Page 169 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2025. Glasbena interpretacija: med umetniškim in znanstvenim┊Music Interpretation: Between the Artistic and the Scientific. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 8

recent slovene music and its interpreters
Tomaž Habe, and the conductor Simon Krečič who in recent years have
done so much to promote the performances of new Slovene composition.
Not only was he a role model for young pianists but he was also a wonder-
ful interpreter of new music.
The third interpreter who consistently championed the cause of new
Slovene music in the later 20th century was Ivo Petrić (1931–2018) who made
possible so many new works as a sympathetic and skilled director of the
Slavko Osterc Ensemble from 1962 to 1982. There were first performances
and recordings of works by Primož Ramovš (Enneafonia, Apel), Jakob Jež
(Nomos), Alojz Srebotnjak (Microsongs), Igor Štuhec (Variacije), Milan Sti-
bilj (Impresije), Lojze Lebič (kons (a), kons (b)), others and, of course, Petrić
himself (Elegie sur le nom de Carlos Salzedo, Croquis sonores, Jeux à trois
– Jeux à quatre, Nuances en couleur, Divertimento za Slavka Osterca, Es-
quisses poètiques, Mozaiki). We should not forget that Petrić was a com-
7
poser-interpreter, and Janez Matičič (1926–2022) a pianist-composer. The
trombonist-composer Vinko Globokar is happily still with us.
An important innovation in Slovene Music Days on 23 April 1996 was
the introduction of the Noč slovenskih skladateljev (Night of Slovene Com-
posers) which drew leading instrumentalists, singers and ensembles to-
gether to perform a large number of mostly new Slovene pieces to a very re-
8
ceptive audience. The nineteen works featured in the first concert included
those by Uroš Rojko (Ottoki for wind quintet), Marko Mihevc (Wind Quin-
tet), Janez Matičič (Ondulacije for string quartet), Larisa Vrhunc (Dve ljud-
ski temi for violin and piano), Nenad Firšt (O mejah, ki so ostale) and Tomaž
Svete (Piano Sonata). With the high standard of performance and sympa-
thetic audience, it set an excellent model to follow in subsequent seasons.
In addition, central to the performance of many of the important
works are the excellent orchestras in Slovenia, especially the Slovenska fil-
harmonija and RTV Slovenija Symphony Orchestra, as well as the orchestra
of Maribor Opera who always seem to rise to the challenges presented to
them by Slovene composers. Difficult new works by Slovene composers cer-
tainly will have encouraged others to rely on the orchestral players to do
justice to their music. These would have included works by Milan Stibilj
(Orjana for two string orchestras, Elegija umirajočemu drevsu, Skladba for
piano and orchestra), Lojze Lebič (November Songs, Glasba za orkester –
7 See: Jurij Snoj. Portret skladatelja Janeza Matičiča (Ljubljana: Slovenska matica,
2012).
8 Hermina Kovačič, ed., 30 let Slovenskih glasbenih dnevov 1986–2015 (Ljubljana: Fes-
tival Ljubljana, 2015), 56–7.

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