BORIS PAPANDOPULO (1906-1991): Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra No. 2, Sinfonietta for Strings, Op. 79, Pintarichiana for Strings.

Description: Born in Germany to a Russian aristocrat father of Greek ancestry and a Croatian opera-singer mother, Papandopulo became one of the most significant Croatian composers of the 20th century, with more than 450 compositions to his credit. Here we have a 28-minute Sinfonietta from 1938 with two sunny outer movements embracing a long Elegia which is fragrant with the vaguely "oriental" flavor of Balkan folk music and a 29-minute piano concerto from 1947 with a neo-baroque vigor in the opening movement and more folk music in the slow and final ones (specifically Bulgarian and Macedonian). Pintarichiana (1974) is a four-movement suite of orchestrated keyboard pieces by the little-known Croatian composer Fortunat Pintaric (1798-1867), mirroring Casella's Scarlattiana in its intent and its bright cheerfulness. Oliver Triendl (piano), Zagreb Soloists; Sreten Krstic.