Chamber

Opera – the most gargantuan of the musical genres, with the full scale libretto, sets, props, choir, orchestra, soloists, costume, within the simplest of mediums, i.e. the solo melodic instrument. An Opera for Solo Violoncello!

arr: solo violoncello
dur: cir. 28 min.

Peace. Nursery.
Slowly, out of the distance, a storm approaches.
A sudden slam of windows and a child cries out.
The mother comes, rushing. She closes the window, takes the baby in her arms and starts to sing…

lyrics: Anonymous (Russian)
arr: soprano & string quartet
alt. arr: SATB choir
dur: cir. 4 min.

If for a moment it may appear as if Mahler, Jarrett, Shostakovich or Nyman were giving me a hand with this particular piece of homework, please, bare in mind there’s a perfectly good explanation.
You see, as I hosted Mr. Schumann, for the few weeks it took me to finish the piece, Gustav appeared at the door and asked for a cup of sugar and two eggs… It did seem kind of funny at the moment, but I chose to ignore it… It was really when Keith Jarrett dropped by in the middle of a very serious conversation Mr. Schumann and I had and asked if he can join us for tee, when I realized something was wrong. …all right, I said. Hosting a man and a musical celebrity such as Robert Schumann, you can not but hope for unexpected visitors, and especially fellow admirers of his work.

arr: cello & piano 
alt. arr: violin & piano, viola & piano
dur: cir. 7 min.

The Impressionists endowed us a fantastic gift of beholding a moment.
Night & Dreams …

lyrics: Matthäus Von Collin (English)
arr: voice & piano
alt. arr: violin & piano
dur: cir. 2 min.

As the title itself suggests, the piece is an intimate monologue. You play it, and then you listen carefully, to see if there’s a reply.

arr: clarinet & piano
dur: cir. 4 min.

A set of 2 wonderful haiku-like poems, written by an anonymous author in the early 19th century Serbia. Initially written for two male voices and percussion, and then rescored for clarinet, violin and piano.

arr: clarinet, violin & piano
alt. arr: 2 voices and percussion
dur: cir. 4 min.

I did this as a demo for “Buenavista Pictures”. There are a lot of “Disney-esque” qualities to my music anyway. Dream-pedlary is something everybody liked. That’s why there are so many transcriptions of the same song for different instruments. I often start my concerts with this piece, ‘cause it grabs and lifts up from the very first notes.

lyrics: Thomas Lovell Beddoes (English)
arr: voice & piano
alt. arr: violin & piano; clarinet & piano; solo piano
dur: cir. 3 min.

The title is something I drew out of the musical plot, and did the same thing with the arrangement of the piece. Instruments, like characters in a play, enter the stage one by one, interact, and then leave or stay… representing the characters of our intimate dramas. They don’t always come into our lives together, at the beginning of a section, or at the bar line … Sometimes they just appear … unexpectedly, stay or pass through our lives, leaving us behind, grateful for having known them.
The moments in which our existences coincide are what makes this life kinder and easier to bear. They are the meaning.

arr: clarinet, violoncello & piano
alt. arr: violin, violoncello & piano
dur:cir. 7 min.

If I am to speak of Memories, I may want to say something about Duettino, the first in the set of five miniatures: …it is somewhat different from a typical piece for piano by 4 hands; instead of both musicians beginning to play simultaneously, it is the Secondo who initiates by taking out his theme, and only then the Primo comes in with a totally different melody. He and She.
…He accidentally bumped into her somewhere between their acts, handing over the keys, and from that moment on he couldn’t get her out of his head…and then, because it was “meant to be” they caught sight of each other again: Different, perfectly independent, with a bit of a grudge towards the rest of the world and very lonely. …It’s great to have two more hands at the keyboard.

arr: piano by four hands
dur: cir. 9 min.

I was asked to write a piece for the “Righteous among nations” ceremony, where the State of Israel and Yad Vashem give tribute to those who helped save Jewish lives during the Second World War, usually putting at risk their own. I’ve been to many of these ceremonies over the years, watching these simple, selfless, genuine heroes, receive recognition after so many decades. It never fails, at least partially, to restore my faith in Humanity. Each time we remind ourselves of  the Talmudic wisdom that “saving one life is like saving the whole world” I feel a little bit saved myself.
As for why I chose to write Oseh Shalom for this occasion, I guess it’s simple. After so much evil and bloodshed, what else can we pray for but peace.

arr: chazzan, male choir, violin & piano
dur: 3′ 30”

I was commissioned to write something for the Belgrade Cello Fest – an annual festival that’s been drawing cellists from all over the world for more than a decade. I knew it had to be something that will immediately relate to those who have spent the better part of their lives with the violoncello and its repertoire.

After giving it some thought, I chose to create an homage to the most recognizable of all cello pieces – The Swan, from the Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saens. As we get closer to the end of the piece, you’ll see there’s a bit of Tchaikovsky there as well, and for obvious reasons.

arr: violoncello & piano
dur: cir. 7 min.

I’m not sure if this is the best piece I ever wrote…but if had opened a bank account for all the sighs it brought out of the girls who heard it, I’d be a very, very rich guy…

arr: violin, bandoneon, piano & double bass
alt. arr: violin, clarinet, piano & double bass;
             string quartet; violin & piano; violoncello & piano
dur: cir. 4,5 min.

A friend of mine asked me to write her a “Waltz in honor of the Danube” – Danubius Rex, as she called it. “…Vienna is not the only city on Danube”, she used to say, linking the dance, the vortex which robbed women of their breath and the river that flew for centuries from the Black Forest to the Black Sea, silently witnessing our quiet lives, tempestuous romances and the everlasting torment of our souls between its source and mouth.

arr: violin & piano
dur: cir 4,5 min.

In the Eastern Service, it is the song about Angels. As I sat down in front of an empty piece of paper, my idea was to try and write down something that would sound as the actual song of the Cherubim.

lyrics: Liturgical (Church-Slavonic)
arr: SATB choir
alt. arr: string quartet, string orchestra
dur: cir. 4 min.

You all know of those love affairs that started perfectly, promised so much and were then just cut in the bud for no good reason and no proper explanation. They leave you wondering decades later if it might have been the one true thing that never had its chance…
This Tango is for all those who ever caught themselves wondering “What if…”
It’s a musical closure

arr: bandoneon, violin, piano, guitar & double-bass
alt. arr: bandoneon, violin, piano, guitar, double-bass & a2 symphony orchestra
             violin &  piano, cello & piano, solo piano
dur: cir. 4 min.

In our minds, brass is usually a heavy material – be it church bells, or cannons, or even a colloquial pair of balls in a daring personality. This is why this Fanfare is as light and easy as a morning breeze.

arr: brass septet
alt. arr: brass quintet
dur: cir. 6 min.

It’s one of the very first pieces I wrote. I was fifteen and I had just learned my notes.

lyrics: Anonymous (English)
arr: voice, violin & piano
alt. arr: voice, clarinet, violin and piano; voice & piano
dur: cir. 1,5 min.

This song was created during the civil war of 1992. Walt Whitman experienced the war himself. A frozen picture of a “blue” soldier entrusting a kiss of reconciliation upon the mouth of a “sleeping” enemy. One image tells more than a thousand words.

Lyrics: Walt Whitman (English)
arr: voice & piano
alt. arr: violin & piano 
dur: cir. 4 min.

Spenser’s Sonnets served as the inspiration to Shakespeare, just like Field’s Nocturnes did to the “Polish Nightingale”. Maybe “mimesis” truly is the source of genuine art. …which means I’m still looking for my “Greek Tragedy”.
This, of course, has nothing to do with my duet. This duet is nothing more than a pretty little song.

lyrics: Edmund Spenser (English)
arr: soprano, mezzo-soprano  & piano
alt. arr: a female or children choir & piano (or strings)
dur: cir. 2,5 min.

A short but effective Kreislerian waltz for violin and piano. Best served with vanilla ice cream, hot apple-caramel fudge and sprinkled with cinnamon-sugar and toasted almonds.

arr: violin & piano
alt. arr: clarinet & piano
dur: 4 min.

A piano miniature composed for a documentary about the „Final Solution“ in the Balkans

arr: solo piano
dur: 1,5 min.

A bread roll, butter and jam…tea and a set of morning papers…peace…

arr: clarinet & piano
dur: cir. 2,5 min.

I found a text of an anonymous author from the 19th century and I’ve set it to music for the a capella vocal ethno band. I came up with the instrumental version when I realized that I needed this funny mixture of hope, passion, despair and exaltation for the movie I was working on. It worked.

arr: a group of male or female ethno singers 
alt. arr: voice & piano; violin & piano; violin, clarinet, violoncello & piano
dur: cir. 2,5 min.

I was on my way to a rehearsal at the Carl Maria Von Weber Academy, when the music started playing in my head. Before I reached Wettiner Platz, all the themes and musical materials were in place.
That’s why it’s called The Dresden Quartet

arr: string quartet
dur: cir. 7 min.

A slow, choral movement of Archangello Corelli “spoke to me from the bush”. Similar to Bach’s C Major Prelude of the 1st Book, it was seeking out its Gounod, and I quietly and piously sighed … Agnus Dei …

lyrics: Liturgical (Latin)
arr: soprano & string quartet
alt. arr: soprano, clarinet, violin, violoncello & piano
dur: cir. 4 min.

A one-movement, non-stop soundtrack for the movie 588 Impressions, which is also how long Danube runs through Serbia, expressed in kilometers. The piece also works beautifly on concert stage,  which is not necessarily the case with all music written for the screen.

arr: piano, violin, clarinet & cello
dur: cir. 9 min.

This set of six is a musical gift to Miloš Petrović, a fantastic violinist  and member of the original cast of The Seraphim. I named the 6 pieces as I did to stress the capriciousness of the form and to honor the famous raw models by Nicolo Paganini.

arr: solo violin
dur: cir. 7 min.

Fantasy and nature. A love story. An angelic being.

arr: string quartet
dur: cir. 11 min.

Dedicated to my sweetest friends and family: two parakeets and a Pekinese. Milka, Meda and Mika – 3M

arr: violoncello & piano
dur: cir. 4 min.

I wrote it immediately after “The Moments” so that the guys and I would have more to play. I think it makes for a good trio.

arr: clarinet, violoncello & piano
alt. arr: violin, violoncello & piano
dur:cir. 6,5  min.

Lord Byron and I were born on the same date –  the 22nd of January.  I poured the feelings of the days I spent living in his home at Albany Court, Piccadilly, into this piano  trio.

arr: clarinet, violoncello & piano
alt. arr: violin, violoncello & piano
dur: cir. 11,5 min.

…is a cycle made up of three different songs that I transcribed for violin and piano. Often an instrument is required to “sing” and this may very well be the most appropriate way – by transposing the vocal into the instrumental genre.

arr: violin & piano
dur: cir. 9 min.

I’m not sure… Maybe it’s the Satie miniatures …a fascinating piece that comes right after the sun reaches its peek…I just wouldn’t know

arr: solo piano
dur: cir. 3 min.

Kutuzovsky Prospekt 122a, Moscow. …forgotten childhood…a door to an empty room…an old address…new people…irrevocable love…and Hope *

arr: violin, violoncello & piano
dur: cir. 15 min.

The very first page of this Chekhov play reads: “A Comedy in 4 Acts”. “An Idyll in 34 Keys” is what would best suit the first leaf of the score.

arr: solo piano 
dur: cir. 11 min.

The very first royalties I ever collected came from this piece.

arr: harp solo
dur: cir. 4,5  min.

For many months I was listening to the recordings of the famous French violinist Christian Ferras, and consequently felt a profound urge to write this music and dedicate it to the man who left us much too early, while leaving behind a tremendous mark in music and a unique attitude towards the violin repertoire.

arr: violin & piano
dur: cir. 7 min.

The first in a series of solo piano miniatures, with an obvious idea of a reduced texture, allowing the magic of the sound, rather than „music“ to take frontstage.

arr: solo piano
alt. arr: marimba & vibraphone
dur: 2,5 min.