Milan Mihajlović - Orchestral Works (Howard Griffiths)

Information

Composer: Milan Mihajlović

1. Bageteles for violin, strings and harpsichord: No. 1, Preludio
2. Bageteles for violin, strings and harpsichord: No. 2, Ostinato
3. Bageteles for violin, strings and harpsichord: No. 3, Aria
4. Bageteles for violin, strings and harpsichord: No. 4, Finale
5. Melancholy for oboe, strings, and piano
6. Fa-mi(ly) for strings and piano
7. Elegy for strings
8. Memento for Orchestra

Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt

Howard Griffiths, conductor

Date: 2020

Label: cpo

https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/milan-mihajlovic-orchesterwerke-memento/hnum/9254306

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Review

The Serbian composer/conductor Milan Mihajlović was born in Belgrade at the end of the Second World War. His family had enthusiastic sympathies for music. Mihajlović completed his studies in composition and conducting in 1969-70. In Belgrade he worked as a music academic in increasingly senior positions across almost forty years. He was also an agitator and organiser for contemporary music. His scores have been performed throughout Europe.

His first orchestral scores date back to the early 1970s but those on this disc (which appears to be his first album on an international label) were written during the period from the 1980s almost to the present day. They communicate melodically but do so with a contemporary and very personal freshness.

Bagateles (1986) is a work suffused with peace and an evident rejection of the shout and the roar of the crowd; not to say that it is without intense passion. It is the longest piece and is just short of 20 minutes in duration. Bagateles (so spelled) is a strange title for Mihajlović to give to a work much of which is taken up by inscapes and reflection. It is in four movements: Preludio; Ostinato; Aria; Finale. The mixture of violin, strings and harpsichord creates a sound leaning towards Schnittke but without that composer’s driven and saw-toothed ways. In fact, much of the work is more of a prayerful song than a belligerent statement. The Finale is, by contrast, gritty and flies along with ruthless winged force: a touch of Shostakovich here.

Melancholy is a delicate little concertante. The oboe is a supplicant drifting from bleakness to warmth. If you enjoy the oboe concertante works by Malcolm Arnold and Gordon Crosse (Ariadne) this, too, should appeal. The ruthlessness I mentioned in the Finale of the Bagateles takes a remorseless grip on the second part of this score but this dispels as things draw to an almost penitent close. Fa-mi(ly) for strings and piano is another single-movement piece where the concentration is sustained and the strangeness of Mihajlovic’s world strikes a blend point between beckoning tonality and groaning expressiveness. The pace of the piece is often athletic. The Elegy for Strings is from 1989. Its refusal to raise its thoughtful voice much above pianissimo suggests a reverence or affection for Panufnik or Pärt. Memento is dedicated to the memory of the Serbian composer Vasilije Mokranjac. It’s the second longest piece here and the most varied, rising from the usual head-bowed mystery to a percussive rhythmic storm. It’s urgently blurted and even fearful before arriving at a short and very quiet epilogue evocative of a haze of bell-sounds: peace returns. It’s the only piece here for a full-complement orchestra but one predominantly used like a delicate palette knife rather than a cutlass or sabre.

Howard Griffith and his orchestra are regular contributors to CPO’s catalogue; no wonder, as once again they here show what feels like complete identification with Mihajlović’s very distinctive music. The CPO engineering and production team can be relied on to produce richly textured sound ... and do so. The disc’s liner-essays, in German and English, are by Ivona Vuksanovic and Zorica Premate.

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

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Milan Mihajlović (born July 3, 1945 in Belgrade) is Serbian composer, pedagogue and conductor. Born in a musical family, Mihajlović graduated from the Belgrade Music Academy where he also acquired his M.A. degree. From 1975 to 2010, Mihajlović worked at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, and also taught at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad. He was the Chairman of the Union of Serbian Composers from 1987 to 2002. Mihajlović's compositions have been performed in most of the European countries, the USA and Australia. For his artistic achievements, Mihajlović has been awarded biggest national prizes for music.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan_Mihajlović

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Howard Griffiths (born 24 February 1950 in Hastings) is a British conductor. Griffiths studied music at the Royal College of Music, London, and has lived in Switzerland since 1981. He was Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra from 1996 to 2006. Since the season 2007/08, he is General Music Director of the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester, and has also appeared as a guest conductor with many leading orchestras all over the world. Griffiths has a broad repertoire, with about 100 CD recordings with various labels (including Warner, Universal, cpo, Sony and Koch).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Griffiths_(conductor)

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