After his exciting journey into the musical tradition of Eastern Europe (Journey East), the Baroque soundscapes of J.S. Bach (Bach), the Russian melodies of P.I. Tchaikovsky (Tchaikovsky), Nemanja Radulovic now embarks on a musical journey through the Orient – from Armenian reality to Persic daydream.

This Oriental album includes a newly arranged Scheherazade as well as Khachaturian‘s highly virtuosic Violin Concerto.

Nemanja’s a personal approach when creating an album is essential. The Serbian word “Baïka” translates to “tale” or “fairytale” and was chosen by him personally, because everything on this album feels like “Baïka” to him.

Commissioned for Nemanja’s ensemble Double Sens, Serbian composer and arranger Aleksandar Sedlar revisited the fate of Scheherazade, queen and storyteller of One Thousand and One Nights. His composition is based on the Scheherazade Suite op.35 by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and intriguingly recounts tales and treasures from the centuries-old epos.

To record Aram Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto Nemanja chose the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sascha Goetzel, a pairing that already follows a successful collaboration on stage. The beautiful concerto is performed and recorded very rarely, which may be blamed on its virtuosity. Nemanja is considered as the current specialist of this work, adding a very personal and individual interpretation.

The Borusan and its conductor brilliantly complement his approach with their own dynamics and give the work that particular oriental flavour Nemanja wanted to reach with his recording. The album includes another masterpiece by Khachaturian, which is the Trio for clarinet, violin and piano. The link between the Violin Concerto and the Trio is obvious, as the clarinet also holds a prominent place in the concerto. As with the above recordings, Nemanja chose to record the trio with accomplices with whom he likes to perform on stage – the clarinetist Andreas Ottensamer and the pianist Laure Favre-Kahn.

To complete this recording, Nemanja chose to also work with Aleksandar Sedlar not as an arranger only, but as a composer: Savcho III is the transcription of a movement of the concerto for saxophone and orchestra for Nemanja and Double Sens, with traditional and festive melodies.