Dusan Bogdanovic (1955-)
12 Préludes printanières
12 Préludes d'été
12 Préludes d'automne
12 Préludes d'hiver

Angelo Marchese, guitare

Né en Yougoslavie (dans la Serbie actuelle), formé au Conservatoire de Genève (où il enseigne aujourd’hui, après des années au Conservatoire de San Francisco), le compositeur et guitariste Dušan Bogdanovic (1955-) présente ses 48 préludes (12 par saison) comme autant d’haïkus : les deux formes sont reliées au cycle saisonnier ; elles partagent en outre une inspiration qui surgit et disparaît, comme hors du contrôle objectif du musicien ou du poète. En plus d’un certain équilibre entre (courtes) improvisations et écriture, la caractéristique principale de ces courtes pièces, conçues par petites touches, dans une veine impressionniste, est d’enrichir leurs consonnances par des emprunts au jazz (Prélude printanier n° 7) et au blues (Prélude d’automne n° 4) actuels, ainsi qu’à certaines musiques du monde (le folklore des Balkans pour le Prélude d’été n° 9 ou la tradition japonaise pour le Prélude printanier n° 12). Sous les doigts du guitariste sicilien Angelo Marchese, Bogdanovic parsème sa série de quelques touches d’humour, mélangeant des thèmes réputés, du Concerto de Aranjuez à celui de James Bond. Tendre et apaisant. (Bernard Vincken)

The Italian guitarist Angelo Marchese introduced the music of the Serbian-US composer Dušan Bogdanovic to the Brilliant Classics catalogue in 2015 with an album of sonatas, bagatelles, studies and dances (95194). His second recording dedicated to Bogdanovic concentrates on a single collection, the 48 Seasonal Preludes which gradually took shape over several years as a fusion of classical, jazz, and ethnic styles. Born in Belgrade in 1955, long resident in the US, the guitarist-composer Dušan Bogdanovic studied with Ginastera, among others, and has been commissioned by leading guitarists and major performing arts groups across the US. He has held teaching positions at conservatoires in Belgrade, San Francisco and presently Geneva, performed with both classical and jazz ensembles and made many albums both of his own music and that of his contemporaries. Structured in four sets of twelve, one set for each season, the 48 Seasonal Preludes explore a middle ground between improvisation and composition. The preludes influenced by blues include the Autumn Prelude No.4, written in memory of the guitarist Roland Dyens, and Winter Prelude No.9, after Charlie Mingus’s Goodbye Pork Pie Hat. Autumn Preludes No.3 and No.9 are in a fusion style reminiscent of Weather Report. The folk music of Bogdanovic’s Balkan homelands surfaces in other preludes, but so does Japanese modal harmony, and the language of Satie, Debussy, Rodrigo and Scriabin, whether in direct quotation or in homage to their musical worlds. Spring Prelude No.8 is a fugue based on the theme of the Art of Fugue by J. S. Bach. There’s even a reference to Monty Norman’s James Bond theme buried within the collection. According to Guitar magazine, Angelo Marchese is ‘a profound performer of supreme technical mastery.’ He has immersed himself in Bogdanovic’s musical world in order to add this compelling volume to the ever-expanding Brilliant Classics library of guitar music.