At the beginning of the 1960s, the Austrian writer Heimito von Doderer (1896–1966) wrote his since best-known novel Die Wasserfälle von Slunj. More than half a century later, in her 2nd Symphony ‘Bohinj’, his great-niece erected an artistic memorial to Lake Bohinj in Slovenia, around 300 km away from that Croatian natural beauty. “I was fascinated above all by the superb scenery. In the course of time, I found out what happened there during the First World War. In short, the idyll utters a silent scream. My three-movement work also touches on this sound.’

The issue as to whether women can compose music has been obsolete since Hildegard von Bingen’s work in the 12th century at the latest. With her work, Johanna Doderer fortunately stands above such criteria. She is commissioned with work and her work is performed because she and her music are appreciated. Even the fact that her musical diction is not in keeping with what is usually understood as ‘progressive’, need not bother her. In comparison with her youthful oeuvre, she has long discovered tonally coloured aesthetics that meet with broad acceptance in the repertoire.