Croatian Composers

[Robin]

I am interested ro explore the unknown world (to me at least) of Croatian composers, mainly 19th/early 20th centuries. I have the Symphony and Phantasie Concertante of Dora Pejacević and two operas of Ivo Tijardović,  but (apart from Franz von Suppé) I have not found recordings of anything else... Any suggestions and recommendations?

ROBIN

[eschiss1]

Well, mostly I find a few well-known composers (von Suppé), emigrés, composers who were more modern (Slavenski)- for composers who seem to meet your request Ivan Padovec, a Romantic-era (somewhat earlier Romantic though- 1800-73) composer for guitar, a few works have been recorded. Will keep looking...

Interestingly, there was- ok, this does career offtopic from -recorded- Croatian composers Srećko "Felix" Albini (1869-1933) though he was recorded a little in the 1910s (on brief cylinders), who wrote operas, operettas, Broadway musical music, may have been briefly somewhat popular here under his pseudonym. Anyone know anything about Albini?

[JimL]

They found the score of the von Suppé symphony a few years back.  I wonder what became of that?  There is also a "Fest-Symphony" for wind band by him that, to my knowledge, hasn't been recorded.

[eschiss1]

There is a recording on cpo  of works by modern but mostly Romantic (in those particular works, less so I'm told in works not on that CD) composers- Gotovac (1895-1982) and Tajcevic . 

I gather there's a Croatia Records CD label out of Zagreb that may have recordings of more composers than just these and may specialize (relatively speaking). Indeed several of the Pejacevic works first had CD appearances on that label before more international labels like cpo recorded them, according to Worldcat. I don't doubt that some of the answer to your question is there.

[Latvian]

Here are a few more names to chew on:

Kresimir Baranovic (1894-1975)
Blagoje Bersa (1873-1934)
Jakov Gotovac (1895-1982)
Fran Lhotka (1883-1962)
Franjo [von] Lucic (1898-1972)
Krsto Odak (1888-1965)
Ivan Zajc (1832-1914)

All of these composers wrote very accessible, tonal, melodic works. Often there is also a strong ethnic folk influence, at least in their earlier works. Ivan Zajc, probably the most obscure of the lot, wrote a great many operas, some of which can be heard here: http://chomikuj.pl/tadeusz_baird/2.+Muzyka/CHORWACJA/Zajc*2c+Ivan+%281832-1914%29. Blagoje Bersa's symphonic poem Sunny Fields is ravishingly beautiful.

[theqbar]

Stjepan Sulek wasn't Croatian?

[Latvian]

Stjepan Sulek wasn't Croatian?

He most certainly was! I didn't include him on the list since Robin initially inquired about late 19th / early 20th Century names. Personally, Sulek is my favorite Croatian composer, but his music is a bit more advanced than what I believe Robin had in mind.

[theqbar]

you 're right, i didn't notice that the initial post was about late 19th/early 20th century. Anyway, Sulek is a fantastic composer, i really love his late symphonies, it was a great pleasure discovering them, through this site.

[Robin]

Many thanks, especially to LATVIAN, for suggestions and names to look out for. Indeed I am familiar with many of those suggested, but my difficulty is especially in finding recordings, or scores of their music.  I am in Croatia several times every year, and even there have great difficulty in finding material, almost all music stores I ever found direct me to the 'folk' section, which is what most people recognise there as being 'classic' but it is invariably rather lugubrious choral folk songs, occasionally with alarming modern, pop orchestrations.  And I have never found a store that sells scores!  I know there is a State Cultural. department that publishes material, but have never found an outlet, or contact information...

I guess I'm not looking in the right places?  These things do exist, surely!

Robin

[markniew]

And Boris Papandopulo (or alternate spelling)?
Long time I look for the complete version of his Piano Concerto. Some time ago I uploaded its fragments

[Christopher]

Listen to Srebrenica Inferno by the Croatian composer Đelo Jusić (b. 1939).  Yes, it's from the modern age, having been written to commemorate the victims of the 1995 genocide at Srebrenica.  But it's nevertheless a very striking piece. The little girl who leads does not sing in a very "classical" way, but the chorus is very classical in style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiLi2aGfkR4

Performers:

Nerina Buzaljko (soloist)
Omladinski Hor Zenica
Milenko Karović (conductor)

[Latvian]

I know there is a State Cultural. department that publishes material, but have never found an outlet, or contact information...

I've never been to Croatia, unfortunately, but I would think the best place to start in searching for recordings is the Croatian Music Information Center. Here is their address and contact information, from their website:

Muzički informativni centar
Kneza Mislava 18
10000 Zagreb
mic@mic.hr
+385 (1) 4501 200

I corresponded with them briefly about ten years ago when they were kind enough to send me a couple of promotional CDs of Croatian symphonic music. Perhaps they still have some, or even some more recent ones.