Boris Papandopulo - Symphony No. 2; Vrzino Kolo (Valentin Egel)

Information

Composer: Boris Papandopulo

• Symphony No. 2
• Vrzino Kolo (Witches' dance) for piano and orchestra

Emilia Rukavina, mezzo-soprano

Martina Filjak, piano

Rijeka Symphony Orchestra

Valentin Egel, conductor

Date: 2026

Label: CPO

_____________________

Boris Papandopulo’s orchestral writing unfolds at the intersection of ideological constraint and artistic self-definition in post-war Yugoslavia. The Second Symphony (1946) negotiates the demands of socialist realism not as submission, but as structure: a five-movement arc that stages a passage from darkness into illumination, interweaving newly composed material with reworked existing music to balance formal innovation with recognisable folk resonance. Rather than resolving the tension between “official” language and personal voice, the work stages it, allowing stylistic plurality to carry expressive meaning. In Vrzino kolo, composed twelve years later, that tension erupts into liberated orchestral imagination. Drawing on folkloric myth, Papandopulo constructs a volatile, sharply profiled sound world in which modernist language, rhythmic aggression, and orchestral excess converge. Read together, these works trace not a stylistic shift alone, but the gradual expansion of expressive permission within a changing cultural horizon.

Valentin Egel has established himself as a prominent figure in the younger generation of conductors, currently serving as General Music Director of the Croatian National Theatre Ivan pl. Zajc and the Rijeka Symphony Orchestra. Born in 1994 into a musical family, he was introduced early to the piano before pursuing orchestral conducting studies at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar under mentors such as Nicolás Pasquet and Gunter Kahlert. His career has been shaped by major competition successes, including the “Lovro von Matačić” and “Campus Conducting” prizes, as well as support from the German Conductors’ Forum. He has conducted leading European orchestras and appeared at major festivals such as the Savonlinna Opera Festival and the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, working with a wide range of soloists and ensembles. His trajectory reflects a rapid ascent marked by both artistic versatility and institutional leadership within the European orchestral landscape.

High Resolution 24-bit / 96 kHz