Cantus Ansambl - Ivana Kiš, Hrvatski Suvremeni Skladatelji (2022)

The drum and fanfare beginning of Ivana Kiš’s album heralds the exciting, interesting and challenging music that this author has chosen from her compositional opus thus far, which consists of solo, chamber, orchestral and musical-stage works, mainly commissioned compositions or made in collaboration with the performers. This truly compelling oeuvre was already sealed by her master diploma work from 2001, Concerto for saxophone and orchestra Acrobat in Love, proposed and mentored by her professor, the now late academic Marko Ruždjak, whose sound and compositional manners will also mark the following period of her studies in the Netherlands. Her study in the Netherlands left the most significant mark on Kiš and shaped her compositional habitus and later repertoire. By emigrating to Israel, where she still lives and works, a recognizable topos appears, a somewhat red line emerges in her opus which, regardless of the compositional structure or form, we follow in her works till this day. That topos consists of stories and characters, real or fantasy. This non-musical catalyst of musical material can often be identified from the titles, which themselves arouse the listener’s interest. This feature is common of several works on this CD. Supertramp´s Journal, Rosa’s Way Home, One and Galliot are related to a character, a real or fictional personality. Other scores bring a rich, mostly chordal sound, or are refreshed by a strong rhythmic element that is often dominant in her music from the listener’s perspective. However, the compositions presented on this album were not selected to be thematically unified, nor do they form a linear chronological presentation of the composer’s oeuvre, which the author confirms, explaining: “I was looking for compositions that build on each other dramatically, character-wise or emotionally; or create a contrast if necessary. My intention is to make this album interesting as a whole, to bring the listeners a new sound or stick to the old one, according to the aesthetic need.” Precisely this aesthetic is what remains intact, along with the recognizable characteristics of Kiš’s approach, which mutually recede and reappear, depending on the chosen character, shaped gesture and desired energy (which this music abounds in).