The Violin Alone

It was a sunny day at the Sola Café in Bozeman, Montana when I sat down with contemporary classical composer Eric Funk to learn about a new piece of music he had written specifically for a Hungarian violin virtuoso. “You wrote a piece for him?” I asked.
It was unusual to me that a composer would create a work with only one player in mind. He had piqued my interest, but I was skeptical of this new work’s ability to be something different, something new. Classical composers are not known to think outside the
box, and generally follow the traditions and rules of their predecessors. Why would I want to make a film about just another violin concerto? Then I remembered who was sitting across from me. The insanity of the maverick composer’s piece was still undisclosed.
Funk went on to explain how the new work’s player and inspiration, Vilmos Oláh, would be the orchestra, and the soloist. He would have to simulate flutes, oboes, French horns, and timpani - all on his violin. He would play the three-movement piece by himself, live.
No overdubbing, no multi-tracking. Eric had my attention. Every July in my childhood hometown in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, my folks would take me to a large canvas tent to hear classical music. There was always the standard repertoire, but once in a while they showcased something unusual and new. The now famous Aspen Music Festival planted a seed that has grown into a passion for contemporary music, and unfamiliar ways of thinking. Those experiences were the catalyst for a life long love of the performing arts and their juxtaposition with cinematic expression.
After I listened to a synthesized sample of Vili: Concerto for The Violin Alone, the dark, rich, and dissonant tones were like nothing I’d heard before. The multitude of rhythms and meter changes were steeped in the tradition of eastern European folk music; mournful, intense, and unbreakable. There’s no way one person could play this by himself, I was sure. Our coffee cups empty, I left the café on an incredible journey that would last nearly five years, encompass travels around the world and collaborations with musical legends. It would be a quest for the impossible. There are few things more meaningful to me than the opportunity to dive head first
into pure art, and few better people to do so with than Eric Funk, Vilmos Oláh, and Tamás Vásáry. The result is a story in which no predictions are involved - art for the sake of art - with willing pioneers ready to challenge the status quo.