With the exception of Boris Papandopulo, an important figure in the Croatian musical landscape of the 20th century, all the composers present on this album are guitarists. Born between 1955 and 1964, they are Du\u0161an Bogdanovi\u0107, from Belgrade, Bulgarian Atanas Ourkouzounov, born in Bourgas, Serbo-Croatian Mirolav Tadi\u0107, Greek Apostolos Paraskevas, from Volos and Vojislav Ivanovi\u0107 from Sarajevo. All the composers present on this album cultivate, in varied styles, the same vigor, the tremendous energy of the Balkans whose influence shows itself in their compositions through frequent changes of meters, through the use of strong accents as well as through the extreme beauty emanating from their nostalgic melodies. One could not imagine, for this music, a better ambassador than Zoran Duki\u0107.<\/p>\n
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Six Balkan Miniatures<\/strong> Du\u0161an Bogdanovi\u0107<\/p>\n \u00b0<\/p>\n Fantasia (Hommage \u00e0 Maurice Ohana)<\/strong> Du\u0161an Bogdanovi\u0107<\/p>\n \u00b0<\/p>\n Sonata No.1<\/strong> Atanas Ourkouzounov<\/p>\n \u00b0<\/p>\n Macedonian Girl Mirolav Tadi\u0107<\/p>\n \u00b0<\/p>\n Walk Dance<\/strong> Mirolav Tadi\u0107<\/p>\n \u00b0<\/p>\n Sonata<\/strong> Vojislav Ivanovi\u0107<\/p>\n \u00b0<\/p>\n
\nIn the early nineties, when I was still living in San Francisco, I had a visit from Bill Kanengiser who was on the lookout for some music influenced by folk idiom. I showed him various compositions, but he focused on three little pieces that were sitting in my cupboard orphan-like and forgotten. So, I added three more movements to form a more substantial suite. The folk material and number six seemed to point to the six disintegrated republics that used to be known as Yugoslavia, the country I grew up in. The only literal quote of a dance is Vranjanka<\/em>. The other movements, though based on ethnic music models, represent perhaps what Bartok named folklore imaginaire. After the painful war in my homeland in the Balkans, I thought it would be a little gesture of goodwill to dedicate this composition to World Peace.<\/p>\n
\nSince my student days I have had a strong affinity for Ohana\u2019s work, certainly one of the most original voices of the twentieth century guitar music, I wanted to pay him tribute. I wrote this Fantasia<\/em> in 2009 and I dedicated it to Zoran Duki\u0107. It follows the venerable tradition of improvisatory spirit of the fantasia and the ricercar<\/em> form. The piece is based on contrapuntal development through imitation and motivic transformation. Except for the final quote from Tiento<\/em>, which shows up like a mirage from another world at the end of the piece, there are no literal citations of Ohana\u2019s music in this composition, which is, however, entirely suffused with his spirit, a sort of a twin language of cante jondo, so typical for Ohana\u2019s work. Balkan<\/em> intense emotionality is used here as an underlying propulsive device, along with polymodality and complex rhythmic texture.<\/p>\n
\nI was still studying at the Conservatoire de Paris when I wrote the Sonata, in 1996. Moreover, I played it at my final guitar examination. It was my first composition for solo guitar of such magnitude. The influence of Balkan music is present in this Sonata as in most of my pieces; the three movements are strongly united by the use of a modal language and by the presence of compound rhythms and of common thematic elements. In the second movement, the melody is treated in a polyphonic way. We find there, developed, the central part of the first movement. The same process is used in the third movement which borrows several elements stemming from the first one, in particular the percussion being of use as a conclusion to the piece.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong> Makedonsko<\/em> devoj\u010de is one of the most popular songs from Macedonia. Its subject is the unmatched beauty of Macedonian women. Though it was written in 1964 by Jon\u010de Hristovski, a noted songwriter, the song was elevated to the status of folk music. My composition \u201cMacedonian Girl\u201d is considerably removed from the much simpler and lighter original, but it does preserve its beautiful melodic line. It is in the 7\/8 meter which is the most common meter in Macedonian music.<\/p>\n
\nWalk Dance<\/em> is based on a traditional Macedonian dance called Kalajd\u017eisko oro<\/em>. The choreography of this dance is based on the movements that coppersmith and tins men used while making or repairing large metal dishes and vessels around the beginning of the 20th century.
\nThis is in keeping with common tradition in East European folk dancing where movements from everyday activities – such as ploughing, planting, harvesting or practicing various kinds of crafts – are used as the basis for the choreography. There exist many regional versions of this dance, and I have used several well-known melodic phrases as the basis for my composition.<\/p>\n
\nI composed the sonata for solo guitar in 1981 and premiered it myself in 1984. Like many others, this composition went through several transformations, but the decisive moment was the collaboration with Zoran Dukic which brought it to its final form in 1999. The piece which follows the outline of the classical sonata is strongly influenced by the rhythmical, melodic and harmonic language of jazz and traditional Balkan music through a constant change of meter and shifting of accents. The first movement is in rather strict sonata form with two subjects; the first brisk and chromatic and the second loose and diatonic-modal. The second movement is a plaintive binary song built on two subjects, one a homophonic and mysterious chorale and the other a shepherd-like tune. The third movement originally had the subtitle Rondo alla Couperin, and it is a rondo with couplets, spiced with Balkan-like rhythms. That being said, I strongly believe that music should speak for itself, regardless of its possible complexity or simplicity, so I give it to the listeners with all the best of my heart.<\/p>\n