Tibor Szemző ‎- Tractatus (1995)

Tibor Szemző, ur.1955, kompozytor i muzyk, jest autorem prac wideo, filmów eksperymentalnych, instalacji i performansów prezentowanych na całym świecie. Jako muzyk stał się znany w późnych latach 70. XX w. Jest założycielem legendarnych węgierskich zespołów: Group 180 i The Gordian Knot Company. Z czasem jego zainteresowania zwróciły się ku filmowi, wideo i audiwozualnym instalacjom, w których często używa dokumentalnych i archiwalnych materiałów filmowych, jak i historycznych źródeł tekstowych.

Tractatus (1991—95) to minimalistyczna kompozycja na ludzki głos, muzyków i narratorów, stworzona do siedmioczęściowego eseju filmowego Wittgenstein Tractatus (1992) Pétera Forgácsa, zainspirowanego Traktatem logiczno—filozoficznym Ludwiga Wittgensteina. Ta symboliczna ilustracja teorii Wittgensteina, poświęconej logice, językowi, rzeczywistości i zagadnieniom reprezentacji, zbudowana z archiwalnych i znalezionych materiałów filmowych, fotografii i recytowanych w różnych językach tekstów w 1993 roku została wyróżniona główną nagrodą 4. Festiwalu Wizualnych Realizacji Okołomuzycznych WRO 93 (...) Centralnym elementem utworu jest męski głos, nucący ciągle kilka tych samych nut, towarzyszy mu recytacja urywków tekstów z pism Wittgensteina i powoli narastające dźwięki syntezatorów, tworząc hipnotyczną, medytatywną strukturę. (wrocenter)

Hungarian electro-acoustic composer Tibor Szemzö was born in Budapest in 1955, beginning his musical studies at the Kodály method school at the age of six. Initally playing the violin, his subsequent discoveries of rock prompted a move to guitar; the influence of John Coltrane and Charles Mingus next inspired Szemzö to form his own jazz trio (later a quartet), and in 1979 he founded the minimalist ensemble Group 180. Embarking on a solo career in 1983, Szemzö began integrating spoken word and visual elements into projects otherwise dominated by flute and live electronics, and in 1987 he issued his first solo recording, Snapshot from the Island. The downfall of Hungary's communist rule allowed him to began collaborating with various artists throughout Europe, and in 1998 Szemzö also formed a new chamber ensemble, the Gordian Knot. Other notable works include Ain't Nothing But a Little Bit of Music for Moving Pictures (the score to a collection of black-and-white home movies compiled by friend Péter Forgács), The Conscience (a trilogy of narrative-based chamber compositions) and Tractatus (a half-hour piece inspired by the Austrian philosopher Wittgenstein).

Hungarian Tibor Szemzo is an anomaly among late century composers of "new" music. Most of his work is gentle, filling space with sonority and silence. He also uses written text that is usually spoken though sometimes sung, and he focuses deeply on suffering and transformation. His works use chamber instruments and taped soundscapes that he pastes together himself. Drones and a "traditional" sense of melody are also important factors in his numerous works. On Tractatus, he uses the texts of linguist, philosopher, and humanist Ludwig Wittgenstein for his catalyst. He uses seven narrators of these texts in languages as diverse as Japanese to Spanish and Czech, as well as English. One small melodic line is hummed over and over, hypnotically, as a bass plays a series of notes in harmony; sound effects boxes gently fill the ambient space and the narrators take their turns with these texts: "There is indeed the inexpressible. This shows itself; it is the mystical." "No cry of torment can be greater than the cry of one man," and so on. There are a finite number of aphorisms offered here, and they are not spoken in tandem with one another, leaving room for them to float over this simple structure and meditatively encounter the listener. A short, minimalist piano phrase appears mysteriously near the work's end and disappears just as randomly before transforming itself every few measures into a classical theme from antiquity until the end. It took over four years to assemble the pieces for this recording, and like the work of Gavin Bryars or Wolfgang Rihm, Szemzo has no reason to bombastically reach for the stars or obliterate the mind of the listener with ideas too dense to take in one setting. He whispers his sophistication in plain speak, allowing for sound itself to make its way into the human heart. (amg)