Mountain War Project de Jorge E. Lopez (2007)
Mountain War Project (Gebirgskriegsprojekt).Dream structure for video design with concrete and instrumental surround sound
(Wachtraum für videogestaltung konkreten und instrumentalen Raumklang de Jorge E. Lopez (KlangForum, Wien)
ZKM, edition ZKM-Wergo, WER 2061 5, 2007.
Near and Far at the same Time
For many years the phenomena of nature 'wilderness' have determined and influenced the compositionnal work of the Cuban-American-Austrian composer Jorge E. Lopez. For fifteen years he has lived amongst the Hohe Tauern Mountains neat Heiligenblut in southern Austria. Previous to this he lived near the wilderness of the US-American mountains.
The main themes the composer addresses are, on the one hand, the astonishing and awe-inspiring aspects of nature, and on the other hand the driving forces behind human activity. Lopez continuously employs dream sequences and nightmarish imagery relating these to each other. This recent work, for video projection and pre-recorded orchestra using 8 channel spatialisation, is no exception; here, Lopez examines the Alpine front during the First World War, in and around the Dolomites. The central repertoire of sounds and images for this multimedia work comes from natural and orchestral sounds, mountain imagery and historical film material.