Description
Luigi Nono (1924 -1990) was a great innovator in the use of spatialization of sound and experimentation with performance space, non-linear time and the collapsing between sound and silence. His compositional process was increasingly involved with specific performers, whom he chose for their tone and expressive characteristics. This trust reflects on Nono's interest in collaboration, developing the idea that traditional musical notation is limited and cannot reproduce the complexity of performance he reached with every performer. One of Nono's most fruitful collaborations was developed with flutist Roberto Fabbriciani during the 1980s. The works presented here -- selected by Fabbriciani and Alvise Vidolin --explores Nono's music as it is defined by space (and/or the acoustic space) rather than time -- a labyrinthine acoustic environment in which the works seem to float on the threshold of sound and silence, fluctuating from one place to another. In A Pierre. Dell'azzurro silenzio, inquietum, the interplay between flute, clarinet and live electronics and their timbral fusion are at the core of the compositional process. Once the live electronic manipulation of sound moves above the threshold of silence, the listener should no longer be able to detect whether a given sound heard was produced by one of the two performers or reproduced by electronic/digital equipment. Das Atmende Klarsein, fragmente is a reduced version of Nono's work for small choir, bass flute soloist and live electronics. It is the first outcome of the intense collaboration between Fabbriciani and Nono. In the original piece, Nono composed two distinct worlds, one of choir, the other of bass flute. As they never perform together, the bass flute part later became a solo piece after undergoing transformations with the various performances by Fabbriciani (this is typical of Nono's work in progress). The tape piece, Musiche per Manzu, was created for a short documentary that shows the work that Italian sculptor Giacomo Manzu did to realize the bronze doors of St. Francis church in Rotterdam. Fabbriciani's A "Omaggio a Luigi Nono" is also an homage to the last years of their friendship. It reflects both his own research on extended techniques, and Nono's reduction to the essential nature of sound and music. The acoustic part interacts with the tape part made with prerecorded piccolo sounds. The assembling, mixing and spatialization of the recorded sounds is conceived by Alvise Vidolin.
