report from venice (1982)

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Report from Venice (1982)Author(s): Frank CampoSource: Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 21, No. 1/2 (Autumn, 1982 - Summer, 1983), pp. 372-377Published by: Perspectives of New MusicStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/832880.

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Report rom enice 1982)

The conceptofcombininghisyear's nternational omputerMusic Conferencewith the Venice Biennale was a happyone.The event, ntitledNumeroe Suono (September27-October8),included a tremendously xciting eries of scientificmeetings,lecture-discussionsithnotedcomposers Nono,Berio,Xenakis,Cage, Stockhausenand Aldo Clementi), istening essions and,best ofall,a seriesof concerts hat planto discuss.The serieswas divided ntotwoparts; part (September28-October3) wasdevotedto "themostrecent xperimentsnsoundinorderto evaluatethe newest lectronic echnology", hilepartII, Presenzadi Stravinsky, as an homageon the 100th nniver-saryof his birth rom hecityhe always oved and where ndeedhe lies buriedbeside hisfriend, iaghilev.Intelligent rogrammingnd excellentperformanceswerethenorm hroughout.nsembles uch as thechorus nd orchestraofthe Radiotelevisionetalianafrom oth Torino and Rome,theIRCAM ensemblefrom aris and theRAI orchestra romMilanparticipated longwith largenumber ffine hambermusicians.The concertswererecordedbytheRAI for aterpresentation.Beforediscussing nyof themusic, shouldpointout thatthe audience was essentially oung in their 0s and 30s),mainlyItalian,American, rench,German ndEnglishinthat escendingnumericalorder),excitableand verymuch concernedwiththefutureof music as a serious art form.The attendance wastremendous,nd it was necessary o arrive arly difficulto dowhenrushing rom ne eventtoanother), ushand shove a localcustom) or else be preparedto stand throughout he concert(therewere no reserved eats).A fewgeneralremarksoncerninghemusic;first,hequalitylevelwassurprisinglyigh.., surprisingome,atanyrate;second,the newness nd novelty fthe music aymore nthetechniquesthan n thesounds themselves. hus, forexample,Segmenteby

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Gottfried oenig b.EastGermany 926)might ave beenwrittenin the 50s rather han 1982exceptfor the factthat a computerwas used to make choices regarding itch,durations, tc. Andfinally, he "Damn the audience Who needs themanyway? "concept seemed to have been laid aside. Composerswith ong-standing eputationsXenakis,Stockhausen)werewritingmusicmeant to be enjoyed and appreciated by intelligentudienceseverywhere.Two of thechambermusic concertsgivenat theBenedettoMarcello Conservatorytand out. The firstncludedthealreadynotedSegmente99-105byKoenig, thewell-integrated,elicateandbeautifullyrafted assagesforflute ndtapebyJean-ClaudeRisset b. France 1938), I Geografofor wovoicesand tape (partof an opera) by James Dashow (b. Chicago 1944) withratherconventional ocalwritingnd a tapethat acked textural ariety(mycomments eremaybe veryunfair ecause the work houldreallybe heard in context), ratherdull compositionfor voiceand tapecalled A voi che lavorate ulla terrabyFausto Razzi (b.Italy 1932), and a veryweak, self-indulgentxercise,FusioneFugace, forreal time4X digitalprocessor,byTod Machover (b.New York1953), npartrealized at the RCAM PompidouCenterin Paris. Incidentally, ne of the few disappointmentst theBiennale was theweaknessofmostof the RCAM products.The second Conservatory oncert featured the attractiveanddelicateSerenadeforPiano byThomas DeLio (unfortunatelynotperformedive),a ratherpedestrianConcertpieceforviolinand tape byWesleyFuller b. USA 1930),Love intheAsylumfortape by Michael McNabb (b. USA) which combines naturalsounds laughter, peech,etc.) with onventionalmusicalsoundsto good effect, nd Ever-LivinRhythmforpercussion nd tapebyNeil Rolnik,a tourde forceenjoyed byall exceptthose fewdie-hardswhoare sick ofdrum olos.A concert none ofthe rooms at the Teatro La Fenice (notthemainhall) featuredmusicfor ingle,unaccompanied nstru-ments nd provedto be a delight.The Due Pezzi for olo violinby Gilberto Cappelli (b. Italy 1952) was a virtuoso cadenzafeaturingmanyofthe nowstandardnewtechniques;theSuper-scriptio orpiccolo byBrianFerneyhoughb. England1943)wasa brilliantnd very atisfyingxercise forthat nstrument,hile



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five nstrumentalroupswere stationedthroughouthechurch,each with ts own conductor and each performingairly impleandstraightforwardusic.Withoutwishingobecome embroiledin a Cage controversy, can only state thatthe sounds werepleasing;thepiece made a fine ontrastwith heotherworksontheprogram,nd a largeportion ftheaudience loved it.The concert of the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen wasprecededbyan afternoonecturebythat omposeron "The ArtofListening"...to hismusic,of course. The eveningconcertatthe Teatro Malibranwas againwellattended, ut theratherargetheatrepermittedll to entercomfortably. he first alfof theconcertwas devoted oStockhausen'sAmHimmelWandrech.Indianl ongsfor two voices inwhicha male and femalesinger,seated on the stage floor,occasionallygesturebut more oftenintone, nvery implefashion,American ndian yrics mployingoccasional harmony nd less-frequentounterpoint.The com-poserfailed to sustain nterest orthe45-minute uration f thework,and perhapssome of the audience had observed such aritualdone farbetterbytheHopi tribe n thesouthwestUnitedStates.Stockhausen'sTransfororchestra nd tape occupied thesecond halfof theprogram.The curtainspartedto reveal onlythestringsftheRAI orchestra f Milan seated behinda red-litscrimplaying ustainedharmonics 2nds,then3rds,4ths, tc. to8vas),whilefourpreviouslyecordedwind ndpercussion roups(SiiddeutschesRundfunkOrchesterof Stuttgart)wound a mar-velously omplexfabric fsound aboutthem.Thiswas also ritualand theatre, s had been thevocal duo, but thistime tworkedbecause of the strength nd imaginationof the music. Theaudience loved itand applaudedthecomposer ongand loudly.The first artof theBiennaleFestivalendedwith he worldpremiereof Quando stannomorendo,Diario Polacco N. 2 byLuigiNono at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. The hall itself soverwhelmingn itsbeauty, s the audience is surrounded y aseries ofhugeTintorettomasterpieces.The musicis scored forfourfemalevoices, bass flute, cello and live electronics.Thework, nspiredbyrecentevents n Poland, employsthewritingsof variousPoles (in Italian) and is dedicated "to Polishfriendsand companions n exile, in hiding, n prisonwho are resistingandhoping .."



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and orchestra ftheRAI-Radiotelevisionetaliana ofRomeunderthe direction fGianluigiGelmetti.The musicalportionof the 1982 Biennale ended withtwoperformancesf he hree-actomicopera lFlaminio,byPergolesiwith ibretto yGennarantonio ederico,performed y heTeatroSan Carlo Companyand billedas thefirstmodernperformancebased on the1735manuscript.herelationshipetween travinskyandPergolesiviaPulcinella stoowellknown orequire omment.II Flaminiohad been stagedfour times between1735and 1749andwas considered ohavebeen a great uccess. It is difficultounderstandwhythisdelightfulworkdisappearedso completelyfrom herepertoire.The Biennale performance taged byRoberto De Simonewas highly tylized,withthe cast costumed as Capodimonteporcelain figurines,t timeswearingCommedia dell'artemasks.The music is some of thecomposer'sfinest nd theplot,whilelightweight,as brought o lifebythis pirited erformance. hevoices ranged fromgood to outstandingwithsome first-classcomicactingby everal fthemen,while heuse oftheNeapolitandialect ntherecitativesevidentlyne ofthefactors hat nitiallyrestricted hepopularity f theopera) was keptto an uncompli-cated and amusingminimum.To sumupthese mpressionsf thepasttwoweeks nVenice... thisyear'smusicalBiennale thevisual artsegmentwas a verydifferenttory)wasa tremendousuccess. Thiswas due inpart othe finequalityofboththemusic and theperformancesutalsoto the largeand enthusiasticudiences whomade each concertan event. spoke to young talian musicianswho had carefullysaved every irain order to make thetripto Venice, and I alsospoke to variousEuropean non-musiciansn the audience andwas struck ytheirknowledge fand interestnnewmusic.Howsuccessful he Biennale Musica '82 was in its statedpurpose of"establishing link between sound engineersand composers"probably nlytimewilltell. On the otherhand.., could such aneventbe heldinthe United Statesand receive mportant upportfromvariousgovernmental gencies, major orchestras nd, inaddition, ttract quivalent udiences... ?FRANK CAMPO

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report from venice (1982)

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