Kurtàg - Fragments
Switzerland, 2008
FILM,
Documentary,
57 min.
- directed by
- Edna Politi
- Written by
- Edna Politi
- Status
- In distribution
Kurtág – Fragments, First of Three Parts is a sort of “in camera” style film, like a face-to-face encounter. We watch Kurtág working his students as they explore three minutes of his 1985 Kafka-Fragmente Opus 24 for violin and soprano – a composition inspired by passages from Kafka’s Diaries. We feel the tension as Kurtág grows dissatisfied with his students’ interpretation. He struggles to ensure that each note, each word rings true; that his young students come to understand, feel and express the tragic truth hidden within. Kurtág tells us: “These fragments of text are a kind of confession for both Kafka and myself”. There are moments during the film when we feel that Kurtág is being painfully stringent until, along with his students, we come to realise that his approach bears fruit. What appears to be over-bearing insistence is in fact a particularly generous way of transforming the apprentice singer and her singing.
credits
- World Premiere
- 2008
- Original Version
- French, German, colour, DV Cam, 57 min.
- Production
- Contrechamps Productions
- Producer
- directed by
- Edna Politi
- Written by
- Edna Politi
- Cinematography
- Pio Corradi, Hélène Faucherre
- Editing
- Edna Politi, Elizabeth Waelchli
- Re-Recording Mix
- Martin Stricker
- Location Sound Mix
- Philippe Ciompi, Alexander Miesch