Trumpet player Vedran Kocelj and Krešimir Starčević have turned their long-term research and study of forgotten works by Croatian composers for trumpet and piano, as well as ordering new compositions, into the program Musica Croatica – An Anthology of Croatian Music for Trumpet and Piano!
The concert tour included these cities:
• SV. IVAN ZELINA – Kraluš Hall (February 27, 2024)
• MURSKO SREDIŠĆE – Cultural Center “Ribar” (March 3, 2024)
• ZADAR – Bersa Brothers Concert Hall (March 5, 2024)
The program chronologically followed the compositions created in the past 50 years. At the beginning, the three-movement suite Musica per tromba by Bruno Bjelinski from 1975 was performed; then there was Sonata by Stjepan Šulek from 1982, to be followed by two solo pieces – The Glass Bead Game for piano by Ivo Josipović from 1986 and the Seven Trumpets for trumpet by Srđan Dedić from 1988. The first part of the concert was concluded by Anđelko Klobučar‘s Sonatina from 1997.
The concert continued with the extensive work Fanfaronitis by Dubravko Detoni from 2013, dedicated to Kocelj, who premiered it with Starčević in 2016 in Senj, followed by Dubravko Palanović‘s Five Etudes for Young People for piano.
A special end of the concert was in Zadar, where the musicians premiered the composition Cadenza, aria and finale, which was composed by the composer and pianist Bruno Vlahek at their initiative!
Here is what Vlahek wrote about the composition:
I wrote the composition “Cadenca, aria and finale” during January 2024 at the instigation and commission of trumpeter Vedran Kocelj and pianist Krešimir Starčević for a concert in Zadar on March 5. The motif of the composition is Quetzal – a bird of mythological significance for the Mayan civilization, and three can be interpreted as an invocation (ritual invocation), song and flight/dance. The Cadence itself begins with an acoustic effect that can be experienced in front of the Kukulkán temple (Chichén Itzá, Mexico) where clapping at the base causes a sound similar to the voice of a quetzal from the top of the pyramid it is an architectural-acoustic creation far before the advent of modern technology. Both instruments use extended playing techniques to evoke the sounds of nature and an imaginary ritual. The Aria brings the dualism of the song and the drama of the cry in its middle part; it is a response to current world events – despair and the consolation of all who suffer in the rawness and senselessness of war. The Finale brings freedom of movement, the flight of the trumpet over the ostinate of the piano, alternating with a dance color that unites both instruments in a virtuosic ending.
© Željko Karavida
