Download ORCHESTRA OF THE MACEDONIAN NATIONAL OPERA đELO

55th Dubrovnik Summer Festival
2004
Croatia
ORCHESTRA OF THE MACEDONIAN NATIONAL OPERA
ðELO JUSIĆ
conductor
TATJANA PETRUŠEVSKA-KARASKAKOVSKA
oboe
MAROJE BRČIĆ
guitar
ČAZIM ASOTIĆ
bassoon
Fort Revelin
14 August
9.30 pm
ðelo Jusić: DUBROVAČKI KANTUNI, Orchestral Suite
Dobro jutro, Dubrovniče (Maestoso-Allegretto nostalgico)
Dubrovački ñardini (Lento)
Pred Kneževim dvorom (Allegro con brio)
Si queris/Ako čuda tražiš (Tempo libero)
Pjesnik Luko (Allegro giocoso)
Svjetla Grada (Misterioso-Maestoso-Allegro)
ðelo Jusić: OBOE CONCERTO
Andante-Allegro con spirito
Andante-Pastorale
Allegro con brio
ðelo Jusić: GUITAR CONCERTO
(«Dubrovnik an Österreich – zum 1001. Geburtstag»)
Andante-Allegro
Andante (Tempo di Ragusa)
Maestoso-Allegro con spirito
*******
ðelo Jusić: CONCERTO FOR BASSOON AND STRINGS
Allegro vivace
Andante con moto
Allegro
ðelo Jusić: THE GLEMBAYS, stage music
Espressivo quasi rubato
Lento
Allegro
John Lennon-Paul McCartney (ork. orch. ð. Jusić): THE BEATLES FANTASY
Yesterday-Michelle-Eleanor Rigby
Orchestra of the Macedonian National Opera from Skopje officially exists
since 9th May 1947, when it performed Mascagni’s opera Cavaleria rusticana
under the baton of the great conductor Lovro von Matačić. It has since had over
130 first performances of operas in addition to numerous reprises and concerts
conducted by the renowned conductors such as Vladimir Rilov, Alexis Soriano,
Paul Weigold, Mladen Tarbuk, Nikolaj Žličar, Tomislav Šopov, Mladen Jagušt,
Oliver Balaburski and others. The Orchestra has extensively appeared in
Croatia, Albania, France, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia and Bulgaria.
Croatian composer, arranger, conductor and guitarist ðelo Jusić (1939) was
born in Dubrovnik, where he started to study music. His native city was a source
of inspiration that reflected in the melody, harmony and style of his pieces. In
the same way as the influences of ancient cultures and tradition blend with the
modern way of living in Dubrovnik, so does the modern composing approach of
ðelo Jusić blend with the echoes of the old serenades and classical dances
belonging to the precious heritage. The songs of ðelo Jusić are a valuable and
specific contribution to the Mediterranean division of the Croatian pop music.
He started to compose in the nineteen sixties, when he founded the vocalinstrumental group the Dubrovački trubaduri (the Dubrovnik Troubadours),
with which he extensively appeared both in the country and abroad. He also
founded the Children’s Choir Mali Raspjevani Dubrovnik, which has just
celebrated its 43rd anniversary. The Choir performed for Pope John Paul II in
Vatican (1992). In addition to his releases for former Jugoton (now Croatia
Records), he recorded for Columbia, CBS, Parlophone, Electrola, Supraphone
and Ensemble electronique. He recorded 80 LP records and 20 CDs with a huge
number of pieces and won around 10 Platinum and Gold Records. A vice
president of the Croatia-Concert Musicians Association from 1970 to 1975, he
was engaged as Music Director of the International Children’s Festival in
Šibenik for four years. He returned to Dubrovnik in 1990 spending the most
difficult war years organising humanitarian concerts. A composer of oratories
as well as theatre, film and children’s music, he appeared as conductor on major
concert stages.
During the war, ðelo Jusić composed the songs Kad zazvone dubrovačka zvona
and Sveti Vlaho molitve naše čuj, as well as the six-movement suite Dubrovački
kantuni that he recorded with the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra and released
on a CD, which is the first item in the tonight’s programme. In the same period,
he composed the oratory DE CIVITATE LIBERTATIS VERITAS (Istina o Gradu
slobode – the Truth about the City of Freedom) on the text by the Bishop of
Dubrovnik Želimir Puljić and poet Luko Paljetak. The oratory was performed
for years on the anniversary of the most severe war destruction of Dubrovnik
(6th December 1991) and in 1995 it was performed in Split, Steyer, Vienna and
Zagreb. In 1977 it was performed under the baton of the author at the Dubrovnik
Summer Festival. On the basis of the great success of the piece in Austria, the
International Choir-Festival Steyer commissioned a new piece from ðelo Jusić
on the occasion of the 1001 anniversary of Austria. It was a three-movement
Guitar Concerto, first performed on 26th October 1997 in St. Michael’s Church
in Steyer. ðelo Jusić is full time conductor of the Dubrovnik Symphony
Orchestra, with which he released four CDs. He received numerous awards and
acknowledgements including the Golden Arena for film music at the Pula Film
Festival (1999), the Ivan von Zajc Award for best musical (Dundo Maroje), the
Porin Award (1997) and The Gold Ring of the Zagreb Radio and won at many
pop music festivals including those in Split, Zagreb, Opatija and Pula. He was
awarded the St. Blaise’s Hand on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his
artistic work. His ballet Catherine, the Queen of Bosnia and oratory the Inferno
of Srebrenica, commissioned by the Ministry of Culture of the Sarajevo Canton
were performed (the latter in the presence of the president of the USA, Bill
Clinton) in 2003. His Bassoon Concerto was performed by Matija Novaković
and the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra in December 2003. That same year he
released three CDs with his pieces performed by the Dalmatian vocal groups
Ragusa and Maestral and was very successful at the Croatian Tourist Board
contest with his piece Lijepa Naša Hrvatska.
Oboist Tatjana Petruševska-Karaskakovska was born in Kumanovo
(Macedonia) where she attended the elementary school. She continued to study
at the Music School and at the Music Academy in Skopje, where she graduated
from under Kiro Davidovski. She later attended the master course of Ljubiša
Petruševski in Novi Sad. Among her major appearances are those at the
Macedonian Music Days in Skopje, the Ohrid Summer Festival, the Štip
Summer Festival and concerts in her native town. She is presently engaged as
1st oboist of the Orchestra of the Macedonian National Opera in Skopje.
Guitarist Maroje Brčić graduated from the Zagreb Academy of Music under
Darko Petrnjak. He is a member of the renowned Dubrovnik Guitar Trio, with
whom he performed at all major festivals and concert halls in Croatia, as well
in Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Latvia, Hungary, Germany, Russia,
Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. As soloist he performed with the Dubrovnik
Symphony Orchestra, the Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra,
the Mostar Chamber Orchestra, the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra and with
the Gnesin Virtuosi in Moscow. Engaged in pedagogy as well, he teaches at the
Luka Sorkočević Art School in Dubrovnik and at the Art Academy of the Split
University.
Bassoonist Čazim Asotić (1967) was born in Skopje and graduated there from
the Academy of Music under Sreten Teodosijevski. In addition to recitals (both
in his homeland and in Ljubljana) he performed as soloist with the Macedonian
Philharmonic Orchestra, the Niš Philharmonic Orchestra, the Skopje Mandolin
Orchestra and as chamber musician (in a duet, trio, etc.). He is presently
engaged as 1st bassoonist of the Orchestra of the Macedonian National Opera in
Skopje.
ðelo Jusić composed his orchestral image Dubrovački kantuni from 1991 to
1992 during the war in Dubrovnik. The first movement of this programme music
full of bright images and associations is opened by a majestic music image
resounding with the solemn tolling of the bells. The music then calms down a
bit, yet it is still vivacious supported by a violin solo with a distinguished
repeating motive. The solemn initial chords appear again and the main theme of
the movement will also reappear in the suite finale, rounding up the cyclic unity
of the piece. The second slow movement is a meditative pastoral with a
particularly pronounced synthesizer. The third, dramatic movement is full of
harsh accents, dizzy passages and sudden collapses of the musical waterfalls.
The basses fiercely confront the melodic lines and the indicative tutti-beats seem
to echo the horrors of the war surrounding the composer. The fourth movement
is a lyrical meditation inspired by a church chorale appearing at first in its
original form, which is later developed in a manner characteristic of the
composer. The strings wrapped in thoughts respond to the solo sound of the
oboe. The fifth movement, dedicated to the well-known Dubrovnik poet, Luko
Paljetak, is an effective contradanza, an old Dubrovnik dance in which the
theme always returns, but varied every time in a different way, making the piece
structure more dense. In the suite finale that, after a mysterious introduction,
announces the newly attained freedom of the City, a multitude of solemn music
revelations grow into a magnificent apotheosis of joy and light.
The Oboe Concerto was composed in January 1990. The slow melodious
beginning in the strings, followed by the oboe (4/4 measure) suddenly (after a
solo recitative) blends into a fast section characteristic of the frequent changes of
the measure (7/8, 12/8 and 8/8). This markedly movable dance mood is
interrupted by an interesting solo cadenza, whereas a distinguished
transformation of its fast section happens before the very end of the movement.
The counterpoint melody introducing the second, slow movement (4/4 measure)
is first played by the strings and later by the solo instrument. The entire
movement is permeated with a slight baroque flavour intensified by the constant
halts and echoes inspired by the unparalleled acoustics of the Rector’s Palace.
The music suddenly blends into an impressive pastoral (Tempo di mazurka
giocosa), in which the composer goes back to his Dubrava, which he vaguely
remembers and which eludes him disappearing in the distance. The orchestra
takes over the closing joyous solo introduction, yet its dynamism also contains a
kind of irony. The sounds of a serenade, so characteristic of Jusić’s music,
suddenly appear, resounding with the echo again. Out of a slow cadenza comes
another beautiful melody, the peculiar trademark of the composer’s art. The
orchestra takes over the melody with pleasure and the movement afterwards
remembers its initial, almost childish joy.
ðelo Jusić composed his Guitar Concerto in the summer of 1997. It is opened
by a lengthily guitar preparation for the future events. The orchestra, outlined in
a bassoon solo, creeps like a shadow into this introductory monologue. A new
theme carried by the oboe serves as a bridge before the appearance of the main
theme in the entire orchestra. The Allegro is an agile conversation of the solo
instrument with the orchestra, whereat always the same tonal movement ascends
and descends by turns. Following the solo cadenza, the lyrical and meditative
segment, the previously mentioned dialogue appears again, exploding in an
attractive end. The gently elegant second movement is an image of a walk along
the main street of Dubrovnik, Stradun. The musical thoughts neatly blend one
into another like the steps at a regular pace. The coda repeats only the main part
of the theme. The concerto finale is announced by a guitar solo as an
introduction into a Neapolitan-solemn, luxurious, sun tanned orchestral hymn to
nature and life. In an incessant dialogue of the guitar and a group of other
instruments, the tension increases expecting the final Allegro. It is announced by
a solo cadenza preceding the major-key part of the movement, a peculiar
evocation of an old Dubrovnik dance. Before the very end, a tender and dreamy
performance of the string quartet is only a premeditated halt before a majestic
finale.
The Concerto for bassoon and strings was composed in 2001. The fast and
baroque energetic main theme of the first movement (in 4/4 measure) is
confronted with a somewhat slower yet particularly singable second theme. An
unusual pseudocadenza appears before the end of the movement, resolutely
interrupted by the musical reminiscence of the beginning. The second movement
(in 6/8 measure) entrusts its most beautiful melody to the soloist, who logically
supervises its every move. All this develops into a beautiful waltz episode,
which eventually blends into a logical end. The final Allegro is filled with
a typically broken main theme that a bit mockingly, and definitely humorously,
tries to conjure up the unsteady walk of someone who had in some way been
intoxicated. The things seem to get extremely complicated, apparently with no
way out. The central part of the movement is reserved for a jazzy dialogue of the
double bass and bassoon, with the predominant halts, whereas the humour of the
situation is increased by the funny string glissandos within the strict dance
rhythm. A masterful solo cadenza woven in the movement tissue precedes a
brief, Rossini-like pregnant coda.
ðelo Jusić composed the Stage Music for Krleža’s play the Glembays by the
end of 1999 for the namesake production of the Sarajevo National Theatre
directed by Gradimir Gojer. The first movement, composed for the strings only,
attempts to conjure up the atmosphere in a rich, but deeply split and unhappy
family. With constant changes of the measure (3/4, 2/4, 4/4), the gloomy and
melancholy motive repeats in sequences, which only increases the impression of
its alienation and insecurity in time and space. In spite of its apparent idyll, the
second movement Lento (also for the strings), with a bit more agile violin solo
in its central part, already foresees the growing restlessness and dramatic
conclusion. The third movement is composed for the entire orchestra. A
distinguished and hectic-dramatic melody (later reinforced in the cannon), more
and more intensely accompanied by the ostinatos in the basses, clearly shows
that the drama has (like the music itself) reached its culmination and end.
The tonight’s concert will be concluded by the well-known Jusic’s orchestral
arrangement of the three perhaps most popular hits of famous The Beatles. John
Lennon and Paul McCartney are the authors of the world famous hits
Yesterday, Michelle and Eleanor Rigby, which ðelo Jusić skilfully connected
and enriched by the orchestral colours. The first movement theme is first carried
by the string quartet and later taken over by the entire orchestra, with the
expression gradually becoming more intense and the structure more dense. In
the second hit, Jusić introduces a modern rhythm section for the first time. A
chorale announces the third fast-tempo hit, in which a melody of almost
unparallel beauty rises above the joyous harmonic-rhythmic accompaniment.
D. Detoni