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The Slavko Osterc Ensemble (1961–1981): The Principal Promoter of the Creativity …
was at the latter that Petrić premiered by far the largest number of new Slo-
vene compositions. Numerous works by Slovene composers also received
their premiere performances at the Music Biennale Zagreb, at which the
Ensemble appeared regularly between 1963 and 1975 (only missing the 1973
edition). It also appeared at the BEMUS festival in Belgrade (1972), the NO-
MUS festival in Novi Sad (1976) and the SIMC festival in Ljubljana (1970).

Recordings for radio and television
The Ensemble deserves particular credit for its many recordings for radio
and television stations at home and abroad. As well as the studios of RTV
Ljubljana, the Slavko Osterc Ensemble visited almost all the other radio
and television studios of the former Yugoslavia. The list of recordings out-
side Yugoslavia is also extensive. Almost every visit to West Germany in-
cluded a recording for Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln. In January 1970 the
Ensemble was invited to Vienna, where it appeared at a concert organised
by broadcaster ORF and the Austrian Composers’ Association. Recordings
made during this visit were released on an album in the Österreichische
Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts series. Another reason why the number of ra-
dio, television and studio recordings (particularly for the Jugoton label) is
so high is that these recordings represented an important source of income
for the Ensemble, used to cover the costs of touring. An example of this is
the Ensemble’s recording of works by the German composer Dietrich Erd-
mann (1970–2009), the co-founder of the Arbeitskreis für Neue Musik at the
Berlin University of the Arts.

Reviews in domestic and foreign media

The majority of critics both at home and abroad gave very positive assess-
ments of performances by the Slavko Osterc Ensemble, with occasional res-
ervations about the choice of programme. Critics praised the “technical
15
and interpretational merits” of the Ensemble, while an unsigned report
from the fifth Music Biennale Zagreb entitled “Brez promašene skladbe”
states that “the excellent Slavko Osterc Ensemble from Ljubljana captivat-
ed the audience not only with its high-quality performances, but also with
16
its well-chosen programme.” A telling comment is offered by the Slovene
composer and critic Ubald Vrabec, who writes that the Ensemble was

15 Vjestnik, 16 January 1964.
16 Anon., “Brez promašene skladbe,” 21 May 1969.

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