DEVELOPMENT OF PIANO ART IN THE YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE OF UZBEKISTAN (1991-2018): AN OVERVIEW OF PIANO WORKS OF NEW GENERAT？ON PIAN？STS AND COMPOSERS

Over a period of seventy years, Uzbekistan had been one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in mid-90s, these fifteen republics manifested themselves as sovereign countries. The economy, political and public life, education system, healthcare, art and culture, in a few words the elements which could be regarded as the sustenance of a nation and daily life, and was formerly centralized in Moscow, had to be regenerated during the political landscape. Because of the regeneration, the cultural life of Uzbekistan underwent a radical change. In line with this purpose, new societies, institutions, national dance and music ensembles were founded. The newly founded Republic of Uzbekistan began putting itself on the map actively, and in this sense, the Uzbek artists were the first ones who took the responsibility of representing their countries abroad. Even though the Uzbek composers wrote music using the Western forms and styles, they commonly used the traditional folk tunes, music and dance in their music. They chose the traditional folk tales and myths as the themes of their works. This article covers the piano music written by Uzbek composers, how the Uzbek piano music reflects the steps of independence of a country over twenty-five years, and a sensitive approach to performance of Uzbek piano music in this sense