Mak Grgić, guitar
Ensemble Dissonance: Janez Podlesek, violin Matjaž Porovne, violin, Maja Rome, viola, Alja Mandič Faganel, cello

Program:
Boccherini: Menuet
Boccherini: Quintet for Guitar and Strings in D Major “Fandango”
Nina Šenk: Entourer
Traditional / K. Hvala: Kasapsko oro
Leon Firšt: Balkan Suite for Guitar and String Quartet

A CONVERSATION WITH MAK GRGIĆ

It is no coincidence that the debut discography of guitarist Mak Grgić and the Slovenian instrumental ensemble Ensemble Dissonannce is dedicated to the music of Slovenian composers. Both protagonists of the performances on this CD regularly include compositions by Slovenian authors, especially contemporary ones, in their extensive and diverse repertoire. Nina Šenk and Leon Firšt are exceptionally talented leading Slovenian composers of their generation, each exploring the magical world of musical composition in their own way. While Leon Firšt mainly relies on traditional compositional techniques and musical tradition, Nina Šenk explores new musical worlds and new paths towards the development of music and sound.

The Balkan Suite and Entourer are compositions that were created in modern times, and when coexisting on the CD they contrast and complement each other at the same time. Leon Firšt transformed Miroslav Tadić’s five-movement guitar suite into a composition for guitar and string ensemble. The desire when commissioning and creating the composition was not a classic arrangement of a composition for solo guitar with accompaniment, so Leon Firšt employed and utilized the string ensemble with virtuoso passages, solo contributions by individual strings, and an equal dialogue between the ensemble and the solo guitar. In doing so, he created a new sound dimension of the Balkan Suite and, in fact, created a new original work. Nina Šenk approached the creation of the composition Entourer in a similar way, but with a different compositional technique. The composition, which was created for guitarist Mak Grgić and the Jack Quartet, is constantly played out as a kind of game of five musicians in constant mutual interaction, sometimes in harmony and other times in confrontations. The basic structure of the composition and its musical form are based on the relationships between the individual musicians in the band. It seems as if Nina Šenk wanted to transfer the exploration of interpersonal relationships in real life to the esoteric level of musical art, which is also evident from her tendency to achieve in the composition primarily the common sonority of the band members and their equality. We are not islands surrounded by the sea. We are surrounded by others and we surround others. This is the common message of the composition Entourer and the present CD of the same name.