ProgrammesArchive

includes: J.S.Bach Goldberg variations 6:09 min, origin unknown, "It is no recital at all". 12 min a 8 min - fragment from the sound mini workshop at The Fine Art Academy Brno. includes voice and sounds by Filip Nerad and Monika Fricova.
recorded, composed and edited by Ladislav Zelezny. member of the lemurie brotherhood

"Sofielseelend" is based on a series of field recordings we made earlier this winter inside the ruins of Vienna´s "Sofiensäle" ["Sofie"]. This bourgeois assembly hall was originally built in the 1840s - used as a swimming pool, concert hall, ballroom, recording studio and theatre, as a venue for political congresses and non-political clubbings. "Sofie" burned down in 2001 under still unsolved circumstances. Carelessly neglected since then, her ruins now provide a derelict picture of her past, replacing her historically-charged atmosphere with an environment of silent decay.

Not completely silent, though. Located in Marxergasse, just a few steps away from Vienna´s centre, "Sofie" represents a sonic blankspace, isolated and fenced off – nevertheless, since her walls broke down, her roof collapsed, the borders between the inside and the outside are beginning to blur. "Sofie" involuntarily opened herself to the surrounding city life, street sounds infiltrate the building, swallowed and damped.

On the one hand our field recordings aimed at capturing "Sofie´s" acoustical presence. On the other hand they are also results of us consciously intervening in her surroundings. The recording process can therefore be described as a shifting between pure documentation – leaving sounds as they are - and active intrusion – treating and instrumentalizing found objects, spaces and conditions as musical material.

Much of the recorded sound material derived from an old grand piano we discovered left behind in the former ballroom – an arduously belted setting of rusted chords and broken keys, its body full of rubble and water. In its deserted and half-destroyed state the grand piano perfectly reflected the situation in which it was embedded, unveiling an ensemble of sounds and noises, more than slightly out of tune, where every single expression seemed to comment on its very own historical background, a sonic symbol of blooming decay.

After recording we rearranged and recomposed the field recordings on the computer. "Sofielseelend" was structured more like a film – with different scenes alternating, each of them presenting one sound-family as a protagonist. A couple of texts, spoken in Englisch and German, were supplemented – all oft them referring to "Sofie", though each from a different perspective.

Text: Lale Rodgarkia-Dara
Narrator: Wolfgang Pratl
Sound recording/editing: Maria Fuchs, Andreas Trobollowitsch, Johannes Tröndle

[jan-april 2006]

The sound material for this program was recorded during 3 impro sessions where program maker Fabrice Cesario (multi-effects, radio, tape, whistling tube and solo analog synthesizer) invited other fellows. At first he played with Olivier Maurel (cello, multi-effects, FM and HF radio). Then joined Andy Bolus (homemade audioswitch) and Erik Minkkinen (pitched voice, 80's electronic drum) - this 4-person band was named 'Phantom Power' for this occasion (Andy insisted). The last session was a set by 'Olga Tüdjnik': a duet with Eva Jacobi (voice, toys and sound files). The program is a result of an editing of this material (recorded at each time on multi-tracks) with parsimonious addition of Fabrice's solo performances.

Fabrice Cesario attempts to free music from the word 'free' - that has been a label among others which format and level music. He wants to put weight on the other scale of the machine.

About this program, Fabrice says: "My music happens at the very moment I'm making it. What you can perceive in this radio program is not exactly the music I made: it is an 'écorché' (a cutaway - litterally 'skinned' in French) in the same way you won't see life on anatomy boards." So, let's make it music anew by experiencing its listening!