Tatjana Ristić (Belgrade, 1964) obtained her master’s degree from the Faculty of Music in Belgrade in the class of Srđan Hofman (1994). Tatjana Ristić acquired three specializations: first in composition in Freiburg, Germany in the class of Brian Ferneyhough, second at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow with Yuri Holopov, and finally in audio-visual communication at the Pompeu & Fabra University in Barcelona (Spain).

In 1992 Tatjana Ristić began her professional career at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, Department of Music Theory. In 2001 she was a researcher at the Pompeu & FabraUniversity in Barcelona. Currently she is employed by the AgderUniversity in Norway as associate professor. She lectured at numerous summer courses in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Israel, Turkey and Norway.

She won many awards for her creative output: the Award of the Italian Cultural Center for contribution to the development of European artistic production (2007); the Golden Plaque at the Corto e Mangiato festival in Pesara (Italy), with film music We are what we lost. In 2006 she won the Special Prize at the International festival Slow Food (Bra, Italy) for the same film. As a composer and art director she participated in numerous festivals in Russia, Japan, Serbia, Italy, England, Norway, Germany, the USA and Spain.

The oeuvre of Tatjana Ristić includes music for various ensembles and media. She wrote applied music – theater, TV and film – and realized several video and installation projects. She is active as a theorist, having published numerous articles in Serbia and throughout Europe.

Time in a Bottle

Music is composed to the memory of composer G. Ligeti who died in Vienna last year on June 12th, 2006. Ligeti said about his own music: “My music gives the impression of a constant flow that has no beginning and no end. Its characteristic is the formal static, but behind this appearance, everything is constantly changing.” Even if I’m using different techniques my aim was to achieve a comprehensive listening rather than analytical. For me, that is the very special moment, sort of “playing with time”.

The title I’ve used for this composition Time in a Bottle according the Urban Dictionary refears:

“The most valuable thing Something we can never have
That moment you wish you could have back and live in forever”

Music is meant to sound free. The goal was to imagine a situation in which improvising musicians could communicate their shifts telepathically. The players go their own way, rhythmically, but move in parallel though a series of intervallic fields. It is not important to be precisely synchronized within measures, but it would be nice if musicians began each measure at the same point. It is often more important to get the feel right than to play, metronomically, exactly what is written. A little bit of “faking it” is acceptable and even encouraged. The transitions between the two tempi should be as seamless as possible.