'Nono composed framed silences' (NRC-Handelsblad, 21-11-'96)
| program: | -'La fabbrica illuminata' (1964) for voice and tape -'....sofferte onde serene...' (1976) for piano en tape -'A Pierre. Dell'azzurro silenzio, inquietum' (1985) for contrabass flute, contrabass clarinet and live-electronics -'La lontananza nostalgica utopica futura' (1988-89) madrigal for several 'travellers', solo-violin, 8 soundtracks and 8 to 10 music stands. |
| Performed by the Schreck-ensemble |
| musicians: | Caroline Erkelens -soprano Tiziana Pintus -violin Hein Pijnenburg -contrabass clarinet Lesley Olson -contrabass flute Darla Crispin -piano |
| technique and sound diffusion: | Hans van Eck -Sound Diffusion Colin McClure -Sound Engineer Pieter Suurmond -Computer Technology Arie van Schutterhoef -Organisation |
Of all the great composers who determined the course of contemporary
music after 1950, Luigi Nono was one of the two (Stockhausen being the
other) that used electronics extensively in his works. This not only
means that a majority of these works require live electronics or tapes
during the performance, but that it also has become a determining
factor.
"Electronic sound transformation, timbral distribution and time
spaces does not mean the rigidity of the electronically extended sound,
but the personal interpretation, a very important point for Nono."
(Hans-Peter Haller, Diary note 3.9.84). (1)
A short historic overview of his electro-acoustic works gives a clear
picture of his development as a composer. Striking is the consistency
in the use of space and the spatial effects, but also his change from
committed communist artist to a utopian philosopher searching for
freedom.
This is also expressed in his later free, more open compositions,
in the sense of
"creative labour as an open process, as exploration of
unknown regions, as a continuous approach towards a vision, an ideal of
freedom, of truth, and living free, and free together, actually a
liberating utopia." (Frank Schneider).
(2)
The compositions in this program clearly illustrate the important phases
in his work:
"La fabbrica illuminata" is rightly so one of his famous works from his
communist period in which he expresses his commitment with the oppressed
factory workers in a very convincing way.
"...sofferte onde serene..." pointed Nono into a new direction, that led
him through his string quartet "Fragmente-Stille, an Diotima" towards
"Prometeo" and his other later works.
One of these later works is "A Pierre", in which the for Nono very typical
mingling of past and present is achieved by means of the specified live-
electronics and the audience is invited to listen to very delicate
"shadow sounds".
"La lontananza nostalgica utopica futura" takes us as fellow travellers
along the path that Nono show us, towards a possible utopian world:
'I believe that more than ever before men has the opportunity and the
ability to study, to open up new routes, to reach for peaks, to discover
peaks, which are beyond the heavens, different spaces, different earths,
different abysses, different fantasies' (Nono). (3).
text: Hans van Eck
translation: Arie van Schutterhoef
Sources:
| (1) | quoted in Luigi Nono program book of the Holland Festival 1992, edited by Johan Kolsteeg. |
| (2) | Musik und Gesellschaft, 1989, p.127. |
| (3) | see (1) |
Press reviews of "Ascolta" in the Dutch national daily papers:
[...]The music of Nono demands the utmost concentration of the musicians
and a good sense of timing in a slow dramatic rhythm. The members of the
Schreck-ensemble are handling this very well[...]
-Emile Wennekes- NRC Handelsblad/21-11-1996-
[...]also because of the exemplary way the technicians of the Schreck
-ensemble play along with the music behind their mixing desks[...]
-Emile Wennekes- NRC Handelsblad/21-11-1996-
[...]an impressive concert by the Schreck Ensemble...dedicated to
Nono[...]
-Rene van Peer- Brabants Dagblad/21-11-1996-
