#amindintheheart — Public Fediverse posts

Ivan Vukosavljević celebrates the birth of his daughter

In 2024, Ivan Vukosavljević released his CD Slow Roads with eight  works for organ solo. On his new album, a mind in the heart, the composer presents as many compositions for solo piano. In the CD booklet, we read that for a long time he could not relate to this ‘non-malleable instrument’ because of his preference for unusual timbres and harmonies.

Vukosavljević writes that in recent years, he has ‘relearned to appreciate traditionally conceptualized harmony’, whereupon ‘the piano in my apartment suddenly transformed from a piece of decorative furniture into a vessel of a new music within me’.

The eight piano pieces were written at a time when he became a father for the first time, which was ‘the most impactful event in my life so far’. He also embraced the ethos of the Orthodox Christian faith and its hymns, and experiences raising his daughter as ‘the highest spiritual confirmation of it’.

Love born from humility

The album is named after the first track, a mind in the heart (all titles are written in lowercase), a phrase he has carried with him for years. It describes the love he feels for his daughter, ‘born out of ‘humility’, which he sees as ‘a precondition for any spiritual endeavour’.

The piano opens with low, calm chords, which gradually shift to the treble and become louder and more dissonant. A low drone anchors the whole to the earth. The drone returns in the following tracks and is reminiscent of the low, sustained basses that are so characteristic of Orthodox chant.

In a citadel, the music becomes more melodious, with swirling motifs in the upper register against solid chords in the lower register. Here, too, the volume increases, the texture becomes fuller and the whole gradually shifts towards the treble.

Serbian Orthodox hymn

Ninia sili is a reinterpretation of an existing Serbian Orthodox hymn. A slow, dreamy melody in the upper register is contrasted with rapid turmoil in the lower register. Two themes seem to intertwine, like two parallel worlds.

In the other tracks, Vukosavljević develops a different element each time, but the overall tempo remains slow and rubato. This again betrays the affinity with Orthodox (and Gregorian!) chant, in which human breath determines the length of the phrase. The gradually rising and falling melodies are equally characteristic of this ancient music. Without exception, they are very accessible, but never ingratiating. 

These eight compositions are like études. Joana Gama performs them with great empathy, as if she herself were meditating. Her playing is transparent and reflective, the recording warm and spacious. Partly due to the predominantly modal nature of the music, the album exudes a soothing calm. One can imagine that Vukosavljević’s daughter thrives on this.

https://youtu.be/KXTmEUnGlog