CHAMBER MUSIC

Anamnesis, Ecumenical mysteries

Anamnesis, according to Plato, is the act of remembering the true world, the world illuminated by the sun. I wrote this music in 1991/92 during the war in former Yugoslavia. It was my "response" to the challenge created by the situation: a fictitious ecumenical liturgy vis-à-vis the bloody conflict amongst the Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim populations. This was the voice of personal resistance against the oppression of nationalistic hysteria.  The work puts forward that the differences among these three religions, cultures and civilisations complement one another as do good, truth and beauty; as do body, soul and spirit; as do rhythm, melody and harmony – and in their unity create a harmonic whole. I have dedicated this music to the spirits of my teachers Nikolai Berdiaev and  George Ivanovich Gurdjieff.

This version of Anamnesis, ecumenical mysteries, was re-composed 15 years later. It is my final production of this piece. I am indebted to all the gifted musicians who ever played this music.

Ballads and Dances from the Highland

I once met a musician who claimed his music to be Hawaiian, though he never had any connection to Hawaii and has never even been there.

When asked “when do you plan to go there”, he answered: “I don’t plan to, what for?” It is similar to me with the highlands, I live under a little hill in an otherwise totally flat Pannonian landscape.

It is an anthology of music I composed for a string quartet over the last 15 years. Some of the pieces were commissioned by dance and ballet companies. The red thread linking these various different pieces has a fictitious name: a highland. A paradox, a piece and a turbulence, bright and cold sunshine, loneliness and yearning, dance over an abyss, an angel’s remembrance.

I am indebted to the Enzo Fabiani Quartet (Slovenia), the Chepikov quartet (USA) and the Quartet Quatro Santi (Serbia), who have played much of this music before. I am also grateful to an incredible all-woman quartet by the name of TAJJ, as well as to the delicate oboist Vladimir Puškaš for making this music a reality…

Boris Kovač, Bukovac, Pannonia, 2008