Music as a mediator, in which memory is woven, memories of teachers, of collaborations with composers and other musicians - these are the ideas that inspired the selection of the program by flautist Ana Domančić and harpist Mirjam Lučev-Debanić, called Memento. The program ranges from completely personal memories - of the teachers, flautist Tinka Muradori and harpist Rajka Dobronić, through music dedicated to them (by composers Zvonimir Marković and Anđelko Klobučar, who was also Ana Domančić's teacher), or memories of artistic collaborations with guitarist Goran Listeš via Piazzolla The history of tango (originally for flute and guitar), to memories woven into the music itself, such as reminiscences of Rossini in Chopin's composition or Bizet in François Borne's music.
Marcel Tournier (1879-1951) was born into a family of string instrument builders, becoming a harpist and composer who wrote a number of important compositions for that instrument. He taught at the Paris Conservatoire from 1912-1948, succeeding his former teacher, the famous Alphonse Hasselmans. His works are filled with virtuosity arpeggios, which are a recognizable sign of harpist's skill. The style was typical of that era, following the impressionism of Ravel and Debussy. Impressionist harmony is only hinted at in Two romantic preludes op. 17, originally composed for violin and harp in 1909, whose language is romantic and harmonically rich, nostalgically evoking past times.
Between erudition and the pure pleasure of playing music, the music of composers and organists Anđelka Klobučara (1931-1916) occupies a special place in the history of Croatian music. Shaped by the strong influences of the most advanced musical currents of the 20th century, and then poured into the mold of a unique musical sensibility, expressive uncompromisingness and audience receptivity are not sacrificed at the expense of the other. He wrote most of the works, about three hundred of them, on the orders of performers. To that extent, these compositions are the imprints of those for whom they were written, such as Three movements for flute and harp, dedicated in 1970 to the leading Croatian artists, Tinka Muradori and Rajka Dobronić. The virtuoso work brings a post-impressionist fantasy filled with arabesques of two instruments that build an ambivalent world, built of two spaces that barely touch, but whose harmonic-tonal collision is perceived as a natural connection.
Zvonimir Marković (1925-1986) began his musical career with the cellist Antonij Janigro, building a career as a cellist of the HNK Zagreb Orchestra, the RTV Zagreb Symphony Orchestra, the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, and as a chamber musician. He studied composition privately with Albe Vidaković, and left about one hundred and fifty works, from chamber to orchestral and choral scores, which were performed by the ensembles of the then RTV Zagreb. The refined treatment of his chamber instrumentation, as well as the neo-impressionistic nature of his harmonies, are recognized. It especially comes to the fore in the fluid atmosphere of the composition Memento, dedicated to flautist Tinka Muradora. Although originally composed for flute and piano, this composition is performed in a version for flute and harp.
American composer Vincent Persichetti (1915-1987) was one of the most influential professors at the famous New York Julliard School. His class included composers such as Philipp Glass, Steve Reich, Lowell Lieberman, Einojuhani Rautavaara or Leo Brouwer. He started composing at a very early age, and his oeuvre is among the most significant in American music of the 20th century, covering genres from piano music, through diverse chamber works, to concert and symphonic music. He began composing in the footsteps of Stravinsky, Bartók and Copland, using various available compositional techniques. In a series of fifteen serenades, he explores various chamber music combinations. Serenade no. 10 builds from a series of short movements of striking melodies, which explore the kinship of flute and harp, bringing reminiscences of various styles and periods.
One of the most important French composers of the first half of the 20th century, Jacques Ibert (1890-1962) leaves behind a diverse and stylistically eclectic oeuvre, remaining on the trail of French romantic and impressionist models. Entr'acte is one of his most recognizable works, in which the fascination of French composers resonates Belle Époque Spanish music. It was created in 1935 as an excerpt for the scene music of a play by Pedro Calderon The physician of his honor, and the lively movement is inspired by flamenco music and the passionate kicking of the dancers' feet.
The greatest Romantic pianist and one of the most important and innovative composers of his time, Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849), in addition to his priceless works for the piano, composed a smaller number of works intended for other instruments. Variations on a theme by Rossini Non più mesta from the opera Cinderella they were composed in 1824, most likely for the composer's father, who played the flute. The work was discovered only a century after Chopin's death. Variations as a genre belonged to the brilliant style, in which the virtuosity of the performers was to be demonstrated. This youthful composition is the only preserved work of Chopin's, in which Chopin's imagination is intended for another instrument besides the piano. Opera music, especially by the great Italian master whom Chopin particularly admired, left a special mark on Chopin's decorating style, the source of which is precisely in operatic fioritura.
Brilliant fantasies on operatic themes were one of the favorite genres of the nineteenth century. Since its premiere in 1875, the opera Carmen Georges Bizet becomes the most popular source of beautiful themes for the fantasies of instrumental virtuosos. One of them is a flautist Françfrom Borne (1840-1920), the first flautist of the opera in Bordeaux and a professor at the Toulouse Conservatory. His most famous composition, A brilliant fantasy based on the theme of the opera Carmen, testifies to his expert technique, combining virtuoso writing for the instrument and a feeling for the sumptuous rhythms and passionate melodies of Bizet's opera.
Zrinka Matić
ANA DOMANČIĆ was born in Hvar. She graduated from the Academy of Music in Zagreb in the class of Tinka Muradori. He continues his master's degree at the University of Music and Arts in Stuttgart with K. Schochow and A. Nicolet. She obtained her doctorate in the USA, as a Fulbright scholar in B. Johnson's class at the Peabody School of Music at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. She studied with S. Gazzelloni and Conrad Klemm, and as a winner of the French state scholarship at the Conservatorie National Superieur in Paris in the class of A. Marion. As a soloist, she performs with various orchestras and ensembles in Croatia and abroad. She recorded a number of sound carriers, and the album with the complete flute oeuvre of Boris Papandopoulos, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of his birth in 2006, stands out. She is a professor at UMAS in Split, and leads seminars in Croatia, France, Italy, Slovenia, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.
MIRJAM LUČEV-DEBANIĆ began his education in Split with Dunja Lučev, and continued his studies at the Music Academy in Zagreb in Ruda Ravnik-Kosi's class. He trained with Isabella Moretti in France and Patrizia Tazzini in Italy. She became the solo harpist of the Zagreb Philharmonic in 1993, and since 2006 she has been an assistant professor of harp at the Academy of Music in Zagreb. He gives acclaimed solo performances with Croatian and foreign orchestras and chamber ensembles in Croatia and abroad. Among the performances, he singles out the Croatian premiere of Witold Lutosławski's Concerto for Oboe, Harp and Orchestra in 1996, with oboist Branko Mihanović, and the premiere of the composition Something nice for harp and string orchestra by Tomislav Uhlik, which is also dedicated to her. Her performances were recorded on several sound carriers, of which they stand out Homage à Boris Papandopulo, Nino Mazzoni: Composizioni per flauto e arpa, Harp i Something nice, on which he presents the highlights of harpist literature.
Photos - Denis Stosic
Marcel Tournier: Deux préludes romantiques, op.17
Anđelko Klobučar: Three movements for flute and harp (dedicated to Tinka Muradora and Rajka Dobronić)
Zvonimir Marković: Memento (dedicated to Tinka Muradora and Rajka Dobronić)
Vincent Persichetti: Serenade no. 10, op. 79.
Jacques Ibert: Entr'acte
Frederick Chopin: Variations on a theme by Rossini, op. fast.
François Borne: Fantaisie brillante sur Carmen
