Musical scores as a basis for working with performance, dance, script and sound

Since artworks of Katarína Brestovanská has been strongly reeling off music, sound or a particular musical score, she had a need to understand the language of music in a way that enables clear communication in creative process between a choreographer, musicians and dancers. The research Musical composition as basis for working with dance, performance, text and sound was aimed to analyse particular composition of J.S.Bach  – Concerto No. 1 in D minor, BWV 1052 for Harpsichord and strings, in multiple contexts. Research team analyzed graphical record of composition, it’s formal and composition parameters, interpretation principles and aesthetics that were embedded in this work. The intention was to transfer such processes into movement scores. Relevance was put on transformation of the material in a way that has its origin, abbreviations, derrivation and transformations. Fascination with Bach’s work arose from the acknowledgement that simple movement score can be almost countlessly recycled. 

By using different parameters of baroque composition, we could work comprehensively with movement material. We understood and applied categories of TIME – SPACE – DYNAMICS – VERTICALITY in composing movement scores. Thus our composition was not inspired only by sensation from music. This process enable us to understand vertical and horisontal composition, leading of multivoices in composition.

We were inspired by other works of Johan Sebastian Bach, such as Musical Offering, in which variety of methodological approaches of the composer were described. Consequently offered to a king Frederick II. of Prussia. to understand the process of his thinking about composition. The work Chaconne from violin Partita no. 2 d minor BWV 1004 adapted for solo piano by Feruccio Busoni , referenced us for profound work on dynamics. 

Together with musicologists and musicians we contextualized historical and musical paradigm in which J. S. Bach composed, interwined with context of psychoacoustic principles of musical perception. Hence we enjoyed multilayered rich score builted from bottom up. 

Research work was focused on:

• Acknowledging parameters of composition of Concerto D minor BWV 1052?
• How to translate those parameters into movement language? Does musical parameters means the same for movement language?
• Is some of a dance techniques (contemporary, classical, neoclassical) more appropriate for articulation of baroque composition? 
• Is it possible to translate multilayerdness and richness of Bach’s music composition into choreographical frame work? What are the possibilities and limitations?
• Do we want movement to follow the music? Or do we want movement to be independent or contrapucntual voice of composition? Can we completely deny the composition? If so, in what manner and how do we explain such abstraction? 
• How was body and music perceived in transitional era between renaissance and baroque? How is body and music perceived in the contemporary art?  Is there any correlation? If so, what is it?

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