Dorotea Dolenec is a young Croatian classical guitarist whose playing combines rhythmic bite with a natural feel for the folk idioms of her home region — which makes her an ideal advocate for the music in this video. She performs four of the Six Balkan Miniatures by Dušan Bogdanović on a Siccas Luthiers Recital Contemporary guitar: Jutarnje Kolo (Morning Dance), Žalopojka (Lament), Vranjanka and Makedonsko Kolo.
About the Six Balkan Miniatures
Bogdanović wrote the Six Balkan Miniatures in 1993, dedicating them to peace in his war-torn homeland. Each miniature distils a Balkan dance or song type into a compact concert piece: the kolo round dances with their driving asymmetrical metres, the long-breathed lament, the melismatic melodies of southern Serbia and Macedonia. The famous 'limping' rhythms of Balkan music — metres of 7/8, 9/8 and beyond — are the cycle's heartbeat, and they ask the player for a groove that cannot be faked.
The Miniatures have become modern classics of the repertoire because they achieve what folk-inspired concert music rarely manages: they sound authentically of their tradition while being perfectly idiomatic for the guitar. Our Bogdanović repertoire guide places them in the context of his larger output.
About Dušan Bogdanović
Dušan Bogdanović, born in Belgrade in 1955, is one of the most original voices writing for the guitar today. Guitarist and composer in equal measure, he has built a musical language that fuses Balkan folk tradition, jazz improvisation and Renaissance counterpoint — a synthesis he has also explored in influential theoretical writings on polyrhythm and polymetre. He has taught at the Geneva Conservatory and the San Francisco Conservatory, and his works are played and recorded worldwide.
The Guitar: Siccas Luthiers Recital Contemporary
The Recital Contemporary from our Siccas Luthiers line combines a double-top soundboard with lattice bracing — modern construction aimed at projection and fast response. Music built on sharp rhythmic attacks and quick dynamic contrasts, like these Miniatures, shows exactly what that design delivers. The instrument is available in our shop, and our article on fan-braced, double-top and lattice guitars explains the construction background.
Watch the Performance
For more contemporary repertoire, browse our overview of famous classical guitar pieces.
