Jolana Havelková & Lucie Vítková
Návrh na změnu partitury
LOM

This experimental CD has been laying around my desk for a while. Sorry for that. The Czech ladies Jolana Havelková and Lucie Vítková are two artists who have created this piece of musical art entitled 'Proposal for an Alteration of the Score'. Their work is an allusion to František Kmoch, a 19th century (1848-1912) composer (folk music, brass band music, etc) who lived in the Czech Republic city of Kolín (some 55 km east from Prague). Prepare yourself for something completely different. Way off, far, far away.

Jolana Havelková has created new interpretations of Kmoch's works and turned them into graphic scores. Havelková (a contemporary visual artist, an experimental photographer, and a curator; she focuses on conceptual photography, deals with minor interventions into the environment, in the mail-art, as well as experimental and musical projects) and Vítková, (a contemporary composer, performer and musician, have de-fragmented and re-created the scores, and these new compositions have been transformed, structured, re-structured, de-structured, and turned into new improvised forms and components of sound. These recordings were played, performed and recorded by Lucie, on accordion, piano, organ, organ noise, piano, accordion, harmonica, environmental sounds, sheet of tin (!), lawn mower (!), and voice, at different places, and locations - each somehow relating to Kmoch's life (and in that case also related to the city of Kolín). The final result is a minimalistic, contemporary art (music) project. It is a collection of rustic, pastoral, naked, sparse, mystic, slow, gently flowing sounds, tones and chants. This is a suitable soundtrack for a dimmed, dark. moist, humid room. Or maybe a cellar. Cellar songs. A bit claustrophobic, maybe. But also a bit exciting as well. Like in chilling. Almost horrifying. Návrh na změnu partitury is an esoteric collection of songs.

PS! The CD comes with a neat A3 booklet containing the graphic scores of the works as well as an extensive description of the project. You can also download photos and scores from the recording of the album to dig deeper into it. If you're tempted.

Copyright © 2014 Håvard Oppøyen