Milica Djordjevic, Deutscher Musikrat, Edition Zeitgenossische Musik

The music of Milica Djordjevic? From the Deutscher Musikrat, Edition Zeitgenossische Musik (Wergo 6422 2) volume now available in the US and Canada,  we have a very kinetic-high modern expanded tonality program of a definite abstract ambiance. Performed by the Arditti Quartet and a distinguished cast of chamber musicians, the seven compositions take us far and wide into avant garde territory. This in the end is music beyond Darmstadt, a determined breaking out into the realm of energy and performativity.

A musically precocious childhood in Belgrade led to an interest in  theatre, painting, physics and in the end composition. Her music reflects biographical elements such as growing up in war-torn Serbia, the challenge of realizing a thoroughly immersive musical composition, the incorporation of failure into the final result, and the search for a wider palette of sound beyond conventional and typical extended techniques for instruments.  She is a complex soul and no brief and glib summary does her justice.

The music has an expressivity that to my ears aligns it as much to European New Music Improv as much as it settles into a concert high modernism. The wealth of content on the CD defies easy description. Suffice to say that there is an impressive depth and breadth to be heard, a fluid eloquence that marks Ms. Djordjevic as a highly talented artist who has embraced the new and found herself an original place within it.

A definite must for those seeking to understand and embrace new high modernist trends.