The Viennese author and composer WALTER BACO creates pieces of music for TV and stage, writes radio plays, screenplays and TV documentaries and develops his own improvisation and cross-over concerts. In 2007 he founded the platform “Orchesterwelt”, which serves as an interface between composers and performers. In addition to his readings, concerts and guest performances, he has initiated other cultural initiatives and program series.
On June 2nd and 3rd, 2023, for example, WALTER BACO is organizing a festival with music, literature and painting: “Art for all the senses – culture to enjoy.” In May, a new CD “A gift of Love” was released by polyglobe – “very tame” piano music. He gave Michael Franz Woels information about the soft as well as the wild side of his compositions, increasingly also improvisations, his performances with Wolfgang Ambros – at that time still on the solo guitar, and an audio book ready for publication …
You are a pianist, composer, performance artist and writer. Therefore, I would like to start each of the following questions with an introductory poem or aphorism from you – from the collection for the performance “Im Atem·Haus”: “On sides / only the trace of a curve / flat lines / traversed by the fine sky / on clouds / only the suspicion of a corner / unsteady / insurmountable / on waves / only the hint of a movement / does the surf die down / do you put out the light?” Let’s go back fifty years to your time as a musician in Wolfgang Ambros’ first live band (1972-1973). Was that a very bright, glaring time? What memories are there?
Walter Baco: It goes back even further… But as for Ambros: His first live performances were two of us, with two concert guitars, he played the chords, I solo. Sold out, large halls, storms of enthusiasm, even at the first Watzmann. Only then did Abadie come along, his first band in which I played electric piano. But I soon realized I just wanted to make my own music.
“I HAVE A WILD, ANARCHISTIC SIDE, WHERE THINGS ARE OFTEN ATONAL CONTEMPORARY AND ALSO THIS MEDITATIVE SIDE.”
“Where has romance gone? Was she hiding behind all the plans? Difficult to penetrate through the thick layer of displeasure; a half-sighed sigh of longing is not enough.” On your recently released album “A gift of love”, for example, romance reappears in “tame” piano pieces. How did this publication come about?
Walter Baco: I have a wild, anarchistic side, where things are often atonally “contemporary” and also this meditative side. Perhaps the greater challenge these days is to compose something “harmonious” or “inspiring” without coming across as cheap or esoteric. One longs for timeless beauty – that is, music that will still exist 200 years from now.
“Dreams don’t get fewer”. You are still a hardworking organizer. The series of events “Impro-Parcours” is one of many initiatives you have launched. Can you tell us a bit more about the backgrounds and the setting?
Walter Baco: For several years now, I’ve been performing almost exclusively with improv concerts. So it made sense to also support the many great musicians who work here in Austria – thanks to the ÖSTIG – LSG, which makes this possible. It was important to create a format that gives shape to togetherness in the various art forms and genres. For me, impro is not showing things off, but the joy of playing, of being playful. After I had often invited improv musicians for the chamber music series “Die rote Brille”, a competition was the next step. The winners and the entire improv scene receive more attention; hopefully – hello newspapers, where are you?
“Joy has great parents, but we only know tiptoe. What will the future bring? A new future. Lots of fuss in the attic. Below, far below, at the source, there I am waiting for you.” And at the beginning of June you will also be waiting for us at Villa Wertheimstein in Döbling. A two-day music-literature-painting festival will take place with free admission. Would you like to fuel the anticipation with a few details?
Walter Baco: Gladly. Mia Zabelka honors us with a solo performance. The winners of the “Impro Parcours” #2 and #3 will perform. By the way, there are also two completely contrary female duos among them, stylistic diversity is very important. The reading of “Robotertexten” was planned long before the topic was on everyone’s lips as it is now. The great Peter Stougje exhibits paintings. A few hours of the finest cultural program with many treasures, some of which have yet to be recovered.
“THE SEARCH FOR YOUR OWN”
“Cease all desires affecting other people. make demands on yourself. Rather fail there.” When analyzing films, one can pay attention to the premise, the central question. If you look at your life like a movie, which central questions or premises have accompanied you?
Walter Baco: The search for one’s own. Be free. The search for the real, the unadulterated. The desire for justice, harmony.
“Gifts come too late or not at all.” What gifts are you still waiting for?
Walter Baco: That I stop waiting … Of course everyone, especially artists, wants recognition. But to be desireless is even nobler. In some moments this succeeds, with or without an audience.
“Anyone who hesitates has already missed everything. Who’s really rushing.” Your serenity seems to be literal. Have you already found the ideal middle ground between hesitation and rushing?
Walter Baco: Only sometimes. Rather rarely. I try to learn it. We don’t have much time. You need patience. Who already has…
“Who can offer me a better life for the same price? (the afterlife is eliminated)” You have lived many creative lives as an internationally active artist. Which of your passions do you think is most likely to lead to a “better” life?
Walter Baco: Let go. Sounds easy, but turns out to be continuously difficult to impossible. Trust, but not in the imaginary, nebulose. giving instead of wanting to have. give yourself.
“I LIVE A LOT IN THE COUNTRY, SOMETIMES I FEEL ALMOST LIKE A HERMIT.”
“Why is it so loud again today, up there, inside? construction site noise? Who asked your opinion? You go first to enlightenment, I’ll follow right behind. You have to understand that I don’t need you here in the present!” Are you a person who needs a lot of rest? Where do you find the time and peace to compose or to write your lyrics?
Walter Baco: Yes, noise makes me sick. Party talk anyway. I live a lot in the country, sometimes I almost feel like a recluse. Unfortunately, the self-marketing pressure that some new type of evil devil has imposed on us isn’t exactly conducive to our own tranquillity, but we don’t want to complain.
“the point / as a center / as a means / to get to the point / a direction / towards the center / to the point / to the point.” Let’s come to the end of this interview and your musical plans for this year and next…
Walter Baco: I would also like to realize several concerts and projects outside of Vienna. An audio book with music I recorded with German actor Christoph Quest is ready for publication. My challenge is to develop the combination of language and music into an art form of its own. But not to “construct” it, but to let sound and poetry emerge and flow from within. And maybe an album with the wild Baco side. Humor shouldn’t be neglected, you need it. I actually have a couple of ready-made groovy productions up my sleeve, including “Das Satirisches Zentralamt” with Joesi Prokopetz, Nadja Maleh and Miguel Herz-Kestranek. but I’m still looking for the miracle Wuzi to help me with marketing and promotion.
Thank you very much for the conversation.
Michael Franz Woels
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Term:
Friday, May 26, 2023 at 7:30 p.m
Art space Eternity Lane
Monday, May 29, 2023 at 10:00 am
Walter Baco im Live-Interview
Radio Orange
Thursday, June 1, 2023 at 7:30 p.m
Red Salon: The Red Glasses. Chamber music evening
Wipplingerstraße 20, 1010 Wien
June 2nd and 3rd, 2023
Kultur.Genus.Cross.Over FESTIVAL: Improv course
Villa Wertheimstein, district museum
Döblinger Hauptstrasse 94, 1190 Vienna
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Links:
Walter Baco
Impro-Course