Arsenal
Aleksandr Dovzhenko, the director of Arsenal (1928), is regarded as one of the most important early Soviet filmmakers, alongside Eisenstein and Pudovkin, and a pioneer of Soviet montage theory. In Arsenal Dovzhenko not only focuses on the start of the Soviet revolution in Ukraine, but also addresses the absurdity of war. Dovzhenko overwhelms the viewer with expressive images, sometimes shocking, at other times poetic.
Eric Sleichim created a new score for this expressive movie, consisting of quotes and citations from 20th century music for strings and live-electronics. BL!NDMAN [strings] play the music live with the film.
Aleksandr Dovzhenko: film director
Eric Sleichim: music score & artistic direction
BL!NDMAN [strings]
Stefanie Van Backlé: violin
Femke Verstappen: violin
Hélène Koerver: viola
Suzanne Vermeyen: cello
Programme
Arvo Pärt: Fratres (introduction)
György Ligeti: Sonata in six movements (mvt 1)
Sofia Gubaidulina: Ten Preludes for Violoncello (Prelude 1 and 2)
Kaija Saariaho: Nocturne
Helmut Lachenmann: Pression
Maurice Ravel: Quatuor (arrangement Eric Sleichim)
Eric Sleichim: Gestimmtseit (mvt 2)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: String Quartet Nr. 19 (K.465) (Adagio)
Dimitri Shostakovich: String Quartet Nr. 7
Toru Hosokawa: Silent Flowers
Gearge Crumb: Black Angels (mvt 1)
Enno Poppe: Haare
Eric Sleichim: Gestimmtseit (mvt 3)
Henri Vieuxtemps: Capriccio in c minor
Maurice Ravel: Duo Sonate
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: String Quartet Nr. 19 (K.465) (Allegro)
Luciano Berio: Les mots sont allés
Guillaume Lekeu: Meditation for String Quartet
Agenda
The story
The Great War (World War I) has brought devastation, heartache, and hardship to the Ukrainian people. Their soldiers, likewise, have faced horrors from the enemy and threats from their own officers. One recently demobilized Ukrainian soldier, Timosh, returns home after surviving a train wreck, and arrives during a celebration of Ukrainian freedom. But Timosh begins to challenge the local authorities, and then, at the All-Ukrainian Congress, he calls for the soviet system to be adopted. In Kiev’s Arsenal munitions plant, where Timosh has worked, feelings are running especially high.