HOMMAGE À MILAN STIBILJ

Slovenian Percussion Project in collaboration with MD7

Barbara Kresnik, Marina Golja, Matevž Bajde, Franci Krevh, Tomaž Lojen, Davor Plamberger, percussion

Matej Zupan, flute

Jože Kotar, clarinet

Matjaž Porovne, violin

Maksim Bogdanov, double bass

Klemen Golner, piano

Conductor: Steven Loy

Programme:

Milan Stibilj: Zoom (for clarinet and bongos)

Uroš Rojko: In Wellen verwoben / Interwoven in Waves (for six percussionists)

Primož Ramovš: Simpozij (for five percussionists)

Milan Stibilj: Mondo (for violin, clarinet, double bass and percussion)

Milan Stibilj: Indian Summer (for flute, clarinet, piano, double bass and percussion)

Milan Stibilj: Épervier de ta faiblesse, domine (for reciter and percussion)

The fourth concert is devoted to Milan Stibilj (1929–2014), together with Primož Kuret a prime mover behind the founding of the Slovene Music Days. His name is also linked to this year’s jubilee celebrant – the Slovene National Opera and Ballet in Ljubljana – since he spent a decade as a violinist in the opera company orchestra. A product of the compositional schools of Karol Pahor in Ljubljana and Milko Kelemen in Zagreb, he later turned in more contemporary directions. He was a member of the generation of the Composers’ Club (Klub komponistov) and then the Pro musica viva group, which shook up the Slovene music scene with new music. Significantly influenced by his study of electronic music in Utrecht, he also worked at the Institute of Sonology in that city. Other experiences abroad included participation in the Berlin Arts Programme, and he spent a year in Montreal teaching composition. At home in Slovenia, he was actively involved with Jeunesses Musicales Slovenia and the Secretariat for Culture. He was familiar with numerous compositional styles but traced his own path independently of the models of his environment and developed a unique form of expression that places him among the most radical Slovene modernists. His own description of his modus operandi – “I create by trying, through practical endeavour, to give as much genuinely felt content as possible to the original intellectual starting point for the work I wish to create” – hints at a compositional language of highly organised sonority. Structured rhythmic duration, the importance of numerical relationships, the logic of tension and release in the structural arrangement, etc. – these are among the characteristics of Stibilj’s compositions. His works have won particular recognition abroad: Mondo (1965) was performed for the first time in Bochum, Zoom (1970) received its premiere in Berlin, Indian Summer (1974) was premiered in Zürich, and the piano piece Shota (1979) was successfully performed in Baden-Baden. One of Stibilj’s most important works, Épervier de ta faiblesse, domine (“Sparrowhawk of your feebleness, Lord”), written in 1964 for the percussion ensemble Les Percussions de Strasbourg and incorporating a text by the Belgian poet Henri Michaux, was performed for the first time at the 1965 Zagreb Music Biennial and carried Stibilj’s name around the world. The concert programme also includes Interwoven in Waves, which Uroš Rojko composed for Les Percussions de Strasbourg, and Symposium by Primož Ramovš (1921–1999), a leading Slovene composer oriented towards the musical avant-garde alongside the Pro musica viva group.

Helena Filipčič Gardina

During a concert break, a conversation with Franci Krevh and prof. dr. Primož Kuret, will take place in Slavko Osterc Hall. Conversation will be moderated by Dr Tjaša Ribizel.