Darkness to Light Music & Vision 21 giugno

Darkness to Light
GIUSEPPE PENNISI visits the Ravenna Festival

Who remembers William Inge's play The Dark at the Top of the Stairs? In the sixties it was a major box office hit both on Broadway and in the West End, and its movie transposition was very successful in several countries. In Italy, even though so many years have gone by since its first release, it is occasionally back on late night TV programs. The 2010 Ravenna Festival has an elegant 150 page large-format catalogue called, in Latin, Ex Tenebris ad Lucem ('From darkness to light') which is just the opposite of Inge's title and message.
Many Music & Vision readers may ask where Ravenna is, and what is the role of its Festival on the European scene. Now, Ravenna is a lovely Adriatic seaside spot, filled with remnants of the Roman and Byzantine Empires, along with fine museums, gold mosaics and many seventeenth century palaces. There is an elegant nineteenth century theatre as well as several other locations suited to musical and theatrical performances. For the last twenty one years, Ravenna has had an important multi-disciplinary festival. This year, an audience of eighty thousand (approximately 25% of which are non-Italians) is expected. Its six million euro budget is financed by a consortium of Italian central and local authorities with private sponsors, along with box office receipts.

A scene from 'Tenebræ' at the 2010 Ravenna Festival. Photo © 2010 Maurizio Montanari
Riccardo Muti and his wife, Cristina, tirelessly promote the festival, in part through international partnerships and their well-deserved personal prestige. In previous years, Ravenna has brought to the attention of Western European theatres jewels like the Moscow Helikon Opera and the Lithuanian National Opera. This year the main events are co-produced with the Salzburg Festival and the Rome Teatro dell' Opera. Other events include Charles Dutoit conducting the Royal Philarmonia Orchestra, and Yuri Temirkanov with the Philarmonia Orchestra. The Festival was expected to be inaugurated by Claudio Abbado, who regretfully had to cancel because he is seriously ill. Muti will conduct two versions (by Mozart and Jommelli) of Metastasio's opera Betulia Liberata and a grand final concert (Cherubini's Requiem in C minor) with a huge number of players combining two orchestras and three choruses. The details are described at www.ravennafestival.org.

Elena Bucci in a scene from 'Tenebræ' at the 2010 Ravenna Festival. Photo © 2010 Maurizio Montanari
The main difference from other multidisciplinary festivals -- eg the Two Worlds Festival in Spoleto -- is that the Ravenna program has a clear theme: this year both philosophical and religious -- the difficult and gruesome search for truth. Also Ravenna presents world premières: this year Tenebræ by Adriano Guarnieri and Massimo Cacciari. Guarnieri is one of the most prestigious Italian composers; initially influenced by the German school (Darmstadt), now he sounds close to French contemporary experimentation (IRCAM).

Elena Bucci and Katerine Pantigny in a scene from 'Tenebræ' at the 2010 Ravenna Festival. Photo © 2010 Maurizio Montanari
Cacciari is a well-known philosopher, close to Marxism. As an atheist, he is very attracted to religion -- he has visited Mount Athos several times and just published a commentary of the Ten Commandments. For two terms, he has been a much appreciated mayor of Venice (his home town) -- thus he has real management experience -- a rarity for a philosopher. He has also had a long acquaintance with Luigi Nono and his family, and is thus familiar with contemporary music. For Nono, Cacciari arranged texts by several authors for Prometeo, Tragedia dell'Ascolto ( a mammoth opera with over three hours of music and an oversized orchestra and chorus). To make the event even spicier (should there be any need), Cristina Mazzavillani Muti took on the stage direction of this seventy five minute video oratorio (with four scenes and sixteen numbers) and three of the best known Italian experts of virtual sets (Ezio Antonelli), electronic sound (Luigi Ceccarelli) and lighting (Patrizio Maggi) were called to share responsibility for the production.

Elena Bucci in a scene from 'Tenebræ' at the 2010 Ravenna Festival. Photo © 2010 Maurizio Montanari
I was at the 17 June 2010 world première. Cacciari's text deals essentially with death, and more specifically with the difficult and painful separation of the soul from the body : the light at the end of the seventy five minute tunnel is a Zen peace, like in Mahler's Das Lied von Der Erde. The text is sung by two sopranos and a countertenor in a very high register -- with a hyper acute that very few singers would dare to attempt. It was counterpointed by a taped Gregorian chorus of monks with bass voices; as the words are deconstructed, an actress and a dancer explain the meaning. The score is limpid: very classically atonal, composing is combined with a twelve note row style. In the pit, a Teatro dell'Opera fourteen member ensemble does marvels under Pietro Borgonovo's baton. The stage direction and virtual sets may require some re-thinking before reaching Rome and touring to other theatres. In the first two scenes, these are quite effective and combine Caravaggio paintings with ideas from the Good Friday Liturgy and the Gospel (eg the floods). In the remaing two scenes, very little can be seen on the dark set whilst the music is reaching its dramatic apex before the serene conclusion.

A scene from 'Tenebræ' at the 2010 Ravenna Festival. Photo © 2010 Maurizio Montanari
During my visit to Ravenna, I also took the opportunity to hear two concerts by La Stagione Armonica, an ancient music ensemble created and led by Sergio Balestrazzi. The first, in the St Vitale Basilica, was the Good Friday Anthem and the Darkness Prayers by Alessandro Scarlatti, scores found in the archives of the Bologna Philarmonic Academy: dark but rich music from the last few years of the seventeenth century where soloist and chorus are supported by two violins, a cello, a violone, a tiorba and the organ. The second was in St Apollinare Nuovo Basilica: a real gem -- Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation music by Bianciardi, Monteverdi, Morelli, Salvolini and Signoretti, polyphonic and with only the organ providing a basso continuo accompaniment.

A scene from 'Tenebræ' at the 2010 Ravenna Festival. Photo © 2010 Maurizio Montanari
In short, over two days, a travel from darkness to light, from Palestrina to electro-acoustics.
Copyright © 21 June 2010 Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy

RAVENNA
RICCARDO MUTI
ITALY
ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI
<< M&V home Concert reviews Manon >>