Musiche di
Ludwig van Beethoven e:
Carlo Ciceri, Corrado Pasquale, Antonio Covello, Aurélien Dumont, Mirtru Escalona, Vittorio Montalti, Manuel Rodriguez, Evis Sammoutis, Antonin Servière, Franco Venturini, Roberto Vetrano, Vito Zuraj
Maria Grazia Bellocchio, pianoforte
Ernesto Esposito e Antonio Pileggi, direzione artistica
Francesco Leprino, regia
con il contributo di Fondazione Cariplo
Beethoven & risonanze, Bagatelle e 12 evocazioni contemporanee
Un DVD nuovo, realizzazione di un progetto artistico innovativo che propone l’ascolto dinamico delle Bagatelle di Beethoven op. 119 e op. 126 in alternanza con dodici brevi brani scritti dai giovani compositori finalisti del Premio San Fedele. Un ascolto quindi rinnovato delle ultime opere pianistiche di Beethoven che crea un senso di attesa, che sorprende e non procede più seguendo gli schemi di ascolto già memorizzati in precedenza. Originale è anche la produzione di un’opera collettiva, fatto insolito in un premio per giovani artisti. Invece di domandare a ciascun compositore un brano di propria iniziativa, è prevalsa l’idea dell’elaborazione di un progetto comune in cui ogni brano fosse la parte di un tutto e allo stesso tempo un’opera autonoma e personale. L’obiettivo principale del Premio San Fedele, che lo rende unico nel suo genere, è quello di offrire ai giovani compositori un percorso formativo umanistico e artistico, con il desiderio di integrare le problematiche di tecnica musicali in un orizzonte più largo di senso dell’uomo e della vita. Il filo conduttore degli incontri del 2010 è stato la domanda “dove sono?”, posta a partire dalla chiusura della prima cantica della Divina Commedia: “... e quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle”. Il verso dantesco puntualizza un percorso già compiuto dal poeta all’uscita dalle regioni infernali con la possibilità di volgere infine lo sguardo del desiderio sulle stelle nello spazio notturno ma aperto del cielo.
Dove sono? Dove siamo artisticamente e umanamente? La domanda è servita da spunto ai giovani compositori per rileggere il proprio percorso, abbracciando, in uno sguardo più ampio, la situazione del mondo e dell’uomo nella storia presente. Si è cercata anche una risposta musicale alla domanda “dove sono?” prendendo come riferimento le ultime Bagatelle di Beethoven, brani tra i più moderni del musicista tedesco, la cui forza risiede nel dire tutto e con compiutezza nello spazio di poche battute e con grande semplicità di mezzi e linguaggio. Ogni Bagatella è un microcosmo, con la propria autonomia, ma viene collocata in un ciclo ben strutturato, in cui i nuovi brani dei giovani compositori, scritti come studi e risonanze delle Bagatelle di Beethoven, si inseriscono per riattualizzare e drammatizzare l’universo beethoveniano Operazione certo complessa e non priva di rischi, ma in sintonia con un sempre più diffuso desiderio dei compositori di voler dialogare con il passato in modo dinamico.
La prima parte – EVOCAZIONI – è introdotta da Innen di Franco Venturini, singolare e misterioso preludio in forma speculare, che da una breve figura nel registro acuto si dirige verso il grave per infine ri-tornare alla cellula iniziale in una versione trasfigurata dai suoni armonici. Segue Quarto divagare di Roberto Vetrano, delicatissimo intermezzo che sviluppa le risonanze reali e immaginarie dell’accordo iniziale attraverso sonorità sussurrate, sospese, sottili, in eco e cristalline. Il Moderato cantabile dell’op. 119 di Beethoven prepara ...entre... del venezuelano Mirtru Escalona, brano intimistico ed essenziale che esplora la voce interiore dello strumento con suoni prodotti a contatto con le corde. Nel finale, un’evocazione beethoveniana conduce alla prima bagatella dell’op. 119. Anche Antonio Covello, con Umlaut, utilizza dei suoni prodotti nella cordiera dello strumento, ma questa volta in un dialogo complesso con le abituali sonorità della cordiera, raggiungendo gli estremi del registro. Nella parte centrale prevale il registro grave con una linea melodica cupa e oscura. Ritorna infine una luminosità stridente ai registri estremi con una conclusione che rimanda esplicitamente alla quarta bagatella dell’op. 119. Il francese Antonin Servière propone una Bagatelle sans altérité attraverso processi narrativi e una scrittura con figure ben caratterizzate e contrastanti. Il finale anticipa con ironia la convulsa conclusione della settima Bagatella. L’ultima Bagatella dell’op. 119 viene introdotta da un singolare brano dello spagnolo Manuel Rodriguez Valenzuela Ungebetenes Spiel. Cluster spezzati, glissandi afoni, frammenti sonori, risonanze insolite portano a una decostruzione della bagatella. La prima parte finisce con il canto innocente e semplice dell’Andante ma non troppo dell’op. 119, ricomposizione di un microcosmo musicale coerente, dopo l’esperienza di frammentazione dell’episodio di Valenzuela, e apertura alla modernità.
Nella seconda parte – RISONANZE – verrà eseguito l’intero ciclo delle Sei Bagatelle op. 126. Vi introduce Bagatella di Vittorio Montalti, un ricercare che conduce dai trilli e tremoli quasi impercettibili del registro acutissimo ad accordi robusti “la materia sonora precipita negli abissi della tastiera”. L’Andante con moto dell’op. 126 riporta alla semplicità visionaria degli ultimi cantabili di Beethoven. Sull’ultimo Sol del brano si innesta immediatamente l’Intermezzo di Pasquale Corrado, brano commemorativo in forma di rituale, che procede con spigliatezza fino all’evocazione dell’incipit dell’Allegro dell’op. 126. Segue Discrizione di Carlo Ciceri che richiede all’esecutore di suonare in un pianissimo che sia estremo non per il pubblico, ma in primo luogo per se stesso. Questa soglia di udibilità porta volutamente con sé il rischio che alcune note, benché “digitate”, non risuonino: “riscrittura” esistenziale del modello beethoveniano. Interpunct del cipriota Evis Sammoutis rilegge il rapporto con le Bagatelle di Beethoven in chiave narrativa. Il linguaggio privilegia i rapporti armonici partendo da alcuni spettri di riferimento. Lo sloveno Vito Zuraj sviluppa la vena ironica e mette in scena con ČMRLJ un percorso instabile tra due bagatelle di Beethoven, come il muoversi di un calabrone tra un fiore e l’altro. Con outre-pages, il francese Aurélien Dumont riprende testualmente la cadenza conclusiva ed altri elementi del Quasi allegretto dell’op. 126 di Beethoven. Progressivamente, con ammirevole magia, l’universo beethoveniano si trasforma nel linguaggio di Dumont. Fondamentale il ruolo del silenzio. L’ultima parola del concerto spetta alla bagatella n. 6 dell’op. 126, punto finale della produzione pianistica di Beethoven.
COMPOSERS
Carlo Ciceri (1980)
He was born in La Spezia. After graduating in piano, he studied in Lugano Conducting and Composition. At the same time, he followed academies and master classes throughout Europe. His production focused mainly on instrumental music, from pieces for solo instruments to orchestral works. The final result of this period are « Vasta », Cycle for Viola solo and Ensemble, and « IA », Cycle for a solo string player. He is co-founder of the collective Terza Practica (Multimedia Dynamic Theatre) and of the group of research M()A (pedagogy and research through systems of assisted analysis.
Corrado Pasquale (1979)
He studied Composition with Alessandro Solbiati, Stefano Gervasoni and Ivan Fedele and Orchestral Conducting under the guide of Daniele Agiman. He received commissions by many Italian institutions: Biennale di Venezia, Fondazione Banna-Spinola, Divertimento Ensemble, MITO, Milano Musica, Società dei Concerti Torino. He is the winner of the Composition Competition for Symphonic Orchestra 2007 of the Conservatory of Milan. He composed music for a joint project in collaboration with the architecture faculty of the Politecnico di Milano, leading to the publication of a book and a CD entitled “Architetture Sonore” (Sonorous Architecture). He also composed music for the film “La terribile armata” (film by Gherard Lamprecht) which was performed for the first by Orchestra G. Verdi of Milan.
Covello Antonio (1985)
Born in Cosenza, he studied piano getting immediately into contact with the authors of the historical avant-garde and the second half of the twentieth century. A fundamental meeting in his path, was with Alessandro Solbiati. Particularly important in his work, is the need to rediscover the narrative character of the music, through the use of vectors that direct and articulate the whole composition. Another interest is what he calls the "harmonic color" and a rigorous formalization of musical thought, through the use of techniques considered “a valued resource which the composer uses to give shape to the poetic”. His research is increasingly focusing on the management of broad formal arches, able to integrate the concept of shape with the purpose of making the musical gestures continuing over time.
Dumont Aurélien (1980)
Born in Lille, he studied music in Cologne and at the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSMDP) with Gérard Pesson and Claude Ledoux. He won “Innovaoitres” competition for his musical theatre project “Grands défilés” for the Lille Opera (2011). He received commission from French government, Radio France, Ars musica, SACEM, Mulhouse symphonic orchestra etc. Researching a special relation between timber and form, his works are often inspired by literal universe as Dickinson, Borges, Volodine. For this interest he has been working very closey with the poet Dominique Quélen for Baroque ensemble’s pieces, Opera and Cantate.
Mirtru Escalona-Mijares (1976)
Born in Venezuela, he studied with Rafael Saavedra and Gerardo Gerulewicz in his home country. José Manuel López-López and Paul Méfano invited him to continue his studies in Paris, where he has been living since 2000. His works are regularly performed in several festivals in Europe, the USA and in Latin America. He has collaborated with ensembles and perfomers like Trio Pantine, Ensemble Accroche Note, Ensemble Proxima Centauri, Ensemble l’Itinéraire, Ensemble Linea, Cédric Jullion, Julie Moulin, Mario Caroli, Stacey Pelinka, Geneviève Déraspe, among others. He is a member of the Latin American Network for the Sonic Arts (REDASLA) and the Venezuelan Society for Contemporary Music (SVMC).
Vittorio Montalti (1984)
He was born in Rome. He studied piano in rome and composition with Alessandro Solbiati. He has attended master-classes and courses held by Luca Francesconi, Azio Corghi, Gabriele Manca, Mauro Bonifacio, Stefano Gervasoni, Ivan Fedele, Luca Antignani, Luis de Pablo and Toshio Hosokawa. He has been awarded the Silver Lion at La Biennale di Venezia 2010. He was also prize-winner in some composition competitions. His music has been performed at various festivals and concert seasons. He received commissions from La biennale di Venezia, Divertimento Ensemble, Festival Pontino and RomaTreOrchestra. He has worked with the music magazine “Rondò”. His music is published by Edizioni Suvini Zerboni - Sugarmusic S.p.A.
Manuel Rodriguez Valenzuela (1980)
He began to study composition at the Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya. He is interested in the interrelationship between music and visual arts. In 2007 he taught music to the natives of the Peruvian Amazon. In the same year he studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and attended workshops with many composers including Beat Furrer, Michael Levinas, Kaija Saariaho and Esa-Pekka Salonen. He currently lives in Berlin where he is developing several projects for the Musica Nova Festival in Finland and a new piano work in Brazil.
Evis Sammoutis (1979)
Evis Sammoutis, composer and guitarist was born in Cyprus. He studied in masterclasses and workshops with Helmut Lachenmann, Beat Furrer, Toshio Hosokawa, Georges Aperghis, George Benjamin, Brian Ferneyhough, Johannes Schöllhorn and Fausto Romitelli. In 2005, he completed his PhD studies in Musical Composition at the University of York. He has been awarded First Prizes at the Irino Prize, Andres Segovia Composition Competition and the 2005 Dundee Guitar Festival Composers Competition. His works have been performed in over 30 countries throughout Europe, America, Africa and the Far East, and broadcast on countless radio stations worldwide. He is currently a freelance composer, arranger, and lecturer, dividing his time between professional projects in the UK, Cyprus and the USA.
Servière Antonin (1977)
Antonin Servière is a composer, researcher and a musician. While he completed higher instrumental studies, he studied orchestration with Alain Louvier and composition with Philippe Leroux. He pursued his study of composition with Michael Jarrell, Luis Naon and Eric Daubresse. Concerned with History and speech about music, Antonin Servière completed a whole curriculum in Musicology. He is the author of a doctoral thesis about Jean Sibelius. His career is now devoted both to composition and artistic research. Recently, he has been more and more interested in semiotics and the rhetorical dimension of music.
Venturini Franco (1977)
He studied piano, composition with Ivan Fedele and electronic music. He received prizes in Piano and Chamber Music competitions. He made first performances of contemporary works. His works were performed in “Angelica Festival”, Bologna; “Radio Suisse Romande” in Genève, in the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik” in Darmstadt and in the “Biennale Musica” in Venice. Among the interpreters of his music there are internationally recognized musicians as A. Politano, the “Flatus Vocis trio” from Lausanne, the “Quartet New Generation” from Berlin. He was pianistic collaborator in theatres for the staging of Operas and in the “REC Festival” in Reggio Emilia for the contemporary Opera “L’Angelo e il Golem” by F. La Licata, under the artistic direction of Daniele Abbado. He teaches piano and musical theory teacher in a musical academy in Bologna.
Vetrano Roberto (1982)
He started studying composition as the natural evolution of a path begun with the study of the piano, which has always been accompanied by an interest for creative practice, enriched with the field of visual arts. After graduating in piano and composition at the conservatory of Lecce (Italy), he attended composition classes and seminars of Ivan Fedele, Toshio Hosokawa, Marco Stroppa, Salvatore Sciarrino, Stefano Gervasoni and Beat Furrer. His acoustic and electroacoustic compositions have been performed by important musical institutions, in Italy and abroad. He currently studies at the Accademia Santa Cecilia with Ivan Fedele. He is among the founders of the research group M()A.
Vito Zuraj (1979)
He was born in Maribor (Slovenia). He studied composition with Marko Mihevc, Lothar Voigtländer and Wolfgang Rihm. Following his studies in composition, he completed a master's degree in music informatics. He is currently enrolled as a Master of Arts student of composition at the International Ensemble Modern Academy Frankfurt. He perfected his compositional technique at summer schools with numerous prominent composers. His works has been performed at the ISCM World Music Days, the Bartók Seminar, the Estoril Music Festival, the Tenso Days in Berlin, the Davos Festival, the Takefu International Music Festival, the Festival Mouvement Saarbrücken, Acanthes (2010), and the Donaueschinger Musiktage. His works have also been performed the RIAS Kammerchor Berlin and Deutsche Radio Philharmonie conducted by Johannes Kalitzke. Vito Žuraj teaches instrumentation and Gregorian chant at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe.
Bellocchio Maria Grazia
She graduated with highest honors from the G. Verdi Conservatory in Milan where she studied under Antonio Beltrami and Chiaralberta Pastorelli. She went on to study under Karl Engel at the Hochschule in Bern, and in Milan with Franco Gei. In her first public appearances, she performed the Scriabin concerto with the RAI Orchestra of Milan, Beethoven’s Concerto n.1 with the Conservatory Orchestra of Milan, and Stravinsky’s Les Noces at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna. She later soloed with the Pesaro Chamber Orchestra, Milano Classica, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Toscanini Orchestra in Parma, the Padua Chamber Orchestra, and the G. Verdi Symphonic Orchestra in Milan. She was invited to take part in the Orchestra Schleswig Holstein Music Festival, directed by Leonard Bernstein. She performs regularly with many major music groups in both Italy and elsewhere. She has performed several piano duets with Stefania Redaelli, and has collaborated with musicians like Ingo Goritzki, Han de Vries, Renate Greis, Wolfgang Mayer, William Bennet, Sergio Azzolini, Rocco Filippini, Franco Petracchi, Elizabeth Norberg Schulz, Salvatore Accardo and Bruno Giuranna. Her repertoire reaches from Bach to contemporary composers. She appears regularly with the Divertimento Ensemble and their director Sandro Gorli, and is often present at major Italian and European music festivals. She has recorded CDs for Ricordi and Stradivarius with works by Bruno Maderna, Mauro Cardi, Giulio Castagnoli, Sandro Gorli, Franco Donatoni, Matteo Franceschini, and Stefano Gervasoni. Her next album with Stradivarius will be a CD dedicated to Ivan Fedele’s piano compositions. She teaches piano performance at the G. Donizetti Institute for Music Studies in Bergamo, and regularly holds courses on piano pedagogy, focusing on classical and contemporary repertoire.