Luigi Nono - La lontananza nostalgica utopica futura
First, I would like to thank H.C. Earwicker for his contributions during the past week. He did an outstanding job with his first three posts. As he already said, he'll return in a few weeks with something delightful.
The item that is the focus of this post is a piece for solo violin, 8 magnetic tapes and 8 to 10 music stands. I don't know of many pieces of music composed for music stands or that emphasize music stands. Actually, I do not know of any other pieces for music stands. Throughout the piece (split into 6 separate tracks) at points there seems to be sounds of music stands themselves being dragged or being moved. As mentioned in the liner notes on how this is supposed to be performed: "The 6 parts (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) of 'La Lontananza' should be placed on 6 music stands on the stage (and in the audience as well), irregularly and asymmetrically, never near each other, but in such a way as to permit free although never direct passage between them, the player searching them out. They can also be 'complicated' with 2 or 4 empty music stands in order to make the passage way more varied and imaginative, the players even suddenly getting lost or coming to a halt."
Performers:
Melise Mellinger - violin
Salvatore Sciarrino - sound design / sound projection
Tracklisting:
1. Leggio I {9:25}
2. Leggio II {12:21}
3. Leggio III {10:33}
4. Leggio IV {8:16}
5. Leggio V {11:30}
6. Leggio VI {9:30}
Nice post. This is edition is slightly rare than the release by Disques Montaigne performed by Irvine Arditti. The interesting thing here is the sound design by Sciarrino, who is right now, probably the most unique compositional voice these days.
ReplyDeleteThanks mena. I plan on exploring Sciarrino's work in the near future.
ReplyDeleteTo anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI know this comment is written four months later, but I swear that this is the first time I have seen these links. Thank you very much for the links. Looks like lots of terrific stuff.
Funny how there is treasure sitting in one's backyard (in my case this blog) and not know about it for a long time.
Hi GC.
ReplyDeleteI think one reason you've not heard about other compositions with or for music stands is: they are very difficult to master. Cage talks about them in a documentary (I forget which) in which he describes trying to reproduce a sound once you've made it using a music stand.