginning or end, just as nature has none. There is only a moment that lasts forever.