JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON IBM 1401, A Userʼs Manual, Czech premiere

1. IBM 1401 Processing Unit
2. IBM 1403 Printer
3. IBM 1402 Card Read-Punch
4. IBM 729 II Magnetic Tape Unit

Erna Ómarsdóttir dance
Úlfur Eldjárn electronics
Ensemble Opera Diversa
conductor Gabriela TardonováJohannsson.pdf

Towards the end of his relatively short life, the Icelandic composer and keyboardist Jóhann Jóhannsson (1969–2018) became famous for his film scores. He was twice nominated for an Academy Award, and his music for the film The Theory of Everything won a Golden Globe. In recent years, albums of his music have been issued by the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon record company. Jóhannsson deservedly came to the limelight and became a celebrity. Though his music to some extent accommodated the aesthetics of fame, he never abandoned the inventiveness and purity so characteristic of his early works – and indeed, Jóhannsson first solo endeavours remain the most true and free artistic testimonies of their creator and provide perhaps a more inspiring experience than the later ones.

This was apparent during the successful first Czech performance of the “concert sound installation” Virðulegu forsetar (Honourable Presidents, 2004) at the 2023 Moravian Autumn. This year, we follow up with a music and dance performance of IBM 1401, a User’s Manual(2005), nostalgically looking back at the very first computer brought to Iceland in 1964. The IBM 1401, with which Jóhannsson’s father worked, was able to produce simple monophonic melodies. Hence the work’s main idea: the notion of a computer as personified, distinctively steered via the close association of the expressive means of music and modern dance.

Jóhannsson’s musical composition, in four parts, grows from the several notes of the melody of Sigvaldi Kaldalóns’s Icelandic song Ísland Ögrum Skorið, presented at the beginning in an authentic recording of the “singing” by the work’s protagonist, the IBM 1401 computer. The dance part, created by Erna Ómarsdóttir, provides an expressive, elemental counterpoint to the melancholy music. In 2005, the two artists brought their show to Prague’s theatre festival 4+4 Days in Movement, where the work’s effect was enhanced by the shabby surroundings of the venue, the HC Hvězda Winter Stadium; while in Prague, Jóhannsson recorded the work at the Smecky Music Studios with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra led by Mário Klemens (the recording, including the song The Sun’s Gone Dim and the Sky’s Turned Black, which is not part of the performance, subsequently came out on 4AD).

The original stage setting featured only Erna Ómarsdóttir with Jóhann Jóhannsson at the synthesisers, rudimentarily included in the choreography. The Brno performance involves a live or chestra (Ensemble Opera Diversa under Gabriela Tardonová’s baton) and Jóhannsson’s role is performed by another well-known Icelandic musician, Úlfur Eldjárn.

Vítězslav Mikeš
translated by Štěpán Kaňa

The concert cannot be included in the “Create the festival” subscription.

Photo: Erna Ómarsdóttir by Pierluigi Perfetto

Seats in the first price category will be closer to the stage, seats in the second category will be further away.
A detailed seating plan is not available, as the location of the stage and the layout of the auditorium will be determined on site in consultation with the artists.
Thank you for your understanding.

Listen to:

Jóhann Jóhannsson: IBM 1401 (the sun’s gone dim and the sky’s turned black)