Manja Ristić / Giovanni Di Domenico – Alinea
1. Lune Di Giove, Part 1 (9:39)
2. Lune Di Giove, Part 2 (6:26)
3. Lune Di Giove, Part 3 (8:02)
4. Fantasmi Appiccicosi, Part 1 (5:05)
5. Fantasmi Appiccicosi, Part 2 (5:42)
6. Fantasmi Appiccicosi, Part 3 (4:49)
7. Fantasmi Appiccicosi, Part 4 (6:10)
· Manja Ristić: violin, objects, electronics, field recordings
· Giovanni Di Domenico: piano
All music by Manja Ristić & Giovanni Di Domenico (SABAM)
Recorded at various locations across Korčula island, Croatia and at Studio W in Brussels, Belgium between May 2020 and February 2021
Edited, mixed and mastered by Giovanni Di Domenico
Liner notes by Ksenija Stevanović
Cover artworks by Lazar Marković (Untitled #1 & #2, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 35×50 cm)
Graphic design by László Szakács
Produced by László Juhász
In the past two pandemic years we have experienced turmoil that has in a way redefined our relationship towards the human community as such. Our social skills and our ability to share the time and space with others have been seriously crippled, and in some instances made redundant. We have enclosed ourselves in safe spaces, usually in family units, stopped extensive travelling and meetings. The physicality of existence and of being with others changed to encompass different sanitary dispositives such as masks. The barriers were built and maintained. We have become voluntarily isolated and socially incoherent, except in the realm of digital communication. There, a great progress has been made to facilitate new modes of living together through data and streaming. We became digital creatures more than ever before. Safe maybe, but not quite.
In the domain of experimental, improvised and electronic music remote collaborations have been “de rigueur” for many years now. Like-minded people tend to create together with the help of technology from our server and cloud based world. In this sense, while the pandemic has changed the way we communicate, in this specific corner of our human creative universe, artists used already established “concert-less” spaces to make, interrogate, publish and cooperate. In other words, they tried to be with one another through listening and sharing their artistic thoughts and sounds. To breathe the same sounding time.
Listening to Alinea, it seems that we are in the middle of a conversation between Manja and Giovanni. We feel a strong spiritual bond between them which is forged by their collaborations and playing together for many years now. The closeness and understanding between their musical minds is palpable and real. There is a keen sense of trust between the artists and between them and the audience.
This is why the sound world of Alinea envelops the listener into a tight, friendly embrace from the very beginning. Manja and Giovanni merge their respective sound worlds fluidly, yet we can discern them individually. While Giovanni’s piano forms a sometimes rhythmical, sometimes lyrical pillar for every track, Manja’s violin swirls around, answers to its motivic calls, multiplies its lines, gives new trajectories and propels it to move and to grow. And yet, in the background of it all, there are field recordings of water, sea, nature, human voices and movements, rain, birds, storm, insects, small accidental noises – the sound of everyday life and surroundings, whose effervescent mystery is delicately captured. As we know, Manja Ristić works with the materiality of sound in her oeuvre, manipulating it and putting it in a wider musical, conceptual and political context. Usually she communicates with these snippets of captured lived time with the help of violin, as her inner, abstract and lyrical voice. Therefore on Alinea, we actually have three layers of conversation: between soundscapes and violin, between their “ensemble” and piano, and between all of them at once. This is why the interplay between them feels fluid and seamless, allowing for a deep, exciting and ever changing listening experience. And yet, if we are thinking of Alinea as a whole, we are experiencing something akin to a wave, that starts in the relative sparsity and grows to a strong energy pulsation, before returning to the slippery, watery calmness of its emerging sounds.
Alinea within its abstract and lyrical narrative is best understood as a sound letter between friends who are separated by real and lived distance. Its epistolary nature runs deep. The little offerings of everyday life that they give each other, invite us to participate, to meditate on the fragility of existence in these uncertain times of pandemic giving away to yet another brutal war. Alinea is a small island of peace in this unsettling moment of many unknowns and maybe the emotional essence of this recording is what we all should strive for – to be with people we love, however far or close they are, and to ask them how they are faring in their everyday journey on this small and fragile planet.
Ksenija Stevanović
April 2022
Released: October 2022 / first edition of 300 cds
Direct purchase: Bandcamp / Discogs
REVIEWS ↓
“There is something deeply immersive, hypnotic, and often haunting about these original classical compositions. Ristić and Di Domenico’s performances on piano, violin, and more are sensitive, nuanced, and empathic. And the compositions themselves beautifully portray how it feels to be caught in the constant currents of life flowing all around and through us, sometimes weighing us down, sometimes buoying us up, always leaving us transformed.” / Dave Aftandilian, Bandcamp
“V Tolpi bumov se tokrat zopet prepuščamo kuratorski roki v Ljubljani nastanjenega madžarskega ljubitelja eksperimentalne glasbe, založnika in promotorja Lászla Juhásza, skrbnika kataloga Inexhaustible Editions, ki redno nudi širok nabor iz mednarodnega bazena improvizatorjev in skladateljev takšne in drugačne žanrske eksperimentalne glasbe, predvsem v razponu med prosto improvizacijo in sodobno komponirano glasbo. Plošča Alinea, ki se ji posvečamo tokrat, je izšla na prvi dan oktobra lani in nam predstavlja sodelovanje med dvema glasbenikoma iz, recimo temu, širše lokalne geografije.
Giovanni Di Domenico je italijanski pianist, izvorno iz Rima, delujoč v Bruslju, Manja Ristić pa je violinistka in mojstrica terenskega snemanja, razpeta med srbsko prestolnico in hrvaškim otokom Korčulo. Oba na Radiu Študent poznamo, gotovo najbolje iz specializiranih oddaj o glasbi. Manja je bila sicer kot ustvarjalka s širšega področja Balkana v zadnjih petih letih tu deležna več pozornosti; med drugim smo leta 2020 v Tolpi bumov predstavili njeni dve izdaji Water for Fire in the naked flame trembles in an empty room, spoznavali pa smo jo tudi v kontekstih projektnega sodelovanja z lokalnimi promotorji, predvsem zavodom za procesiranje sodobne umetnosti CONA. Giovanni, na drugi strani, je mednarodno močneje uveljavljen igralec, ki se lahko pohvali s sodelovanji z nekaterimi velikani sodobne eksperimentalne glasbe, med drugim z Nateom Wooleyjem, Arvom Henriksenom, Jimom O’Rourkom, Okjung Li in Tošimarujem Nakamuro. Tukajšnjih odrov v daljšem obdobju, kolikor nam je znano, žal ni videl, premoremo pa v arhivih tehle valov besedilo Tolpe bumov iz prvih dni leta 2018, ko smo predstavili njegovo solistično ploščo Insalata Statica, ki jo še vedno prav radostno priporočamo.
Alinea je plošča oddaljenega sodelovanja, torej dela na daljavo, kakršnega specifike spremni tekst k plošči povezuje s postkovidnim stanjem sveta, predvsem odtujevanja digitalno neposredovanih družbenih odnosov. V odsotnosti omenjenega spremnega besedila bi sicer težko interpretirali káko homogeno pomensko linijo idej, vključenih v ploščo. Tematiziranje postkovidnih konkretnih in simbolnih distanc je tu sicer, tako se zdi, bolj naključna opazka, izrečena v kontekstu metode nastanka plošče. Kot namreč nakaže tudi samo besedilo, so glasbeni ustvarjalci takšnih dinamik komunikacije ob ustvarjanju vajeni že dolgo, pravzaprav jih s pridom izkoriščajo. Naslova dveh sklopov skladb, Lune Di Giove oziroma Jupitrove lune in Fantasmi Appiccicosi oziroma Lepljivi duhovi, namigujeta vsak v svojo smer, a vsekakor brez tematske linije, prav tako je sam naslov Alinea, hja, pač, a-linijski, v vsem skupaj vsekakor protilinijski, najverjetneje kar čista estetika – lep, fino zveneč, alter.
Vrnimo se torej mimo promocijskih besedil k metodi ustvarjanja. Giovanni in Manja, ki se poznata že dolgo, sta ploščo v celoti posnela na daljavo. Glede na odnos med naslovi teh kosov in samo zgradbo glasbe Alinea deluje kot pretežno Giovannijevo skladateljsko delo oziroma njegovi klavirski parti delujejo kot temelji, okoli katerih vijugajo, zijajo in pihajo Manjine violine, pretežno v ozadju pa ves čas sem ter tja šetajo prav tako njeni številni terenski posnetki, drobni zvoki in šumi predmetov. Klavirske osnove so nastavljene kot minimalistični razvoji repetitivnih fraz, ki niso pretirano izvirne in tudi ne vpadljive, slonijo predvsem na drami občutij samotnega, distanciranega, odrezanega hrepenenja, vsekakor prej kot nostalgičnih skominov. Di Domenicov pianizem tu spominja na improvizacije za solo klavir Giacinta Scelsija, čeprav je manj solipsističen, manj duhaboječe posvečen sam vase. Vzdušje plošče tako z vsemi plastmi godalnega patosa in razosebljenih, nevtralnih šumov okolja v najboljšem deluje samostansko kontemplativno, če že ne Pärtovsko sveto, razvleče pa se tudi v prav turobno. In čeprav obe kompoziciji z razvojem in na trenutke tudi gostim nasnemavanjem zaznamujejo gibanja v tempu in dinamiki, ves čas vzdržujeta monoton ton, ne prehajata, kvečjemu se vračata in vračata. In vračata.
Oba ustvarjalca na Alinei vsekakor demonstrirata lastne kapacitete. Oba šolana glasbenika in v določeni meri vsekakor virtuoza svojih inštrumentov sta tukaj predvsem ambiciozna, vendar morda njuna ambicija ob tokratni demonstraciji ne seže zares onkraj materiala. Ostane zgolj vzdušje, in to ima tudi lahko svoj čas in svoje mesto.” / Žiga Pucelj, Radio Študent, 11 February 2023
“Very lovely, kind of (neo)neo-classical duets between Manja Ristić (violin, objects, electronics, field recordings) and Giovanni Di Domenico (piano), quite atmospheric, sometimes languid. I’ve been listening to and enjoying a great deal of Ristić’s work over the past couple of years – this is an excellent addition.” / Brian Olewnick, Facebook, 31 March 2023
“Alinea offers a series of remote musical conversations between Serbian violinist and sound artist Manja Ristić and Giovanni Di Domenico, recorded at various locations across Korčula island in Croatia and at Studio W in Brussels between May 2020 and February 2021. Still, the strong spiritual and mutual trust forged by their collaborations and playing together for many years now is felt throughout this album.
The album offers two suites, the three-part ‘Lune Di Giove’ (Moons Of Jupiter) and the four-part ‘Fantasmi Appiccicosi’ (Sticky Ghosts). In both suites, Ristić and Di Domenico merge their distinct sound worlds fluidly. Di Domenico’s playing is quite reserved, anchoring each part with sometimes rhythmical, sometimes lyrical lines. Ristić’s violin playing, augmented with objects, electronics and field recording that introduce the sounds of everyday life and its surroundings, is more sound-oriented and free-associative. She expands the interplay with multiphonics that answer motivic calls, give new trajectories and propel it to move and to grow. Eventually, her sonic contributions put the music in a wider musical, conceptual and political context that invites us to meditate on the fragility of existence in the uncertain times of the pandemic that later gave away to yet another brutal war, as musicologist Ksenija Stevanović noted in her liner notes. Therefore, Alinea suggests a multidimensional interplay – between nature and urban soundscapes and Ristić’s violin, between their ‘ensemble’ and Di Domenico’s piano, and between all of them at once, and offers a peaceful musical oasis that emphasizes, again, the importance of being with our loved ones, however far or close they are.” / Eyal Hareuveni, Salt Peanuts*, 16 May 2023
RADIO PLAYS ↓
· The Institute Of Spectra-Sonic Sound at Spectra-Sonic Sound, Eugene, 21 January 2023
· Tolpa Bumov at Radio Študent, Ljubljana, 11 February 2023
· Godbeni Imperializem at Radio Študent, Ljubljana, 26 January 2023
· Hudobná mozaika at Rádio Devín, RTVS – Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska, Bratislava, 6 November 2023