Eight Studies for Piano

Boris Papandopulo (1906 – 1991) is one of the most distinctive Croatian musicians of the 20th century. Papandopulo also worked as music writer, journalist, reviewer, pianist and piano accompanist; however, he achieved the peaks of his career in music as a composer. His composing oeuvre is imposing – Papandopulo composed almost 500 opuses: with great success he created instrumental (orchestral, concertante, chamber and solo), vocal and instrumental (for solo voice and choir), music-stage and film music. In all these kinds and genres he left a string of anthology-piece compositions of great artistic value. The composition Eight Studies for the Piano was written by Papandopulo in the period from April 9 to July 4, 1956, in Opatija; he dedicated the pieces to the important Croatian piano teacher Svetislav Stančić (1895-1970). In this cycle, with its technically highly demanding pieces, with their frequent swoops into polytonality, the influence of folk music is also essentially present. The eight characteristic miniatures are built in diverse styles, from a Baroque toccata to contemporary dance forms, and these are all in a sense studies in the art of composition. While the rapid etudes have practically the energy of an automaton, the slow ones conjure up heterogeneous moods, the composer at the same time making use the twelve-tone technique understood in his own particularly rudimentary manner. The work particularly features the harmonies, aesthetics and rhythms of jazz and pop music, which adds even more to the immediacy and general brilliancy of the sound of the piano. An appropriate modicum of idiosyncratic irony is an indispensable part of this fascinating sonic kaleidoscope. (Dubravko Detoni)