Slovenski skladatelji na Dunaju - Koncert Dua Excentury
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SLOVENIAN PIANO CHAMBER MUSIC  »TWENTY-FINGER ORCHESTRA«
 
performed by Duo Excentury:
 
ALEKSANDRA ČEŠNJEVAR GLAVINA &
TAMARA RAŽEM LOCATELLI
 
 
Benjamin IPAVEC (1829 – 1908) Sonatina
Jurij MIHEVEC (1805 – 1882) La Gaieté - Galop
Gojmir KREK (1875 – 1942)  Melody
 
Uroš ROJKO  (1954) Sympathy
Marko OZBIČ (1970)   Drei Choralbearbeitungen über
»Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott« (world premiere)
 
 
 
CD PRESENTATION Music by composer Bojan GLAVINA (1961)
Vertical (from 3 Dimensions)
Water (from 4 Elements)
 
Cinderella, youth suite for two pianos (selected movements)
- Cinderella, her two half-sisters and her step-mother
- Dance in the castle hall
- Happy end - celebration of Cinderella's wedding

AstridBrin's youth suite for two pianos (selected movements)
- Mysterious night walk through the magic forest
- Circus train

 Four Dedications for two pianos (selected part)
- Finale: Hommage à Mozart


BENJAMIN IPAVEC (1829 – 1908)
Born in a distinguish family of doctors and musicians, B. Ipavec is one of the tree most acknowledged Slovenian romantic composers. Beside his operas, he left a significant track of artistic excellence in his songs. He was therefore named »Slovenian Schubert«. His style belongs to romanticism, but he often uses some classical elements. Characteristic for his works are melodic invention, outstanding feeling for developing melodic lines, rich and luscious harmony and the use of clear musical forms. The Serenade for strings (1898) is one of his best works for chamber music. The four movements are: Sonatina, Menuet, Andante
with variations and Alla Polacca:  tree of them (first, second and forth) were originaly written for piano four-hands, and the third movement for piano solo only.
 
JURIJ MIHEVEC (1805 – 1882)
Composer and pianist, born in Ljubljana, he was mostly active in Paris as "Georges Micheuz". He wrote more than 550 piano works: etudes, polonaises, waltzes, romances, mazurkas, polkas, gallops, capriccios, nocturnes, scherzos, marches, barcarolles, reveries, melodies...
His compositions were published worldwide by renowned publishers (Milan, Dresden, Leipzig, Turin, London, Lyon, Rio de Janeiro) and become so popular to often require a large number of reprints. Mihevec was perhaps one of the first Slovenian musicians to work as an independent musician: composer and pianist. His most famous orchestral work is »The Planets«. He died in poverty and felt almost in oblivion.
Lucijan Marija Škerjanc, one of the greatest Slovenian composers of the 20th century,  wrote a biography about Mihevc describing his music with these words: »It is typically for Mihevc´s composing style that the melodic invention floats in well-mannered rail of accustomed tradition: in most of the melodic lines the main tones are chord tones. He is limiting himself mostly on main harmonic functions and he is avoiding modulations. He is firmly attached to diatonic music language.
« Here some interesting facts from his biography:  
  • In his youth he got smallpox. He survived but the heavy inflammation bent his left arm. This forced him to adjust the technique of his left arm. A special sensation for the listeners was certainly his virtuous playing which included also the use of his left elbow as a constructive and dexterous help for accompaniment in lower registers.
  • Tradition claims, that during his stay in Vienna he became friend with Schubert and Beethoven.
  • His piano concert from 1839 is probably the first Slovenian composition of this genre.  By performing that piece, Mihevec himself was used to improvise upon themes suggested by the audience.
 
GOJMIR KREK (1875 – 1942) 
He was born in Graz and become an excellent lawyer. He was Court secretary in Vienna, professor for law, dean of the same faculty and also rector of the University in Ljubljana. He was also the editor of the most important music magazine Novi akordi (New Chords), theoretician, music writer, music critic and an appreciated composer. He got his first music lessons from his mother. They often played together performing pieces for piano four-hands for different occasions. Krek's piano oeuvre includes in total 53 works. His style can be characterised as romantic with sensitive lyric expression where melodic lines are clear but usually not to widely developed. His melodic language is quite simple whereas the harmonic structure is more audacious and rich in chromatics.
 
 
UROŠ ROJKO (1954)
... graduated in composition and clarinet at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana. He continued his studies in Freiburg and Hamburg. He won several prestigious prizes for composition f.e. the "Premio Europa 1985" in Rome,   “Gaudeamuspreis 1986"   in Amsterdam, “Wiener Internationaler Kompositionspreis 1991” (where his first prized composition »Inner Voices« for flute and orchestra was performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra with Claudio Abbado as conductor at the festival "Wien Modern"). In 1988 he was awarded with the "Prešeren" prize: the most important acknowledgement given by the Republic of Slovenia and in 2012 with the “Župančič” award.
He is a professor of composition at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana. As a composer and teacher U. Rojko is pursuing an opened, internationally awarded creative discourse. His composition »Simpathy« was created after the incitement of his former piano teacher Mirjam Battista to write a piano piece for her pupils. One other of his works for two pianos is a cycle called "Five tangoes” from 1995.
 
MARKO OZBIČ (1970)
...was born in Trieste, Italy. In 1990 he gained his first major in piano performance at the Conservatorio G. Tartini in his home town and continued his studies at the University of Music in Vienna, Austria (conducting by Uroš Lajovic, and Günther Theuring as well as composition and music-theory by Francis Burt and Diether de la Motte). He graduated in 1995. In the same year he became Kapellmeister of the Vienna Boys Choir (Wiener Sängerknaben). In 1999 he was appointed to the Wiener Staatsoper as deputy chorus-master and artistic director of the Opernsingschule. After the Viennese experience he started an international career as chorus-master and conductor which led him to the major opera houses and concert-halls worldwide (Teatro di san Carlo-Naples, Opéra de Lyon, Det Kongelige Teater-Copenhagen, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Slovenska Filharmonija-Ljubljana, Finnish State Opera-Helsinki, NCPA-Beijing). He is also a very appreciated teacher and vocal coach. Marko Ozbič' composition for two pianos "Drei Choralbearbeitungen über "Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott" (Three Variations upon the Chorale "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"), is based on a serial structure which is extrapolated from the Chorale through mathematical formulas and other artifices. Its numerical symbolism (or code) is correlated to the mystical number 3 (=Trinity=GOD), which is inherent (as the least common denominator) to the amount of the Chorale-notes (18+18+33). The three movements (I. Moderato, leggermente rubato, II. Senza Tempo, III. Lento, accelerando poco a poco fino alla fine) represent three overlying levels of consciousness i.e. (spiritual) dimensions.

BOJAN GLAVINA (1961)
Composer, pianist, piano teacher, lecturer, publicist, Glavina graduated in organ (H. Bergant) and composition (M. Mihevc) at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana. He also participated in a two-year master course for piano teachers held by Prof. Sijavuš Gadžijev in Trieste (Italy). He started to compose while teaching piano, inspired by the immediate needs of his pupils. He wanted to create original music made just for them and their taste: funny, but at the same time also challenging. His music (especially his works for children and youth) is melodically and harmonically attractive, playful, light, descriptive and understandable. Glavina is today one of the most performed Slovenian composers and some of his works were chosen as compulsory pieces by well-known piano competitions as TEMSIG (Slovenian national music competition), the Chopin Golden Ring (Radovljica) and the Tartini Competition in Piran.
Bojan Glavina’s opus is very rich and varied.  Most of his compositions are for piano and chamber music, but he also compose works for choir, singers, chamber ensambels and orchestra. As a composer he was awarded at several Slovenian and international composer -competitions in Italy, Croatia, Bulgaria, USA... More than sixty of his works were published by various editors. Glavina has also released seven CD albums with his own music. He is a founding member of the EPTA (European Piano Teachers Association) in Slovenia.
 
Presentation of the CD “Through the fairytale cities of black and white keys”.
The piano is a colour palette on which landscapes and worlds arise, it is a research workshop in which the artist shapes his or her own language. Bojan Glavina uses the keyboard in an explicitly narrative way: sometimes his stories are descriptions, sometimes impressions, deep or soaring thoughts, games, dedications. The selection of his compositions on the present CD is also diverse and communicative. The CD presents itself as a colourful journey through dreamworlds of fairy tales and childish imaginings, which then flow into the artist’s relationship towards the legacy of the great masters, into the symbolism of the four elements, all the way to increasingly abstract impressions of sonic and colourful dimensions.
All of the compositions are connected by a desire for clear, direct communication. As Glavina himself states, he writes music with the intenting to illuminate listeners, performers and creators with the “sunny side of music: lightness, serenity, simplicity and the joy of playing.«

 

 

"Glasba je višje razodetje kot vsa modrost in filozofija."
Ludwig van Beethoven