One of the greatest living Croatian composers, Dubravo Detoni, celebrated his 85th birthday. On this occasion, Krešimir Starčević created a concert of his piano and chamber music and gathered his friends – violinist Marco Graziani, clarinetist Bruno Philipp and trumpet player Vedran Kocelj. They performed the concert Detonijada at the in Zagreb’s Culture Center on Peščenica (KNAP), on November 26, 2022, at the end of the Music – Mission – Vision festival.
The program included compositions created during the 60-year period of Detoni’s composing career: from an early student work Two Choral Preludes for piano from 1963, to a diptych from 1983 consisting of 11 per 1 in 1 for clarinet and 22 per 2 in 2 for violin and piano, piano suite 9 Scenes from Daniel’s Dream from 1986, Fanfaronitis for trumpet and piano (which was premiered by Kocelj and Starčević in Senj in 2013) and up to Les bravoures nostalgiques for clarinet from 2018.
The concert was attended by the composer Dubravko Detoni himself, who addressed the audience on several occasions and told some of the anecdotes related to the creation of certain works.
In the review of the concert published on the portal glazba.hr, Borko Špoljarić wrote, among other things:
“When I come back again, they will be my new Acezantez”, was the statement of the laureate of the evening, composer and writer Dubravko Detoni (Križevci, 1937), addressed to the musicians and the audience at the final bow of his author’s concert, held on November 26 as part of the Music – Mission – Vision Festival in Zagreb’s KNAP Centre. He was, of course, referring to his famous ensemble with which he started writing the history of contemporary, experimental and improvisational music in Croatia in 1970.
He said “when I come back”, eliciting approval from the entire hall, although the fact is that Detoni hasn’t even gone anywhere yet. Nor does he intend to.
The program provided a kind of optional retrospective or at least a walk through some – partly well-known, partly early or, on the other hand, more recent and less well-known – stages of Detoni’s oeuvre; skilfully tailored for a “powerful crowd” of only four musicians – pianist Krešimir Starčević, violinist Marco Graziani, clarinetist Bruna Philipp and trumpeter Vedran Kocelj, with many moments of first-class playing, which presented many aspects of Detoni’s composition.
You can read the entire review in Croatian:
https://glazba.hr/citaj/izvjestaj/maestro-detoni-nastavite-setati/
Photos: Hana Pučak