2. THREE ROMANCES (1988) for violin and orchestra
Igor Frolov, violin

3. PRELUDE & FUGUE (1987)
for keyboard, version for 2 toy pianos (1993)
Margaret Leng Tan, 2 toy pianos (played simultaneously)

4. DREAM QUARTET (1986) for violin, viola, cello and piano
Ensemble Musica da Camera

5. SYMPHONY No.1 (1992)
Moscow Symphony Orchestra
Milos Raickovich, conductor


Yugoslavian born Milos Raickovich writes modern music in a new and accessibly appealing style which he calls New Classicism. New Classicism is, to quote Mark Swed from his insightful liner notes for the CD: "...neither ironic nor naive but is, instead, a unique postmodern response to both Minimalism and multiculturalism. It is surely possible to hear Schubert, Haydn or Rossini in Raickovich's "New Classicism"; but under Schubert, Haydn or Rossini lie Eastern European folk music, Minimalism, Messiaen, and, deeper still the Pacific Rim and its cultures. All are part of Raickovich's remarkable musical roots, but they operate in the background, nested like the windows on a computer screen.

Listen to Raickovich's Symphony No.1 with a modern ear, and out of those Schubertian patterns, patterns more akin to Philip Glass seem to magically pop out like hidden figures..."

Milos Raickovich was born in 1956 and began his musical studies in Belgrade. His college years were spent in Paris, taking Messiaen's composition classes at the Conservatoire. All the while he remained active in the Belgrade new music scene, forming his own ensemble inspired by American minimalist groups and helping to found the Belgrade Youth Philharmonic.

Raickovich moved to Los Angeles in 1981 and became active in the avant-garde Independent Composers Association while attending master classes in conducting with Herbert Blomstedt and studying film music at UCLA. In 1988, he moved to New York where he studied with David Del Tredici and received a Ph.D. in composition. In 1992, he taught in Hiroshima and studied the koto. Raickovich now lives in Brooklyn, New York.

The critically acclaimed Margaret Leng Tan performs his Prelude & Fugue, arranged especially for her to be performed on 2 toy pianos simultaneously. The orchestral works are superbly played by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra featuring the noted Russian violinist Igor Frolov.


REVIEWS:

"This is one of the strangest discs that I've heard all year. That's a compliment. Strongly recommended to both the informed and the unwary."
---Raymond Tuttle, Fanfare


MILOS RAICKOVICH: New Classicism
by Stephen D. Hicken
American Record Guide, November/December 1996

If you like new music that sounds like classical or early romantic music you’ll like Raickovich. His music is earnest and well-made. The Happy Overture is particularly good, and the Preludes and Fugues for toy piano is charming. The performances are quite good, and Mode’s sound is warm, with presence.


Related Resources:

Margaret Leng Tan on Mode:
Sonic Encounters (mode 15)
Sorceress of the New Piano, The Artistry of Margaret Leng Tan (mode 194)
John Cage: The Works for Piano 4 (mode 106)
                  The Piano Works 7 (mode 158)
George Crumb: Makrokosmos Books 1 and 2 (mode 142)
Milos Raickovich: Prelude & Fugue  (version for 2 Toy Pianos)
  (mode 45)

AMC's New Music Box magazine - Raickovich text
    published in September 2001

E-mail Milos Raickovich