Zdenek Liska (1922-1983)
Fire on Potato Fields
The Legend of the Silver Fir

The second album of the collection "Zdenek Liška Archives" brings music from František Vlácil's films Fire on Potato Fields (1976) and The Legend of the Silver Fir (1973). Both recordings come from Liška's private audiotape archive. These are the only two examples of the extensive collaboration of Zdenek Liška with František Vlácil that have been found in his archive. However, they mark a new trajectory in Vlácil’s filmmaking, echoed in the Liška’s approach to the film score. Film critic Petr Gajdošík, author of the album’s liner notes, says: "If, up until then, Vlácil had mostly been focusing on historical material and stories from a distant past, he now worked with motifs and emotions gleaned from the present moment, and asks as pay close attention to his characters' inner experience. This development has its parallel in Liška's scores. Compared to their previous collaborations, these are more limited in scale and free of any ambition to create meaning, while at the same time they correspond with the dramatic and visual conception of the films and induce contemplation." Zdenek Liška Archives project was initiated by Petr Ostrouchov with the aim to present to date unreleased film scores by Zdenek Liška on vinyl. First part of the collection, released in July 2024, was dedicated to short films by Jan Švankmajer. Another Liška-Vlácil album released by Animal Music is a live recording of the concert performance of “Marketa Lazarova“ original score arranged for the orchestra, choir, soloists and actors (released in 2018, recorded in 2015).