Horvat, Stanko: Black Songs, for baritone and 13 strings

“On its very first performance in April 1998, The Black Songs by Stanko Horvat, composed for baritone and thirteen string instruments, attracted a great deal of attention from the music press. The success, along with the outstanding music of the Zagreb Soloists, to whom the work was dedicated, was also ascribed to the soloist, the baritone Joško Lešaja, who interpreted his part with a tremendous deal of expression. This was a continuation of Horvat’s collaboration with the poet Dunja Robić; previously, she had written the libretto for his opera Metamorphosis to the story of Franz Kafka, and he also composed the work Silence and Sighs for soprano, vibraphone and percussion in 1993 to her verses. Irrespective of the drama of the sound that sometimes wells up out of Horvat’s music, it is always formed as the result of a possible, entirely logical and profound human emotion, whether it is to do with fear, anxiety, unease, anger, rage or despair at a sense of powerlessness. This is precisely the key in which the general public perceives and recognizes this work as close to and intelligible to them.”

[Zdenka Weber]