Passacaglia and Fugue for Piano and Strings

Pavle Dešpalj (1934) graduated from Stjepan Šulek’s composition class at the Music Academy in Zagreb in 1960. He was an excellent violinist and pianist. After graduation, he also built a successful and internationally recognized conducting career. He composed some of his notable works while still a student (as one of Šulek's best students). These include the “masterly polyphony and expressively strong Passacaglia and Fugue for piano and strings (1956), his characteristic neo-romantic, dramatic and lyric Variations for Orchestra (1957) and the symphonizing Concerto for violin and orchestra (1959), performed in wide movements. He afterwards complemented his oeuvre (although he took pen to paper less frequently) with the glamorously enlightened Concerto for alto-saxophone and strings (1963) and in 2000 with the meditative and playful Concerto for cello and strings” (Dubravko Detoni). His Concerto for alto- saxophone was included in the curriculum of American conservatories.