Three Compositions 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. Three Compositions for Piano were composed by Papandopulo in Tribunj and Opatija in August 1986 for pianist Ljerka Pleslić-Bjelinski, to whom he dedicated the piece. Ljerka Pleslić-Bjelinski also premiered the composition. As suggested in the title, the work consists of three compositions; three shorter independent units: the first was named Quasi una fantasia, the second Nocturne, and the third Tarantella. Despite the divergence of the three separate parts and the heterogeneous nature of the music material, the Three Compositions for Piano is a work of rich invention and imaginative solutions in which the composer synthesizes numerous composing procedures and characteristics of different styles of the 20th century music, interweaving them into his own musical expression. What makes this work special is the deep submergence into the musical substance of strong emotions and subtlety, the sensibility while building the filigree-like and deeply felt melodic lines of metaphysical beauty of the first two compositions, as well as the enchanting, almost orgasmic dance moves and the sharp harmonic language of the third composition. All these characteristics confirm that Papandopulo was a full-blooded and highly sensitive musician, as well as a virtuoso pianist who spoke in his own, highly individual and authentic musical language in the Three Compositions for Piano. (Davor Merkaš)