Gordan Tudor & Mislav Režić: Sit Back, Relax

Gordan Tudor, saxophone
Mislav Režić, guitar

“By combining classical, contemporary classical, and non-classical music of highly diverse styles and expressions, the duo in a way sends the audience the message that quality music is quality regardless of the style in which it is written, and that its universal message can be conveyed to any listener who is ready to listen. Audience engagement and interest, as well as the breaking down of that invisible wall between performers and listeners, are further encouraged by unpretentious, often humorous, yet informative spoken introductions before performances, which for music connoisseurs will be a charming spark, and for those only just discovering new music, a small guide to listening.” (excerpt from the programme booklet text by Marija Saraga)

Gordan Tudor and Mislav Režić are outstanding Croatian musicians who, with their creative combination of saxophone and guitar, have for several years delighted audiences and professionals around the world. The unique combination of instruments – classical and electric – opens up new sonic and expressive territories in their interpretation, while the album itself brings together six contemporary works written especially for this duo. This album is being released to mark the fifth anniversary of the Tudor-Režić duo, and in those five years they have established themselves as one of the most exciting ensembles on the Croatian music scene, whose performances, through their freshness, energy, and excellence, have thrilled the profession and attracted and intrigued the widest range of audiences.

Among the composers represented on the album are contemporary Croatian authors of differing poetics. In his work 41 kanontema, the legendary Dubravko Detoni combines improvisation, irony, and musical play through 41 short thematic ideas. The young composer Šimun Čarli Botica finds inspiration in Chant et Danse in the sonic contrasts of funeral rituals from the Dalmatian hinterland, while in Les ombres longues, Sanda Majurec explores how different instruments – electric guitar and saxophone – can “walk one after another” like long shadows. In his composition King City, California, Gordan Tudor combines his own American experience, field recordings, electronics, and musical humour in an evocative audio postcard. In the contemplative work Filaments, Juraj Marko Žerovnik offers a subtle and airy exploration of emotional space, while Ivan Božičević in Hunter’s Moon II brings a mystical story inspired by the hunter’s moon.

The album was mostly recorded at the Ivo Tijardović Concert Hall (Croatian Home Split) in June 2024, except for Hunter’s Moon II, which was recorded at Studio Deva in Split in September 2020. In the making of the album, key contributors were Damir Marušić (recording, production, mix, and mastering) and Ivan Božičević (production) for Hunter’s Moon II, and for the other works on the album Krešimir Petar Pustički (recording, production, mix, and mastering), along with Srđana Vrsalović (release editor), Marija Saraga (text author), Darija Šćukanec (proofreading), Maja Karajković Jakir (translation), and Karlo Kazinoti and Mišo Komenda (visual design).

Sit Back, Relax was released with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia.
Cantus Ltd.; Croatian Composers’ Society
Catalog number: 88924508642
Zagreb, 2025