BEST-OF-FIVE (2011)

As the title implies, BEST-OF-FIVE comprises five études. Each of the first four études is has its own particular principles of pitch organisation. The fifth and final étude represents a synthesis of the full range of structural principles employed in its predecessors. This in itself invites an analogy with a tennis match in five sets, in which all players are required to pull out all the stops in their repertoire in order to emerge victorious.

Alwyn Tomas Westbrooke

BEST-OF-FIVE, a set of études for organ, is the tenth in Žuraj’s series of musical works bearing titles from tennis nomenclature. A keen tennis player himself, Žuraj uses his own impressions and emotions in particular match-situations as the starting point for these compositions, although the finished compositions should not be seen as programmatic representations of the situations described by their respective titles. Instead, the titles are simply the initial germ of an idea, inspiration for what becomes an entirely independent piece of music.

As the title implies, BEST-OF-FIVE comprises five études. Each of the first four études is has its own particular principles of pitch organisation. The fifth and final étude represents a synthesis of the full range of structural principles employed in its predecessors. This in itself invites an analogy with a tennis match in five sets, in which all players are required to pull out all the stops in their repertoire in order to emerge victorious.

Alwyn Tomas Westbrooke