Željko Brkanović is certainly an interesting figure in the Croatian contemporary music. Melody as a distant or direct association of the folklore is a basis of his musical approach which absent - mindedly checks the development of composition's harmonic context. But it is exactly in this "stopped time" of tonality which, if one wanted to bring it closer to the well - known sources, can be compared to the works of Prokofiev, a part of opus of Stravinsky or Hindemith, that Željko Brkanović discovers the talent of original musicality, the ability to create work with a more prominent position in some fictitious anthology of music than a series of compositions written by the so - called masters of the Croatian classical music. Arguments for the claim can be found in the first place in the unity of Brkanović's form, idiosyncracy of the selected material and above all the interesting confrontation of the melodic archetype and its vertical sequence - the distinctive harmony with tonality which is sufficiently extended to please even the most contemporary musical expression. (Branko Magdić, Večernji list, 1982)
In 1991 the renowned composer Erhard Karkoschka commented on the music written by Željko Brkanović: "I have already encountered and learnd to appreciate his music at the concerts of the Zagreb Biennale. It is based on the skilled mastery of the traditional composing technique. What I noticed in particular is a differentiated use of instruments, which makes his orchestral works very interesting due to sudden shifts. In the same manner the formal structure and logically controlled lines always make a convincing impression."
Zeljko Brkanovic
Biography
Željko Brkanović is certainly an interesting figure in the Croatian contemporary music. Melody as a distant or direct association of the folklore is a basis of his musical approach which absent - mindedly checks the development of composition's harmonic context. But it is exactly in this "stopped time" of tonality which, if one wanted to bring it closer to the well - known sources, can be compared to the works of Prokofiev, a part of opus of Stravinsky or Hindemith, that Željko Brkanović discovers the talent of original musicality, the ability to create work with a more prominent position in some fictitious anthology of music than a series of compositions written by the so - called masters of the Croatian classical music. Arguments for the claim can be found in the first place in the unity of Brkanović's form, idiosyncracy of the selected material and above all the interesting confrontation of the melodic archetype and its vertical sequence - the distinctive harmony with tonality which is sufficiently extended to please even the most contemporary musical expression. (Branko Magdić, Večernji list, 1982)In 1991 the renowned composer Erhard Karkoschka commented on the music written by Željko Brkanović: "I have already encountered and learnd to appreciate his music at the concerts of the Zagreb Biennale. It is based on the skilled mastery of the traditional composing technique. What I noticed in particular is a differentiated use of instruments, which makes his orchestral works very interesting due to sudden shifts. In the same manner the formal structure and logically controlled lines always make a convincing impression."
(from hds.hr)