Arsenije Jovanović / Ivana Stefanović ‎- Concerto Grosso Balcanico / Lacrimosa (1993)

Shared release between two Serbian composers, who have previously been posted here in their own right - Jovanović with an untitled collection, and Stefanović with Inner Landscape. According to the liner notes, both were asked in the Spring of 1993 to produce a piece for Austrian radio, as they "were among the most renowned radio artists in Europe."  What they brought with them were immediate and raw first-hand experiences of Yugoslavia's turbulent last days; as Jovanović noted, "There is an inevitable link to the war still being waged as I write this."

Jovanović's 16-minute Concerto Grosso Balcanico sets out a peaceful, rural scene at first, with bells, birds and sheep, but very quickly introduces tenser elements of an ominous clatter and then an electronic layer that comes on like a distant helicopter.  Barking dogs introduce a rhythmic element as some sped-up tapes enter, and the piece becomes progressively more ominous until the unmistakable sound of gunfire dominates the final minutes.

Gunshots are also the first sound used in Stefanović's 25-minute Lacrimosa, which then unfolds as a much more musical piece, albeit heavily collaged.  Samples of Requiem music from Pergolesi, Mozart, Penderecki and Britten are mixed with documentary tapes from the streets of Sarajevo in May 1992.  As Stefanović remembered: "They were all together for the last time: Serbs, Muslims and Croats."  After a final social gathering, with a poignant exchange of Shaloms, the piece ends on a plaintive acapella song.  Both these pieces are deeply affecting in their material and background story, are superbly recorded and arranged, and will definitely stay with you after listening.  Highly recommended.

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pw :sgtg

Ivana Stefanović - Inner Landscape (1996 compi of works 1979-1992)

Handy three-work intro to Serbian composer Ivana Stefanović (b. 1948 in Belgrade), who studied at IRCAM in Paris before starting work at Radio Belgrade, where she founded a Sound Workshop in 1985.  She's frequently described as a primarily radiophonic composer (the CD booklet uses the phrase multiple times), so we'll go for that as the category for this fascinating album.

First up is Interpretation Of A Dream (1983/4) for solo flute, tape and female speaking voices.  Starting out with pure flute tones, the piece quickly goes a bit Maggi Payne with the effects, before introducing urgent whispered voices a la Homotopy-era NWW - the more percussive noises of the flute and other odd, echoing sounds also have a bit of Stapletonian feel.  The voices in this unsettling dream recount fragments of The Poet's Prayer by Vesna Krmpotić and Rosa Luxemburg's Letters From Prison.  The second work, Whither With A Bird In The Palm (1979/80), for percussion and tape, has a similarly dark atmosphere, sometimes recalling the Bartok Adagio made famous by Stanley Kubrick (in The Shining) and others.  The great range of percussive sounds is bit like a tape-manipulated reduction of that Yoshihiro Kanno album I posted a little while ago.

The most epic work is saved for last - 32 minutes of Metropolis Of Silence/Ancient Ras (1991/2), described as a radiophonic sound poem.  According to the sleevenotes, "This composition was taped in the recording studio after a year of field research of live sound fossils etched into the remnants of the medieval Serbian town of Ras and its surroundings."  After opening with sounds of nature, the sonic landscape comes to life with the voices of the Renaissance Ensemble, who performed vocal and musical improvisations in the open spaces of the town remnants and the Sopoćani and Crna Reka monasteries.  Fascinating stuff to listen to on headphones, with the extended length letting the concept really take effect, before it all ends by a flowing river.

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