THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MEMORY

When the Croatian rock-singer and the composer Karlo Metikos died, regrettably, as still a very young man, a considerable void ensued. Mainly in the life of the pop, jazz and rock singer Josipa Lisac, who achieved her greatest hits precisely with his inspiration, especially her outstanding stage performances in his rock opera "Gubec-beg". But at the same time, the same void ensued in the Croatian musical productiveness, since this was the death of the author of such splendid artistic accomplishments like - besides the rock operas "Gubec-beg" and "Gricka vjestica" ("The witch from the Gric hill") - the songs "Dok razmisljam o nama" ("While I'm thinking about us") or the anthological "Magla" ("The fog"), as well as the cult album "Dnevnik jedne ljubavi" (The diary of one love").

The question arose: How to give tribute to the composer KARLO METIKOS? While going over his vocal and vocally-scenic exploits, one becomes aware of the exceptional depth and uniqueness of his music and grasps that it hides in itself the dimensions of the valuable expressions that have not been shown so far. That fact encouraged the thought that his music should blend in the symphonic tissue of the big orchestra and precisely that uncovered the new and until that point hidden dimensions of METIKOS' work.  And even though Metikos himself successfully collaborated with the top jazz and rock orchestrators such as Miljenko Prohaska, a new arranger and composer of the classical music, IGOR KULJERIC, appeared, himself being an accomplished expert in the symphonic sound and the way music is conceived of. In his sonic visions, the compositions of KARLO METIKOS gained the whole new musical shape. With his strong authorship, KULJERIC found the special version of symphonic rock, bearing in mind at the same time the distinctive uniqueness of JOSIPA LISAC's vocal interpretations. In some of his remakes he brought in the chorus, thusly producing the strong tableaus, especially in the scenes from the rock opera "Gubec-beg".

The vocal capabilities of JOSIPA LISAC and the composing experience of IGOR KULJERIC produced a program of the most monumental impression, performed in front of the ecstatic audience in the Zagreb's "Vatroslav Lisinski" concert hall, on December 10, 1994, repeated with the same vigor at the beginning of this year. The voice of JOSIPA LISAC climbs the tissue of KULJERIC'S symphonic sound like the wave hits the shore; with their capabilities the music of KARLO METIKOS got the new end even fuller expression. With that program-tribute to KARLO METIKOS, whose first performance is permanently saved on this discographic edition, the tribute to one of the most talented composers of the modern Croatian music was shown in the most beautiful fashion - the composer whose unwavering, in fact, noble tuneful thoughts expose the essence and the beauty of the sang word in the most authentic way.

NENAD TURKALJ