B-A-G-D-A-D

The music of Milos Raickovich is political, or, more precisely, it carries an antiwar message. He writes moving music, at times purposely naive, at times horrifying. The pieces range from the meditative and minimalist (Little Peaceful Music) to spiritual (Parastos--an Eastern Orthodox Requiem); from dramatic (B-A-G-D-A-D) to documentary (United States, Stop the War!); from ritualistic (Litany of Iraq) to symbolic (Alarm). The CD is titled after a piece, B-A-G-D-A-D, Music on a six-note theme. The composer explains, "This work is a musical dedication to the ancient city, Baghdad. The name of this capital (spelled the European way, without the letter H) is used as a musical theme made of six notes: B-flat, A, G, D, A, D." Milos Raickovich has lived and worked in Belgrade, Paris, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Hiroshima and New York. He studied composition with Olivier Messiaen and David Del Tredici, and has taught at several universities in the U.S. and Japan. The Los Angeles Times critic Mark Swed describes Raickovich's music as "a unique postmodern response to both minimalism and multiculturalism."