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Catabasis. D​ä​monen. Material.

by Dmitri Kourliandski

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1.
Szene 1 04:33
2.
Szene 2 14:53
3.
Szene 3 06:13
4.
Szene 4 09:57
5.
Szene 5 03:12

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kotaerecords.com/releases/dmitri-kourliandski-catabasis-daemonen-material

A digital release of Dmitri Kourliandski's music for Boris Yukhananov's production of Catabasis. Demons, based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel Demons. The premiere took place in September 2021 at Cottbus Theatre in Germany.

Within the framework of the international NET Festival, an eponymous exhibit of graphics by Boris Yukhananov will take place In the Electrotheatre foyer, where Kourliandski's music will be a part of the exhibition, along with photographs, video fragments of the performance, and animated graphics. netfest.ru/vystavka-katabasis-besy/

>>> Boris Yukhananov on the production:
Demons is staged often, it is one of Dostoevsky's most adaptable texts. But almost all these adaptations follow the same path: directors turn the novel into a play.

I did not want to create a theatrical staging. Dostoevsky himself did not write plays, he wrote novels. So we turned to Demons not with the intent of making a play out of it. We do not perform this novel, we play with it. We can afford to do that, because this novel is a fulfilled prophecy. In it Dostoevsky fully predicted the entire twentieth century, with all its catastrophes. And since this prophecy came true, that is, belongs to the past, the novel is a completed, finished story. You can take it as a complete whole and play with it in its entirety. This playfulness has certain rules and laws. Or, to be more precise, it has an underlying essence, something of a "tale of origin."

Our playing with Demons unfolds in the Garden of Eden. Paradise is fond of holidays and theme parties. For one of these parties, God chooses Hell as the theme. Angels must play demons. The genre of our performance is Hell's games in paradise. God Himself assumes the role of Conductor, for this is the only role worthy of Him. Meanwhile, everyday life situations, fragments of a modern urban landscape representing the real Hell today, form the background for these games. Only this Hell is wordless, frozen, and cold.

There is one more special participant in our game – Artificial Intelligence, the Neural Network, that is, a new deity born in the XXI century. Artificial intelligence, for which all previous history and culture is nothing more than a set of numbers and algorithms, is God’s co-author in this production. Voices and music are born from the dialogue with the Neural Network: the Neural Network reads Dostoevsky's texts and develops them at its discretion. In this case, I myself act as if on behalf of the Neural Network. If the Conductor in our production is fit for the role of God, then the Neural Network suits the role of director.

>>> Dmitri Kourliandski on the music:
“The central element of the production's set design is a carousel - a structure on a turntable, inside of which interiors and situations change: a cafe, a meeting, a hairdresser's, a funeral, etc. Time flows in these interiors in its own manner, occasionally lurching forward. The image of a demonic carousel, plus demonic dancing during a descent into Hades (catabasis), were the starting points for me in my search for musical material that unexpectedly showed up in a territory approximating techno."

credits

released November 12, 2021

Composed and produced by Dmitri Kourliandski;
Mastering by Mikhail Myasoedov (kotä);
Artwork Boris Yukhananov;
Art direction Stepan Lukyanov;
Curated by Gleb Glonti.

©&® 2021 Kotä Records

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