Borut Krzisnik - "Stories From Magatrea"
(Falçata-Galia, CD)
Borut Krzisnik - "Stories From Magatrea"
(Falçata-Galia, CD)
From Aural Innovations #20 (July 2002)
Hailing from Ljubljana, Slovenia is guitarist, pianist and sound manipulator Borut Krzisnik formerly of Laibach and Borghesia. To round out his existing credits are his works as a classical and theater composer. Stories From Magatrea has to be one of the most important releases or bodies of music in Borut's career for the fact that it reveals his poise and ear for composition strictly as a conductor/composer and a return to his roots. Borut sets aside his guitar, industrial jam sessions and intensive sound experimentations to fully concentrate on composing Stories from Magatrea: his first self composed, scored and conducted body of work to be released on CD. To some of Borut's contemporaries it must have been a surprise to witness such a scored body of work from a man who had just released Currents of Time for Tone Casualties. Currents of Time was conceptually prepared as an amalgamation of sound (of various types). Stories From Magatrea is tremendously different because it doesn't submerge itself into creative detective work: it does not become the cultural globetrotter that Currents of Time tended to be. Stories From Magatrea, rather, creates a musical narrative about a world within the borders of Magatrea.
What is Magatrea, you ask? Magatrea, at best guess is not necessarily a physical region but assumedly a cultural experience that you will have when allowing yourself to deepen in the sounds of viola, violin, clarinet and cello whirlwinds, in cinematic fashion. The listener is provided this introduction on the first piece "Miracle on Magatrea." Without much time to contemplate what has been heard, all of your imagination, soul and everything that seemed familiar are sent into composer hell as the third piece, "Fire" likens itself to controlled entropy. Approximately three minutes into the set is a bar that repeats itself twice in such a way that it sounds like all instruments are being looped; this is not the first time techniques like this are incorporated in this orchestral release.
The two referenced pieces on this title are intense cinematic/theatrical scores, indeed, and can carry the entire disc by themselves. The four remaining works on the album are no slouches by any means but culminate a more subtle mood that etch into a blend of more traditional ideas with an underlining layer of big band/jazz elements. It has to be noted that the entire body of work touches on a range of moods and themes: miniature scores for a European Cirque (a production of variety arts), a blend of big band, cinematic ferocity and the occasional Classical Punk attitude (it never hurts a soul). In total, this work by Borut is vanguard modern composition that can possibly change the mind of jaded classical music critics all over the world. The tone of the entire work can reflect influences that can be as far ranging as the playwright Peter Gill to Krzysztof Penderecki. All material on this release was worked on during the years of 1996 and 1997. Importantly, here are the notable names that constitute Magatrea's Symphonic Orchestra: Vuk Krakovic (violin), Mario Marolt (clarinet), Igor Mitrovic (cello), Pavle Rakar (cello) and Sonja Vukovic (viola).
Information Concerning Borut Krzisnik can be attained by going to the following websites:
Personal Page: http://www2.arnes.si/~ksbkrzi/
Record Label: http://www.falcata-galia.com/
You can email Borut Krzisnik at: borut.krzisnik@guest.arnes.si
Reviewed by Rashad Salahuddin