148 149 DVD | Books
Sounds and Silence Travels with Manfred Eicher A Film by Peter Guyer and Norbert Wiedmer Multi_lingual original version, subtitles German, English, French, 87 min. <strong>ECM</strong> 5050 DVD 2769886 Blu_ray 2769887 The film is not merely pro<strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong> Eicher’s refusal to accept the limits <strong>of</strong> generic “borders” in music; it’s also a revealing study <strong>of</strong> what a sympathetic, imaginative producer can bring to a recording or concert. […] Beautifully crafted in its own modest and impressionistic way (the road_movie sequences are even reminiscent <strong>of</strong> <strong>ECM</strong>’s distinctive cover art), Guyer and Wiedmer’s film impresses both as a revealing look at the processes <strong>of</strong> musical creativity and a portrait <strong>of</strong> one man’s abiding passion for the miracles that music, in all its diversity, may give rise to. Ge<strong>of</strong>f Andrew Sight & Sound, Londo A genuine visionary, Manfred Eicher has certainly revolutionized the world <strong>of</strong> music through his <strong>ECM</strong> label, which has aimed since its inception at capturing the most beautiful sound next to silence. For 40 years, <strong>ECM</strong>, guided by Eicher’s vision and aesthetics, has released some <strong>of</strong> the most important jazz, experimental, world and modern classical recordings. “Sounds and Silence” is an intimate musical portrait <strong>of</strong> this legendary label owner and producer, whose presence is the common factor in the careers <strong>of</strong> not a few musical giants. Swiss filmmakers Norbert Wiedmer and Paul Guyer followed Eicher over a period <strong>of</strong> five years and the result is a sonic journey that captures the artistry <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong> the most distinctive and celebrated producers <strong>of</strong> our time. Nenad Georgievski All About Jazz Dino Saluzzi / Anja Lechner El Encuentro A film for bandoneon and violoncello by Norbert Wiedmer and Enrique Ros Multi_lingual original version, subtitles German, English, Spanish, 52 min. <strong>ECM</strong> 5051 DVD 076 2841 “El Encuentro” follows bandoneonist Dino Saluzzi and cellist Anja Lechner to locations in Argentina, Germany, Armenia, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland. “Your perception <strong>of</strong> music and your way <strong>of</strong> playing music change when you travel,” says Anja Lechner. The camera joins the journey and underlines the point, illuminating the processes <strong>of</strong> music making in very different contexts. They come from backgrounds that could hardly be more diverse – Saluzzi from South American tango and folk traditions and Anja from the world <strong>of</strong> European classical music, but have worked closely together since the mid_1990s, beginning with the “Kultrum” alliance between Saluzzi and the Rosamunde Quartett. The film <strong>of</strong>fers insights into the life <strong>of</strong> these travelling musicians seen here in concert, in rehearsal sessions, at recording studios, and in informal settings, variously joined by a cast that includes composer Tigran Mansurian, arranger Levon Eskenian, pianist George Gruntz, and Saluzzi’s brother, saxophonist/clarinetist Felix Saluzzi. The journey culminates in a concert <strong>of</strong> Saluzzi’s music with the Metropole Orchestra in Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw. A musician who has created a unique personal idiom, “I compose with hopes and memories”, says Dino Saluzzi, as he shapes a forward_looking personal idiom, coloured by remembrances <strong>of</strong> things past. 150 151 Jean_Luc Godard Anne_Marie Miéville Four Short Films <strong>ECM</strong> Cinema, a new DVD series, is launched with a release dedicated to the work <strong>of</strong> filmmakers Jean_Luc Godard and Anne_Marie Miéville. It brings together four short films made between 1993 and 2002. Four short films, as writer Michael Athen notes, “that encompass everything: art and freedom, presence and memory, violence and passion. Four symphonies composed <strong>of</strong> images, tones, quotes, and soundtracks. Four essays in which the cinema itself seems to speak to us, in friendly dialogue with painting, literature and music – as a brother to all the arts.” The DVD Four Short Films is issued with a 120_page hardbound book, incorporating the complete text <strong>of</strong> Jean_Luc Godard’s and Anne_Marie Miéville’s narration (in French and English translation), an essay by Michael Althen (in German, French and English), and more than 70 stills from the films, in black and white and colour. <strong>ECM</strong> Cinema 5001 DVD 987 3185 ISBN 987_3_00_018563_2 Call it jazz, world music, contemporary classical … for nearly four decades, Manfred Eicher’s <strong>ECM</strong> label has been giving us some <strong>of</strong> the most adventurous, rewarding and best_produced music around. Small wonder, then, that when Jean_Luc Godard was <strong>of</strong>fered the use <strong>of</strong> any <strong>ECM</strong> fare suitable for his films, he accepted … Eicher released CDs <strong>of</strong> the “Nouvelle Vague” and “Histoire(s) du Cinéma” soundtracks. The fruitful collaboration continues with <strong>ECM</strong>’s first DVD, a typically elegant and sympathetic package <strong>of</strong> four Godard shorts … “De l’origine du XXIe siècle”, made for millennial Cannes, is one <strong>of</strong> Godard’s finest and most succinct recent efforts, blending Bergman, Rossellini and Ophüls with archive footage to present a sorrowing account <strong>of</strong> our absurd obsession with war and destruction. “The Old Place” … is a meditation on the relationship between art, reality, economics and ethics … “Liberté et Patrie” is a more modest but unusually engaging look at the life and work <strong>of</strong> Aimé Pache, a painter from the couple’s hometown Rolle, while the very brief “Je vous salue, Sarajevo” dissects a photograph to telling effect. All the print transfers are good, and the whole comes with a sumptuous booklet in English, French and German which contains essays and translations for the movies. Ge<strong>of</strong>f Andrew, Time Out Heinz Bütler / Manfred Eicher Holozän With Erland Josephson, Sophie Duez Photography: Giorgos Arvanitis Music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Béla Bartók, Dmitri Shostakovich, Paul Hindemith, Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek Co_directed by Heinz Bütler and Manfred Eicher, this film adaptation <strong>of</strong> Max Frisch’s 1979 novella “Man In The Holocene” – a book described by the York Times as “a luminous parable, a masterpiece” – was awarded the Special Prize <strong>of</strong> the Jury at the 1992 Locarno International Film Festival. Filmedition Suhrkamp DVD 600 3514 ISBN 978_3_518_13514_3 In a mountain village in Ticino, cut <strong>of</strong>f from the rest <strong>of</strong> the world, an old man takes a stand against forgetfulness. Herr Geisser cuts out articles on paleontology and geolology and more, and pins clipping after clipping to his walls. In integrating these notes into his narrative, Max Frisch linked the history <strong>of</strong> humanity with individual decline. With subtle camera movement, elliptic storytelling and editing, and inspired use <strong>of</strong> music and environmental sound, the film “illuminates the associative and synaesthetic layers <strong>of</strong> its literary model” (FAZ).