BOŽIĆ – Byzantine Mosaic
About Album
Byzantine Mosaic , a pianistic fresco in nine tableaux by the Serbian composer Svetislav Božić, is freely inspired by the Byzantine, Oriental and traditional music of Serbia. Based on Byzantine chants by Sufis and Orthodox monks and the whirling dances of the dervishes, it is couched in post-Impressionist language. Nine monasteries in Serbia, Macedonia and Greece, some of them UNESCO World Heritage sites, furnish the titles of the pieces. The White Angel fresco prominent on the cover, a message of peace, fits with the universal rhythm that underlies this work.
Recorded in La Chaux de Fonds (Switzerland), composed in 2001, Byzantine Mosaic connects the past and the present.
Full Album Reviews:
- CD-Review by Victoria Okada, RESMUSICA (french)
- CD-Review by Carlo Schreiber, CRESCENDO (french)
- CD-Review by Étienne Müller, APPOGGIATURE (french)
Buy the CD:
Album Reviews
“It’s a record of rare beauty. With extraordinary concentration, she even recreates the atmosphere that must be present in each place, as well as the prayers spoken by the faithful, along with the wonderment of those at the altar, and the architecture laden with history. In spite of these intense emotions, Jasmina Kulaglich’s playing denotes great simplicity. The sereneness that she brings into being in each piece, and in particular Sopocani, Pantelejmon, and Studenica, is remarkable.”
“In this recording made at La Chaux-de-Fonds, the pianist makes singing the wonderful Steinway with all her palette of colors and shades…... The image of the White Angel on the cover is part of a fresco painted in the 13th century in a Serbian monastery. For Jasmina Kulaglich, it represents Peace, the future of humanity”
"Masterstroke by the pianist, a compatriot of the composer. An ideal tone, with judicious resonance employed with a fine musicality here, where all the registers of the instrument are used to create a perfect balance, with a great sound fulness."
“The effervescent playing of Jasmina Kulaglich reaches out to the listener immediately. Virtuoso, angry, pledged with a sense of vaporous phrasing, it intoxicates by a freestyle touch in incandescent trills, which abound here. It’s smoky hardness communicates to these Byzantine arabesques all their flavour… Spiritual and exhilarating ascent, a musical pilgrimage to rare fullness.”
"I recommend this CD for its mind openness, the mastery of the technique, incredible insurance of touch of Jasmina Kulaglich, expressive beauty of this music."