Jaka Mihelač - Amarilli (2023) Hi-Res

ZKP RTV Slovenija, in cooperation with Radio Slovenija - ARS program and with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, publishes the album Amarilli, on which baritone Jaka Mihelač and classical guitarist Jure Cerkovnik, who also wrote all the arrangements, perform a widely established repertoire of solo songs by Slovenian composers, who they range from Benjamin Ipavac to Anton Lajovic and Lucijan Marija Škerjanc and bring to music the songs of Oton Župančič, Josip Murno, Cvetko Golar, Vojeslav Molé, Anton Aškerec and France Prešern, as well as a selection of popular Italian baroque arias (from G. Caccini to A. Scarlatti). also some extremely rarely heard tracks.

"If we consider Slovenian self-songs as a special genre, which is deeply embedded in the national memory and cultural heritage of Slovenia, the selected recordings provide an insight into the music of this country, the homeland of the two performers. The widely established repertoire of solo songs by composers ranging from Benjamin Ipavac to Anton Lajovic and Lucijan Marija Škerjanc forms the musical core of the program as an homage to the poetic-musical processes that characterized the period between the end of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. The setting of songs by Oton Župančič, Josip Murno, Cvetko Golar, Vojeslav Molé, Anton Aškerec and also France Prešeren consolidated the set of late romantic and impressionistic techniques that became characteristic of Slovenian soliloquies, focused on typical romantic poetic motifs such as moonlight, the moon, love and also a preoccupation with nature and its wonders. This time, however, the famous repertoire is dressed in a different acoustic outfit and presented for the first time as an arrangement for voice and classical guitar (replacing the piano); all adaptations were written by Jure Cerkovnik. The new instrumentation offers a more intimate sound and thus an innovative interpretation of traditionally stylized works, with which the aforementioned poetic topos acquire a new musical character. As a pillar of Slovenian art music, Slovenian solos are additionally intertwined with a selection of popular Italian baroque arias (from G. Caccini to A. Scarlatti) and songs, which includes some extremely rarely heard compositions. Among these, special attention should be paid to the rarely performed and recorded aria O morte gradita from the second act of the Roman religious opera Sant'Alessio by the Italian composer Stefano Landi from 1632/34 (based on the libretto by Giulio Rospigliosi), where the guitar takes over the general bass and violin medigo," musicologist Esma Cerkovnik wrote about the album.