Iva Bittova with Bang On a Can All Stars
The DVD is divided into three parts. The first is an exceptional, ninety-minute concert with the New York-based contemporary music ensemble Bang On A Can All-Stars . The concert was recorded in the Palace Akropolis in Prague on 26 March 2006. The concert repertoire is from the BOAC All-Stars and Iva Bittova’s Elida studio album recorded in New York, which won general appreciation and critical approval. The reception to touring Elida in late 2005 prompted the decision to film the performance. However, the programme opened with Iva Bittová – just voice, violin and solo magic – performing material from her past and present. This DVD is preserved proof positive, as never before, of the mesmeric atmosphere she can create and conjure, no matter whether alone on stage or in the good company of New York’s Finest, the BOAC All-Stars, when they become, as it were, her orchestra. Extended piano lines mingle with strings, while clarinet improvisation partners the rabid noise of electric guitar. The outcome is music that is at the same time both sophisticated and direct, no-nonsense sharp and nostalgic. It combines Eastern European classical music and folk customs while the non-traditional connection of Iva Bittová’s vocal parts and piano create inspiring melodies. The concert recording was directed by one of the Czech Republic’s rising stars, Jakub Kohák. Once again, he has succeeded in ennobling the result, lifting the production out of the all-too-frequently sterile concert recording genre, rising to the occasion to capture an unrepeatable symbiosis of visual and audio action and the atmosphere that concert-goers in the Palace Akropolis’ hall witnessed.

Video archive
The DVD’s second, no less important or impressive part is its selections from the Czech Television archives. The result is a treasure trove of 18 carefully selected songs. Totalling some sixty min.......
więcej