The composition Hands for a cappella mixed choir was composed by Frano Parać using Đuro Sudeta’s (1903-1927) poetic template, which brought it a new kind of artistic life in Parać’s music. It is enriched with the purity of the vocal score, whose compositional and technical procedures do not hinder the poetry’s original expressiveness, but rather complement it with carefully chosen means, pedal tones, repetitions and expressive gestures. Through these elements, the composer enhances the expressiveness of the lyrics, enriching in turn the simple, pure a cappella vocal syllable of the composition. The work was commissioned by the Tenso, the European network for professional chamber choirs, for the project “14-18: from poetry to music.” It was first performed by the Slovenian Philharmonic Choir led by Martina Batič on September 21, 2017 in the Basilica of the Queen of Sveta gora in Sveta Gora, near Nova Gorica, in Slovenia. The Croatian premiere was performed by the Croatian Radiotelevision Choir led by Tomislav Fačini, at the author’s concert celebrating Parać’s 70th birthday, on October 19, 2018, at the Mimara Museum in Zagreb. The Croatian Radiotelevision Choir’s album Osluškivanja (Cantus, 2023) includes the recording of the composition, and the sheet music edition of Ars Croatica contains six more of his compositions, which include works for guitar, symphonic and concertante scores.
Trajanje: cca 7 minuta / Duration: approx. 7 minutes
BROJ IZDANJA / EDITION NUMBERS
Can. 343-3176
ISMN 979-0-801363-17-6
HDS, Zagreb
2023.
