Kalemegdan Disk - ROCK FROM EASTERN EUROPE

Tracklist

Side A

1. Veliki Mješoviti Orkestar Kazališta “Komedija”: Uvertira 3:34
2. Marijan Kašaj, Tomislav Borić, Zbor Kazališta “Komedija”: Legenda o Dori Arlandovoj 5:33
3. Miro Ungar: Mogaićeva molba 2:28
4. Đani Šegina, Sanda Fideršeg i Vlado Kovačić: U tahyjevom zamku 3:59
5. Josipa Lisac, Marijan Kašaj, Branko Blaće i Zbor Kazališta “Komedija”: Janino ludilo 7:05

Side B

1. Josipa Lisac i Zbor Kazališta “Komedija”: Ave Maria 4:14
2. Boris Pavlenić i Vlado Kovačić: Pijanci 5:15
3. Branko Blaće, Zbor Kazališta “Komedija”: Gupčeva zakletva maču 6:23
4. Zbor Kazališta “Komedija”: Finale 4:25
Bonus:
5. Josipa Lisac i Miro Ungar: Ljubavna pjesma 4:02

Full album without bonus at YouTube

Croatia Records Release Information

Half a century after its premiere performances, “Gubec-beg”, the first Yugoslavian rock opera and the immortal masterpiece of Ivica Krajač, Karlo Metikoš and Miljenko Prohaska, which changed the history of Yugoslavian music, returns as a deluxe reissue on 180-gram golden vinyl.

The release features excerpts from the original performance by the Komedija Theatre choir and orchestra, remastered from the original tape recordings. It comes with a lavish 8-page booklet featuring previously unpublished photographs by Marko Čolić and an essay by music critic Zoran Tučkar, offering a contemporary perspective on the significance and legacy of this cult work. The release also includes a code for downloading MP3 versions of the songs.

The album features some of the opera’s most famous songs, such as “Ave Maria”, “Gupčeva zakletva maču” (Gupčev’s Oath to the Sword), “Janino ludilo” (Jana’s Madness) and “Ljubavna pjesma” (Love Song), which on this release appears as a bonus track performed by Josipa Lisac and Mira Ungar. “Ljubavna pjesma” went on to enjoy a life and great popularity outside the context of the show itself.

Zoran Tučkar wrote, among other things, the followingin in a note about the release: “Some will write that “Gubec-beg” is the fifth rock opera in the world. That’s not so important; what matters is the music, the interpretation, the lyrics, which are all of a high standard in turn, and which has remained to this day one of the most significant productions of the Komedija Theatre. What matters is that the tenets of rock and opera are respected: vocally, Josipa Lisac, Branko Blaće, Marijan Kašaj and the other singers perform with confidence, spontaneity, energy, maturity and power. A middle-aged Josipa sings the aria “Ave Maria”, with vocal nuances like Aretha Franklin, mistakenly born in Zagreb. Josipa’s close proximity to Ivo and Karl’s creative process helped in interpreting the ideas.

One of the most demanding arias in “Gubec-beg” is “Janino ludilo” (Jana’s Madness), which required a great deal of “edgy” singing, on the verge of a whisper, on the verge of a scream, the interpreter was required to blend singing and acting, and to modulate the emotional expression in their interpretation, from restrained to pronounced. “I asked myself, “How is Jana mad?” and I had no answer. I thought… How does a woman feel after such a shock, when her boyfriend has been killed? She wasn’t mad; she was composed, traumatised, angry, furious. At a later stage, she lost her bearings. I remembered the paintings of Claude Monet and William Turner, and I wanted to express with my voice that impression I had when I was looking at their paintings,” Josipa Lisac emphasised on the occasion of this reissue.”

Created by the masterful trio of composer Metikoš, librettist Krajčak and arranger Prohaska, and produced by the Komedija Theatre, the rock opera “Gubec-beg” set new standards for domestic production. Inspired by the Peasants’ Revolt of 1573 the play premiered on 5 March 1975 at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall, where it was subsequently performed hundreds of times. “Gubec-beg” also recorded numerous performances for audiences at home and abroad – in Italy, Hungary and the USSR, where the production was seen by around a million people.

The album was remastered by Mauro Širol (Croatia Records Studio), while the lacquer cut of the album was done at London’s Abbey Road Studio by Sean Magee. Darko Kujundžić is responsible for the artwork of the reissue.