Kosjenka Turkulin i Iva Ljubičić Lukić: Damenbal

Works by Croatian composers
for piano four hands

“…when two young, talented and truly outstanding pianists ask you to write a piece for their duo, what is a composer to do? Sit at the piano and… well, that’s more or less how it happened. They performed the piece richly and musically, and I wish them great success in the future!” (Frano Parać)

In the world of chamber music, few formations require as much subtlety, mutual trust, and coordination as the piano duo. Two pianists, one instrument – and an invisible line between them that, when Iva Ljubičić Lukić and Kosjenka Turkulin are at the piano, almost completely disappears. For more than a decade, they have been shaping the piano duo scene in Croatia as performers, educators, and promoters of new repertoire. Their work through the Zagreb Piano Duo Festival has encouraged the creation of numerous new works by Croatian composers, and this release is the culmination of that continuity.

Their new CD Damenbal brings together works by Croatian composers for piano four hands – from lyrical and poetic to virtuosic and theatrically playful pieces. The album offers a fresh and engaging cross-section of contemporary Croatian creativity, featuring works by Ivan Končić, Zoran Juranić, Frano Parać and Alfi Kabiljo, four composers whose aesthetic approaches converge in the unique interpretative vision of this duo. The title piece, Damenbal by Zoran Juranić, was composed in 2021 specifically for this duo as a commission of the Zagreb Piano Duo Festival. It reveals the composer’s recognizable blend of dense texture, dramatic impulse and theatrical spirit, approached by the pianists with refined sensitivity and technical assurance.

The release was supported by the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia.