THE MUSIC
The music album “Malachite Forest” was composed and arranged by Martin Ivanov and recorded by him and his quartet.
The style of music is eclectic - jazz, 20 Century classical, avant-garde, concept music + sounds of nature, voices of birds and animals, rain, and wind. Every composition on the album corresponds to a chapter in the book. The duration is 69:33. The “Malachite Forest” is a conceptual piece of music that follows a strict compositional plan intended to enhance the impact of the libretto.
The “backbone” of the work is made up of 5 compositions that occupy the following places in the book/album: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9. They are written in “lead sheet” format and use a free melodic and harmonic language - three/four tonal systems, modal techniques, etc. These 5 compositions open and present each season of the year (winter, autumn, summer, spring, winter again) and are the main driving motif in the storyline.
They lead the protagonist, and with him the listeners, readers, and performers through the seasons. Creating the right mood sets the tone for the upcoming Trialsthat the character will experience. Composition #1 begins with the relative tonal center “C” and composition #9 is finalized and resolved in “C”. This allows the octave from “C” to the upper “C” to be divided into a 4 tonal system: “C” - “Eb” - “F#” - “A”, which appears as the basis for the upcoming Trials and outlines the macrocosmic compositional plan of the whole work.
The Trials are 4 avant-garde compositions that occupy the following places on the album: 2, 4, 6, 8. They use concepts, approaches, and styles, such as concept, aleatory, serial, minimalistic music, free jazz. When the protagonist overcomes them, he moves on to odd-numbered compositions and is awarded by the “Malachite Forest”.
Almost all of the Trials scores are written without musical notes - they are created from graphics, sketches, drawings, and pictures. You can see some of them in the book itself.
Each of the four Trials :
- corresponds to the “tonal center” of the 4 tonal system that was described above (“C” - “Eb” - “F#” - “A”);
- presents a specific challenge to the main character, related to his fears, the meaning of life, temptations, and personal choices;
- is represented by a certain animal, whose role is performed by a certain performer/ instrument from the quartet, who is a soloist in the corresponding composition:
TRIAL I Chased By The Bloodthirsty Wolf
- fear
- wolf
- Rossen Zahariev - flugelhorn
TRIAL II The Three Owls’ Mystical Conference
- meaning of life, dignity, responsibility, freedom
- owls
- Kiril Atanassov - piano
TRIAL III The Fibonacci Woodpecker And The Black Sorceress
- temptations
- woodpecker
- Vasil Hajigrudev - double-bass
TRIAL IV The Bear And The Forest Stream
- personal choice
- bear
- Martin Ivanov - drums
The Last Trial is a Recapitulation of the work, recalling the first three trialsbefore opening the new tonal center “А”which in turn “unlocks” the final composition: Christmas
The album "Malachite Forest" was produced by Martin Ivanov and Institute of Contemporary Art & Therapy "Libera"