Arsenije Jovanovic

1994 release ** Serbian composer born 1932 in Belgrade, Serbia, now living in Croatia, Arsenije Jovanović has been active as a theatre director and stage director for Belgrade and ex-Yougoslavia theaters since the 1970s. He additionaly composes music for theater, film and radio. His works for radio earned him many international prizes. Spanning his entire carreer as a sound composer, this CD offers nonetheless an impressive style and quality consistency. He creates his music from organic sounds like low rumbles and drums, breathing and voice, using objects eg: bottles used like flutes, pieces of wood used like marimbas. So no synth here, but more of a sound performance for each piece, involving ‘actors/singers’ and slightly processed concrete sounds, with more or less a neo-primitive mood. The way Arsenije Jovanović let human voices scream and moan as if free from the boundaries of civilization is typical and reminds me of Dubravko Detoni, a composer born in Zagreb, Croatia, in 1937, founder of Acezantez Ensemble, whose recording output is mainly issued on Jugoton. Additionnaly, I guess performers on this CD were all actors, hence the theatrical aspect of the first 3 tracks, sounding like a ‘theater of voice’. The last track ‘Ma Maison’ (My House) is the most electroacoustic on offer here, build upon heavily processed concrete sounds recorded in the composer’s home. It was commissioned by french national radio.