Ľubomír Burgr

“The composing identity of Burgr is a result of the meeting of different worlds, and so (similar to Martin Burlas and Marián Varga) his musical activity exceeds genre boundaries. He is connected with theatre through the group Stoka /Sewer, with rock music through his own group Ali Ibn Rachid, and his ability to abstract from fashion trends and to follow the line of his own way of expression leads him to classical music. His music reflects more a polemical and relativistic aspect of contemporary work than the technological aspect, meaning, he focuses more on the values hidden behind layers rather than the means of expression. It connects him with the whole group of generationally close composers, but Burgr remains himself, somewhere half way between an intuitive and academically oriented composer, writing formal pieces in which the lyrical center is often veiled by allusions and contextual play. His theatrical songs and short musical pieces build in front of the listener a multidimensional world of references to artificial music, folk song, and chanson. The apparent direction toward mockery in them often rapidly turns to the opposite effect – a simple emotion revealed.”

(ZAGAR, Peter: Ľubomír Burgr. In: 100 slovenských skladateľov. Ed. Marián Jurík, Peter Zagar. Bratislava : Národné hudobné centrum, 1998, p. 57.)