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01
First Run of a Horse,
3:27
02
The Script,
9:05
03 Dreams, 3:25
04 Shout, 0:46
05 Floating, 2:21
06 Second Run of a Horse, 5:42
07 Wondering, 2:00
08 Rays of a Black Sun, 4:59
09 Blue Horse, 0:50
10 Remains of a Horse, 5:23
11
Last Run of a Horse,
3:16
Intervju z
avtorjem v reviji Dogwood Journal
(27.3.2005) |
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Blue Horse
Iztok Vrhovec |
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John
Derek, Dogwood Journal
Interview with
Iztok Vrhovec
Sunday, March 27, 2005
http://www.dogwoodjournal.com/Music.cfm
Since 2003 Iztok Vrhovec has released three albums, two
guitar instrumentals and one piano, and has another slated for release at the
end of 2005. Located in
Ljubljana, Slovenia, Iztok Vrhovec has followed an atypical path with his
music career that has allowed him to explore other artistic interests in
addition to his music. He is also an accomplished writer, having published short
fiction and poetry in Slovenian literary magazines as well as several print,
audio and e-books. In addition to these endeavors he is also working on his
Ph.D. dissertation concerning mathematical modeling of the eutrophication
process in Lake Bled.
Mr. Vrhovec’s first album, Blue Horse, is a melodic
journey that captures the listener’s attention from the first note and quickly
carries them along on a breathtaking ride. The imagery and energy of the work
makes Blue Horse a unique and difficult album to classify. At turns playful,
poetic and insightful, Mr. Vrhovec’s playing coveys a wealth of emotion and
offers the attentive listener something new with each listening.
In January of 2005 The Dogwood Journal conducted the following interview with
Mr. Vrhovec regarding Blue Horse and his other projects.
Dogwood Journal:
When did you first start playing music?
Iztok Vrhovec:
I started attending music school at the age of five. There I learned the wooden
flute, accordion, piano, and guitar.
DJ:
Was the music school part of your primary school or was it separate?
IV:
It was a separate school - for music only. That means, at the beginning, two
sessions per week for instrument and two for music theory. I also attended
regular (primary) school.
DJ:
How long did you attend music school for? Were you attending with the intention
of a career in music, or was this more of recreational activity?
IV:
I attended fourteen years: from age five to seventeen, and later in my twenties
for two more years. At the age of 17 I knew I didn't want to perform - that I
will never be and do not want to be a performer. And I knew that I'd never be
and didn't want to have a career in music in a traditional sense. But I always
tremendously enjoyed practicing and improvising. The Internet is very rapidly
changing the traditional views and ways we listen to music, and will even more
so in the future. Maybe one day I will have concerts on Internet TV or something
similar.
DJ:
Did you form any bands while you were in highschool?
IV:
Yes, I was in three different bands from age 14 to 17.
DJ:
What types of music did these bands play? Were they through the school or put
together independently?
IV:
The first band was part of a music school: we mainly played classical music. In
other two it was rock, pop-rock.
DJ:
Since that time have you been a part of any other bands?
IV:
No, I have not.
DJ:
I was wondering if you could tell me a little about the album. What is the
meaning of the title?
IV:
Horse is a metaphor for a man. At a certain period in his life this man becomes
aware of his destiny and also what is his position in the universe: he perceives
life as a strange and mysterious phenomena and because of that he is blue
without being sad, hence Blue Horse.
DJ:
I’m sure it will be difficult for those reading this article to piece together
the entire story being told from just these two songs. Can you give them an
explanation of the story Blue Horse tells?
IV:
The album describes a life of a Horse, from the day he is born to the day he
dies.
1. First Run of a Horse: Horse is born. He is happy and somewhat naive; so is
the music: his "First Run" is full of hope, happy, melodic, and not too
profound. He is naive.
2. The Script: A "written” destiny of a horse. First part of a piece is his
youth: compared to his perception of life in the first piece it is somewhat
different of his naive notions of life. There are some moving moments, it is
somewhat melodic, but not as "smooth" as he believes it would be. Middle part
(his middle life) is fast, somewhat chaotic, with powerful disturbances, which
are reflected in music as interrupting, energetic chords. The last part is
similar to the first part, but is little longer; it again mellows.
3. Dreams: Horse becomes acquainted with his destiny through his dreams. It
settles in him like a profound knowing of "something" without an explicate
knowledge what this something is.
4. Shout: When he wakes up he is distressed and angry. He doesn't want "others"
(i.e. "dreams") to tell him what to do with his life. In his outrage he angrily
shouts and protests.
5. Floating: He doesn't want to "obey" and fulfill his destiny. For a while he
goes through life in a "happy", superficial, frivol manner. He doesn't pay
attention to his “inner” knowing.
6. Second Run of a Horse. Now he knows that unless he fulfills his purpose in
life, his life has no real meaning. He already has had a lot of good and bad
experiences. He now does what he believes is his destiny. This is his "second
chance".
7. Wondering. Occasionally he doubts again: here he confronts his fears and
doubts rationally, he is not deeply disturbed, he communicates with only one
voice (single guitar), and gets quite positive feedback: the end of a song is
somewhat optimistic, although only in a rational way.
8. Rays of a Black Sun. According to some ancient myth all the universe revolves
around it's central sun, which is, according to that myth, Black Sun. So the
Black Sun here is used as a metaphor for a “central wisdom”. Horse is in his
ripe years, and for the first time in his life, the rays of a “central wisdom”
has shined upon him. He has a vision which transcends his own destiny, his own
life, which was his main preoccupation so far.
9. Blue Horse: Now he is aware of his own small position within the “big order"
of things. He realizes he is only a strange, little entity, with almost a
meaningless life. He feels blue without being sad, and so is the mood of a
music: short, strange, blue.
10. Remains of a Horse. His final years. Now he accepts everything: his life as
it is, his destiny, and everything around him as it is. There are no grudges
left in him about anything. What remained of him is a being who is in harmony
with himself and it's surroundings. He is enlightened. He understands that he is
merely a cell in a body of a universe, and that his only purpose is to pulsate
in a harmonic frequency with himself and with what is around him.
11. Last Run of a Horse. His deathbed. He knows he fulfilled his destiny, and is
happy and tranquil because of that. His departure from this world is peaceful
and reassuring and hopeful.
DJ:
How long did it take you to record Blue Horse?
IV:
2 years.
DJ:
The album has several songs that have quite noticeable production effects,
particularly the guitar alternating from one speaker to another throughout the
duration of the song, I'm curious as why you chose to do this.
IV:
It was the suggestion of a person who prepared the final matrix. I thought the
idea was ok, so we made it that way.
DJ:
Chaos-Birth was released around the same time as Blue Horse and it is also an
instrumental album that centers on the guitar. How is it similar/different to
Blue Horse?
IV:
It has mainly the same sound because it was done approximately at the same time
as Blue Horse. But there is a fundamental difference between them: Blue Horse
is, mainly, built on melodies. The goal on Chaos-Birth was exactly the opposite.
There are only two songs on it. The first (Chaos), the longest, is over forty
minutes long, and is basically without a melody. So - I wouldn't really
recommend it to a lot of people. It's very disturbing, and it relaxes only at
the end.
DJ:
I'm curious as to the purpose of recording this album, I understand that not
every album is recorded to become a top seller, but why choose to record
something that you think won't have much appeal?
IV:
a. Because of a personal need,
b. Because it may mean something to somebody else as well, and
c. I believe it's quite good music.
But - seeing the world trends, and in which direction the vast majority people
are romping, it is more than obvious that most of them wouldn't find anything in
it.
As soon as one does things just to appeal or even to want to have much appeal,
all that might become art becomes just another manipulative propaganda report.
And I believe that participating in that is a criminal act, and will one day be
recognized as such.
DJ:
Why did you choose to make your first albums with the guitar and not the piano
if that is your stronger instrument?
IV:
I've been without piano for seven years. In 1997 my upright that I had had for
18 years was demolished by a very very angry man with a hammer in his hand. I
didn’t' play any music for few years. Then I couldn't resist my old guitar any
longer, and after practicing it for a while, I found out that I started playing
it quite well - in my opinion better then ever before. And that's when Blue
Horse was made. Then I got new piano. After practicing it for about six months,
I again could play it fairly good. In the next half a year I recorded Piano I,
which is due to be released in February.
DJ:
I'm very sorry to hear about the destruction of your piano. Forgive me for
asking, but what happened there? It's such an unusual thing to have happen, what
is the story behind that?
IV:
It was almost eight years ago, which is well in the past now. The angry man was
me and it was a result of a (obviously not everyday) quarrel.
DJ:
You mentioned that you recently have started work on your dissertation, is that
your primary focus now or is music? How do you balance doing both?
IV:
Well - it should be, and will probably gradually become so. I actually do things
as a farmer should: by rotation of crops. I do certain thing for a certain time
(for example music - guitar), then I switch to something different (for example:
music - piano, or science, or, as in the past even sport). This way some things
need longer time to be accomplished, but it's in my character: after a certain
period (usually measured in years) I get bored and without fresh ideas - it's
really very similar to the crops: you have to rotate them in order to renew
elements in the soil that were used up in the past.
DJ:
And are you still continuing to write short fiction and poetry?
IV:
With a very moderate tempo. That means every three, four months a piece is
published in a (Slovenian) literary journal. But two books are scheduled to be
published in 2006/ 2007. It is also hoped that by 2007 a publisher for English
speaking territory will be found. Translations began six months ago.
For those of you interested in hearing more of Mr.
Vrhovec’s music, you can hear more of Blue horse at
http://www.svarun.org/BlueHorse.htm. To hear Chaos-Birth visit:
http://www.svarun.org/chaos-birth.htm. Blue Horse can be purchased at:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/iztokvrhovec or at
MusicItch. To read a short story by Mr. Vrhovec in English visit:
http://www.localminds.com/prose_vrhovec_lanaen.html
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