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J. S. Bach: Fantasy in G minor 

(1965) 

by Jan Švankmaker, his second short, is as close as he has come to a musical testimony. Less conventional filmic homage than an act of communion between sound and image.

As a lonesome organist unfolds Bach's composition from a derelict loft, Jan Švankmaker lets loose his own fantasia of quasi-animate architectural motifs: bars, bannisters, gates and locks. Perforations blister open in solid walls; doors swing open into darkness, further empty rooms; the film thrums with the counterpointed ideas of passageway and its impediment, spiritual mobility and the material weight of the world.

 

Source: Nick Bradshaw

 

 

Jan Švankmaker’s second film, entitled Johann Sebastian Bach: Fantasy in G minor, is a stylish, black and white film which shows a man playing the titular track by Johann Sebastian Bach. As he does, everything around him changes. Cracks open up in walls before closing again, doors open and shut, and off images intertwine with each other. The film, at around ten minutes, is the most visually arresting film I’ve seen from Švankmajer so far, even if it is a little different from the usual vivid, odd, and off-kilter style that I’ve become accustomed to. Shot in beautiful, if slightly sinister, black and white with film noir sensibilities (even if the plot – if there is a plot – is so not noir, the style and use of long, drawn out shadows in the first segment as the man stalks towards his piano definitely is). The surrealism sequences, where things around the player begin to change, are equally as arresting. It’s wonderful to watch, and almost entrancing. For ten minutes, my eyes were stuck to the screen. Although little to nothing makes sense at first look, Švankmajer creates a beautiful and hypnotic ten minutes of cinema that prods at the brain whilst tugging at the senses.

 

Source: The Complete Jan Švankmajer

 

 

J. S. Bach: Fantasy in G minor, johann sebastian bach, partitur, Film

Reading

Notation. Calculation and Form in the Arts (2008) is a comprehensive catalogue (in German) edited by Dieter Appelt, Hubertus von Amelunxen and Peter Weibel which accompanied an exhibition of the same name at the Academy of the Arts, Berlin and the ZKM | Karlsruhe. (ZKM)

Film as Film: Formal Experiment in Film 1910-1975 (1979) is a catalogue of an exhibition held at the Hayward Gallery in London from 3 May until 17 June 1979 on rare, essential and controversial avant-garde film history.

Art in Cinema – Documents Toward a History of the Film Society (2006) by Scott MacDonald provides extensive and fascinating documentation of one of the most important film societies in American history. Art in Cinema presents complete programs presented by the legendary society; dozens of previously unavailable letters between Stauffacher, his collaborators, and filmmakers including Maya Deren, Hans Richter, Vincent Minelli, and Man Ray; a reprint of the society's original catalog, which features essays by Henry Miller and others; and a wide range of other remarkable historical documents. (Temple University Press)

Links

 

SEE ALSO

Iannis Xenakis (1922–2001) was a Greek composer, music theorist, and architect-engineer. He is commonly recognized as one of the most important post-war avant-garde composers. Iannis Xenakis pioneered the use of mathematical models in music such as applications of set theory, stochastic processes and game theory and was also an important influence on the development of electronic music. He integrated music with architecture, designing music for pre-existing spaces, and designing spaces to be integrated with specific music compositions and performances. (Wikipedia)

Hans Richter (1888-1976) was a German painter, graphic artist, avant-gardist, film-experimenter and producer. He was born in Berlin into a well-to-do family and died in Minusio, near Locarno, Switzerland. (Wikipedia)

Karl Kliem (*1969) studied at the well-known Hochschule für Gestaltung (University of Art and Design) in Offenbach. He developed real-time audio and visual systems and has designed the most diverse projects in the fields of multi-media, web design, and TV design, as well as music and audio production for films and interactive installations. Karl Kliem is a founding member of Involving-Systems (1994) and MESO (1997). (Dienststelle)

Screenplay (2005) is one of Christian Marclay's visual scores, in which found materials are collated as a representation of a sound performance to be interpreted by musicians. It is Marclay's intention that his film be viewed by performers as a score. Screenplay is compiled from film footage that Marclay spliced into something of a narrative. In addition, he introduced simple, colorful digital animations of lines and waveforms and big, round dots on top of some of the footage. (disquiet)

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