Music

For Jonas Fischer, composing is an act of translation, of taking what is already present and simply noting it down. Listening to his music uses the same muscles, but reverses the exercise’s order. Here you have his compositions and you, the listener, must guess its inspiration. Were these bass notes derived from an afternoon plod across Manhattan, or the rush hour commute on New York’s subway? Were these lyrical notes inspired by grass bending in alpine wind, or the feeling of Californian light filtering through the curtains? When listening to his music, we must cultivate Fischer’s receptivity and open ourselves to whatever thought floats through to us on the captivating sound of his compositions.

Into the Hazelwood

This project centered around the work of the Irish poet William Butler Yeats. Read by Carolyn Zervudachi.

In Time, long, deep notes of ending swell around the words, framing Yeats’s few lines on love and loss.
The music follows the structure of the poem as it highlights punctuation, thereby giving what is silent—such as line breaks and asides—a voice.

The Theorem

Underneath it all is the pulse of the drumbeat, a reminder of our deeply felt connection to the heavens. But what are the stars? A fine mist of light tossed across the heavens whose glow inspires us to be greater than what we are. To the sky above! Or to repose... Some stars flicker out without our pausing to take note, while others still flame before their dying breath, making our own lives on Earth stand still, stupefied by the greatness of what we do not understand.

Bubble Wrap

Original Soundtrack from the film Bubble Wrap by Dominique de Rivaz. Released in 2019.

A young woman turns to the sea to return to the sea what’s been taken from her.
An envelope comes from Northern Ireland with a message.
A filmmaker is given a mission.

Anxiety builds like a cresting wave, so far out at sea that the waters only swell an imperceptible inch. But even the slightest touch from the heaving mass of the ocean will wreak indifferent destruction when it touches the shore.

The Dragonfly

Get lost on a ride with a dragonfly. We alight on a bending blade of grass which hardly twitches under our soft weight. As elongated notes buoy us like gusts of wind, we wile away the time here, thinking of where we might go next––across the lake? To a neighboring dandelion? The excitement wanes with the music and, at a loss, we stay put.

Pensée

This is not a passing thought, but an all encompassing one. Instruments fill a space round with grief, which rises with heady emotion. Notes weave moments of contradiction––anger mingled with loss, melancholy with triumph––which mellow into a current of new strength. Could you add the dimension of sadness? The experience of a loss and simultaneously the gain of new, inner strength.

Places not to go

You can hear the beginnings of this piece in your feet, like the music is moving the very ground you stand on. As the day began bright and clear, you ignored the first roll of thunder. Without your noticing, the clouds gathered faster than you thought possible, pausing only a beat before they opened up. Driving rain drenches you before you reach cover, bolts of lighting at your heels. How did this happen? Are you at fault? In response to these questions––plucked in strings––the brass roars, drowning out your rebuttal.

Listen to more

FILMOGRAPHY

2023

INTRUSIVE
Directed by Arlette Zimmermann, produced by Jonas Fischer. 2023.

2022

UN SELFIE AVEC ANTON TCHEKHOV
Directed and produced by Dominique de Rivaz. 2022.

2019

BUBBLE WRAP (original score)
Directed and produced by Dominique de Rivaz. January 2019.

2018

YARA (original score)
Directed by Sean Wirz. Produced by BEARPIT Productions Corinne Steiner.

2016

LIGHTS OFF!!! (original score)
Directed by Sean Wirz. Produced by Amaury Berger.

2015

AN OBJECT AT REST (competition)
Composed for the International Filmmusic-Competition Zurich Film Festival ZFF, original score by Julian Beutel.
Directed by Seth Boyden, CALARTS 2015.

2013

ÉLÉGIE POUR UN PHARE (original score)
Directed by Dominique de Rivaz. Production: Louise Productions, RTS Radio Télévision Suisse, ARTE, G.E.I.E.

2012

MICHEL SOUTTER (original score)
Directed by Emanuelle de Riedmatten. Production: Le Cinéatelier.

2012

EVERMORE (competition)
Composed for the International Filmmusic-Competition Zurich Film Festival ZFF, original score by Christoph Steinmann, Jonas Zellweger. Directed by Philipp Hofmänner, Production: Hochschule Luzern, Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen SRF.

2012

GORETTA (original score)
Directed by Dominique de Rivaz, Production: Intermezzo Films.

2009

PLEXO (competition) nominated
Composed for the Swiss Filmmusic-Competition "the score", original score by Dominique Boriello,
directed by Jan Anthamatten, produced by Hochschule Luzern.

2008

123-MOSKAU (additional score)
Directed by Irina Enders, Producer: Irina Enders, ZDF, 3Sat

2005

CHÈRE JACQUELINE (original score)
Directed by Dominique de Rivaz, Producers: VPS prod, RTS Radio Télévision Suisse, RSI Radiotelevisione svizzera.

GET
IN
TOUCH

ARLETTE ZIMMERMANN (Assistant)

EMAIL: contact(at)jonasfischermusic.com

PHONE: +41 78 232 0848

As an intuitive traveler, naturalist, and musician, Fischer always welcomes collaborations with like-minded artists with whom he can exchange ideas and share stories.
If you resonate with his philosophy, please get in touch––it would be a delight to build something together, whether you are a film director in search of a score or a fellow musician with a vision to share.