Srđan Dedić: Selected Works from the New Millennium

“It may seem somewhat unusual that, when speaking of a contemporary composer, I mention Beauty and the relationship between form and content. We live in a time in which classical Beauty has been flooded, buried, and suffocated by an enormous number of industrially produced artistic products placed on the art market, and its recognition has become highly questionable, if not impossible. Numbers are relentless: the number of clicks, the number of concertgoers, the number of radio broadcasts – these are the new standards by which Beauty is assessed. It is difficult even to think, let alone create, in spite of such a time. What to rely on, which values to build upon, from which point to step into a new, as yet unforeseen space – these are the questions Srđan began seeking answers to at the moment he reached the age Dante had on his journey through Hell in the company of Virgil.”
(excerpt from the programme booklet text by Mladen Tarbuk)

An album as the sonic diary of a creative life

Srđan Dedić’s second author album presents a selection from his mature oeuvre – works that each in their own way reflect the composer’s search for the inner logic of form, pure musical expression, and emotional precision.

Included is Symphonic Movement (2010), a monumental work commissioned by the Zagreb Philharmonic, performed across Europe and also preserved in a permanent recording by the Croatian Radiotelevision Symphony Orchestra. Self-Fulfilling Prophecies (2016), a work dedicated to the Cantus Ensemble, received the Boris Papandopulo Award and represented Croatia at the International Rostrum of Composers; its score was also published by Cantus, as was the score of Dedić’s Second String Quartet (2019), commissioned for the 100th anniversary of the Zagreb Quartet and successfully performed and broadcast via Euroclassic Notturno and BBC Three. Also included are solo works that reflect Dedić’s purposeful closeness to performers: Frenzy (2023), for solo marimba, dedicated to Filip Merčep, and the contemplative Thinking of Master Ryōkan (2021) for flute, dedicated to flautist Dani Bošnjak.