invisible birds - lenz, as from a distance / distant (forthcoming)

stan brakhage - unconscious london strata - 1982

strata refers to deeper and deeper layers of consciousness, those far removed from ordinary language and daily life. the images combine musically, while shape and light are often inseparable; streaming light becomes an ever-changing form. (fred camper)

currently on sabbatical from the art of memory to record an lp with arthur de eriomém in his beautiful library casa di memoria
this album is dedicated to 2 of mr. de eriomém's most beloved artists:
krzysztof penderecki & georg büchner
and to the idea of lontano (as from a distance / distant) *

here is a rough version of the first track, please send email to reserve copy or general questions *

matthew swiezynski - intro to lenz lp by invisible birds

(* please also refer to recorded versions by györgy ligeti, tomasz stańko and jan garbarek/bobo stenson/terje rypdal/arild andersen/jon christensen)

and then everything receded from him (invisible birds)

and the sound of the wind died away and then like the murmur of a lullaby or pealing bells rose up again from the depths of ravines and tips of fir trees and a faint reddishness climbed into the deep blue and small clouds drifted by on silver wings and all the mountain peaks, sharp and firm, glinted and gleamed far across the countryside, he would feel something tearing at his chest, he would stand there gasping, body bent forward, eyes and mouth opened wide, he was convinced he should draw the storm into himself, contain everything within himself, he stretched out and lay over the earth, he burrowed into the universe, it was a pleasure that gave him pain; or he would remain still and lay his head upon the moss and half-close his eyes and then everything receded from him, the earth beneath him, it became as tiny as a wandering star and dipped into a rushing stream whose clear waters flowed beneath him

georg büchner - lenz - 1839 (posthumously)

lenz, darkness had fallen

m. swiezynski

..........grey clouds marched across the sky, but everything so close, and then the mist came swirling up and drifted dank and heavy through the bushes, so leaden, so sluggish..........

..........and the mist devoured the shape of things then half revealed their giant limbs; the surge swept through him, he sought for something, as though for lost dreams, but he found nothing..........

..........when the storm cast the clouds into the valleys and they swirled up through the trees, and the voices awoke amongst the rocks, at first like distant rumbling thunder, then arriving with a roar in mighty chords as though they wished in their wild exulting to sing the praises of the earth..........

..........and then the wind fell silent and far below a sound like lullabies and church bells rose from ravines and treetops, and a delicate red spread upwards in the dark blue sky, and tiny clouds went past on silver wing..........

..........darkness had fallen, heaven and earth had melted into one..........

(and later)
..........towards evening they reached the rhine valley. they drew further and further away from the mountains that now rose onto the red of evening like a deep-blue crystal wave upon whose floods of warmth the russet glow of evening played; across the plain at the foot of the mountains lay a shimmering blue. it grew dark as they came closer to strasbourg; a full moon high in the sky, distant objects all dark and vague, only the hill close by in sharp relief; the earth was like a goblet of gold over which the golden waves of moonlight foamed and tumbled. lenz stared out, impassive, without a flicker of recognition or response, except for a turbid fear that grew as more and more things disappeared in the darkness..........

from john reddick's translation (1993 penguin) of georg büchner's lenz, not published during his lifetime (he died at age 23 in 1897).

also of interest in reddick's notes:
12. represented by a colour: "red signifies faith; yellow, love; blue, knowledge... each of the twelve apostles of our lord and saviour jesus christ has his own particular colour" from d.e. stober's vie de j.f. oberlin (1831).

trains in cinema, woyzeck

woyzeck directed by jános szász, 1994

hungarian version of georg büchner's 1837 play woyzeck.

instead of a soldier we find woyzeck as a flag man in a train yard in hungary.
like bela tarr making a train film, although less minimal.
with examples of; smoke, darkness, rain, snow, mud and fog (obscuring the trains and characters that pass by).

close up of the tracks as a train passes by in slow motion with a lovely flicker.

smoke abstracting a passing train.

car train.

bela tarr image.

smoke abstractions.

smoke abstractions.

smoke abstractions.

snow abstracting the train yard. the camera pans and you see woyzeck working, great composition.

snow abstracting the train yard.

snow abstracting the train yard, this sequence reminds me of the satantango (bela tarr) sequence when the villagers destroy their furniture.

tracks seen from the top of a moving train. it took me a while to figure out what it was i was looking at, looked more like falling debris.

(some other train studies).