- 1 Licheni
- Morphogenesis
- Last summer sowing
- Blue, Blue, Boundless Blue
- Semi alle bestiole salve
LICHENI (2021)
Lichens are places where an organism unravels into an ecosystem and where an ecosystem congeals into an organism. They flicker between ‹wholes› and ‹collections of parts›.” (Merlin Sheldrake – “Entangled Life”). Lichens are the symbiotic merging of fungi and algae. They are emergent phenomena, entirely more than the sum of their parts: stabilized networks of relationships. The piece seeks to investigate interactions between acoustic instruments and electronics through a network of audio and midi connections, in the attempt of creating sorts of hyper-instruments.
On one side, audio signals coming from the instruments (amplified through piezo microphones) provide spectral material for a resonator controlled via midi; on the other one, the resonator’s output is routed to a tactile transducer, that vibrate and resonate directly on Theorbo’s strings.
Zeno Baldi
LATE SUMMER SOWING (2021)
“Late Summer Sowing” is inspired by a summery landscape. In the fields, some seeds of grain have been thrown, they might deeply rest or germinate, in the blurred light of the sunset.
From precise and detailed instrumental gestures the sound material evolves and changes its nature. Similarities and interactions happen between the instrumental world and its electronic translation until the end of the piece, when the sonic texture resonates from the body of theorbo, hosting and transforming previously heard materials.
Daniela Fantechi
SEMI ALLE BESTIOLE SALVE (2021)
“Semi alle bestiole salve” is a piece written following a double impulse of friendship. On the one hand, the challenge offered by working with the musicians of Azione_Improvvisa Ensemble, on the other the coincidence of a gift from Salvatore Sciarrino “with the bond of musical inspiration”: a collection of medieval bestiaries.
The coincidence of the two events is at the origin of the piece, which has to be understood as a collection of micro scenes, where it is possible to listen to puppies and little beasts playing and fighting. It is not meant to be a catalogue, there is no epic tone in the narrative, but a simple show of hybrid little creatures discovering the world.
Ancestral identities like the theorbo, or technological ones like the electric guitar, or popular like the accordion, trample the uneven ground of an electronic sound garden, saved – at this stage – from their mythological destiny.
Marco Momi
BLUE, BLUE, BOUNDLESS BLUE (2021)
“Blue, Blue, Boundless Blue” for Theorbo, Electric Guitar, Accordion and Electronics was written in Venice. Surrounded by water, the city was like a Non-Place for me, where different times collide. And the piece was like a journey through time, an encounter with Theorbo and with early music. I swim in a “Blue, Blue, Boundless Blue” and different islands of sound emerge, including fragments from the Prélude in A minor by Robert de Visée (c. 1655-1732/1733).
Farzia Fallah
MORPHOGENESIS (2021)
Morphogenesis (2021) for electric guitar, theorbo, accordion, and live electronics was commissioned by the Associazione culturale Anomalia ETS with the support of the Ernst Siemens Foundation.
Morphogenesis is an exploration of a fragile material in its various manifestations. The piece does not consist of a journey from A to B, but of a constantly changing situation. It is a sound kaleidoscope in incessant transformation. The sound materials and their various repetitions are related to each other in a network of similarities rather than in a relationship of cause, consequence, opposition, or juxtaposition. These relationships can be interpreted differently by each listener. In this way, Morphogenesis does not offer a narrative that the listener has to follow, but demands an active and open listening to its constantly changing morphology.
Lula Romero
SEEDS
The concept of seed marks the beginning of this project, in which composers and performers engage with what a seed means to them. It could be intended as a core that stores and preserves historical information from which something new can grow and emerge in different contexts. Or as a starting point for transformation processes in which the sound expands and the listening environment evolves. What is certain, is that the seeds of creativity germinate and multiply.
AZIONE_IMPROVVISA has been active since 2017 with concerts, workshops and installations. The ensemble’s extremely unusual line-up is focused on the exploration of new sound identities within the context of contemporary music, connecting different musical approaches and experiences in a synergic contribution between different ages instruments.
Many composers have written for Azione_Improvvisa, above all Marco Momi, Lula Romero, Giorgio Colombo Taccani, Stefano Alessandretti, Andrea Valle, Farzia Fallah, Zeno Baldi, Maurizio Azzan, Alberto Carretero.
In March 2020 Azione_Improvvisa has been supported by the Grant-in-Aids by Ernst von Siemens Stiftung.
The ensemble was invited to have a concert in “Transart” – Bolzano, “Musica Insieme Festival” – Panicale, “Contrasti” – Trento, “Pergine Festival”, “Pacta Sound Zone” – Milano and join artistic residenses at Fondazione Spinola – Banna and Fattoria Vittadini (Fabbrica del Vapore) in Milan.
The ensemble is among the founders and part of Anomalia – pratiche artistiche contemporanee.
In 2019 Azione_Improvvisa released Parade (Guitart Label), and in 2020, First Glimpse (Ars Spoletium), which includes works done in the first three years.
Azione_Improvvisa Ensemble:
Andrea Antonel: theorbo Margherita Berlanda: accordion Pietro Paolo Dinapoli: e-guitar Daniela Fantechi: electronics
CREDITS:
Music composition founded by Ernst Von Siemens Stiftung and commissioned by Associazione culturale Anomalia ETS
Recording at RecPulsing Studio, Milano by Pasquale Corrado in June 2022 Recording, mixing, mastering by Diego Pugliese
Graphics WatteoArt Photo: Claudia Mazza
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