I've rarely worked on a piece of contemporary music_
Sometimes it's hard for me even to understand some abstract concepts behind a certain piece of art. Hard, but extremely fascinating.
I had the chance in these two months to put my hands (as a musician) on a quite complex composition but really interesting for the idea behind it. It happened, like those things that are not planned because they are not. Perhaps when they arrive, they bring that hidden pleasure to try something new.
"Responsorio Meccanico", composer Massimiliano Viel_
As part of the Rehie Laptop Ensemble and resident artist at AGON, Contemporary Music Center in Milan, I contribute to the preparation and performance of the electronic side of the above composition. The song, divided into 4 movements, was commissioned by the "Gioventù Musicale d'Italia", from the sound of one of the most important madrigalists of the '500, Gesualdo da Venosa.
7 brass (Sinestesia Ensemble), 7 laptop (supervised by Giorgio Sancristoforo) and a soprano, together to analyze the relationship between man and machine, human and post-human, differences and contemporary fusion of two worlds necessarily tied together. As inspirator for this music piece, Gesualdo, has been an essential link between the Renaissance world and the Baroque one.
Due to a tight time schedule, the preparation of electronic instruments (totally programmed on Max/MSP), has been really short and intensive. Playing with an academic ensemble, requires a particular attention to sound timbres, modulations and dynamics . In some parts of the composition the contrast between acoustic and electronic instruments had to be emphasized, in others a computer and a trombone had to melt their souls together.
Sound as a lively expression of the necessary coexistence between man and machine, the symbol of his own growth. Inside the entire composition, references of a man who managed to make a concrete contribution to music history, between the XVI and the XVII century.
A contemporary work in the way to express the music inside it, looking at the human history and with a form that recalls a past that has to be remembered.
A little preview, during a rehearsal.
And so, as it happens_
I've had the opportunity to give my little contribute_ To work on something new for me_
To play with real musicians and people who like to do their job_ Which is the main reason why I do all this things_