AN INTERDISCIPLINARY FIELD in Music and Vision November 26

AN INTERDISCIPLINARY FIELD

Two contemporary music festivals in Rome,
described by GIUSEPPE PENNISI

Even in the rather small world of music experts and musicians, very few specialists know that Rome is one of the European capitals of contemporary music. In 2009, the number of hours of contemporary music played in Rome by modern music societies, as well as by electronic music and electro-acoustic associations were slightly more than those performed in Berlin (about two thousand five hundred). The statistics refer only to music performed for a paying audience, even if at very low prices (often around ten euros per ticket). In 2010, there has been a reduction of performances due to budget cuts by the state and local government financing sources, plus lower contributions by enterprises and other donors. Contemporary music is one the first victims of a recession and of budget cuts because it commands a rather small and specialized audience and has no lobby to advocate its merits in government and in parliament.
Nonetheless, one of the three State Universities in Rome ('La Sapienza') has a concert series largely devoted to contemporary music, the RomeEurope musical foundation is very attentive to contemporary music and, in the latter part of the year, two contemporary music festivals attract an international crowd of composers, performers and listeners much larger than that following the internationally better known International Music Festival started in Venice in the late 1930s and held every other year. The Rome Festivals are notably interesting spots where new trends and new schools can be detected and new talents discovered.

Jazz at Villa Aurelia
They are the Nuova Consonanza Festival, now in its 47th edition, and the more recent Emufest, an international electronic and electroacoustic music festival, now in its third edition.

Sculture musicale
They are quite different, first of all in terms of span. The Nuova Consonanza Festival runs from 5 November to 21 December and its twelve 'events' are distributed over three main locations: the splendid Villa Aurelia built in the seventeenth century by a Farnese Cardinal and now home to the American Academy in Rome, the ancient Baroque concert hall of the Santa Cecilia Academy near Piazza del Popolo, and the Philarmonic Society's Sala Casella in the Flaminio Gardens. Of the events, that held on 7 November 2010 in Villa Aurelia was a marathon from 4pm until midnight; in the various halls of the Villa (overlooking Rome's historical city center from the top of Gianicolo Hill), entailed a dozen different concerts, including modern scores for movies of the 1920s. Emufest lasted from 14 November until 21 November and was held almost entirely in the Santa Cecilia Conservatory concert hall with a program featuring seminars and lectures in the morning and three concerts in the afternoon and in the evening (starting at 3.30pm, 5.30pm and 8.30pm). In each concert, several composers presented world premières of their new works: many of the compositions last less than ten minutes. No doubt it is both charming and intriguing to listen to electronic music and electroacoustics in a wholly Baroque auditorium featuring an elaborate and oversize organ.

Maratona Musicale Nuova Consonanza
A thread between the two festivals is the celebration of thirty years since the death of Franco Evangelisti and ten since that of Francesco Pennisi (two internationally known Italian composers from the second half of the twentieth century). The latter was my distant cousin. They were both among the pillars of Nuova Consonanza. Evangelisti spent much of his life (1926-1980) in Germany (Darmstad-Berlin) and brought electronic music to Italy. Francesco Pennisi was also a painter and a writer; a student of Robert Mann (1925-2010), he was influenced by American neo-classicism and calligraphic style as well as by the twelve note row system. Several of his operas were staged in Italian and foreign theatres.

Sculture musicale
The 2010 Nuova Consonanza Festival is titled Romantik. This is not without a meaning. There is, of course, a link with Robert Schumann's two hundredth birthday. However, on the basis of the Villa Adrian music marathon and of the first few concerts, it is apparent that several compositions take their distances from the socio-political themes of those of the second half of the twentieth century. They focus mostly on individual issues or on issues of couples. Sentiments prevail over political manifestos. Also the twelve row system appears to be retrenching in front of a new neo-romantic advance, of both minimalism and of a calligraphic style which also permeates electronic experimentation. This is an interesting signal of trend because the authors are American, French, German, Dutch and Italian and hence a wide sample.

Maratona Musicale Nuova Consonanza
Emufest is, obviously, quite different. Sixty years after its introduction, electronic and electroacoustic music already has worldwide circulation. A large majority of the music that we listen to is now produced, at least partly, by electronic means, through which many of the sounds of our time are developed. Also, nowadays, much of what we have come to think of as 'art related music' is electroacoustic music: it is created in private and public production and research centers throughout the world; it is also common, however, that individual composers use their own personal equipment. The field of electroacoustic music is, properly, the attention of applied research. The study of new methods of analysis, synthesis and elaboration of sound is extremely important not only for art related music, but also for industries involved in electronic musical instruments and professional audio. Electroacoustic music, therefore, represents an interdisciplinary field: the meeting place of art, science and technology.

Nicola Sani
The electronic music course at Rome's Santa Cecilia Conservatory of Rome was one of the first in Italy. The first teacher was Franco Evangelisti, one of the foremost representatives of the Italian and European experimental avant-garde. Thanks to him, its first professor, the School of Electronic Music of Rome has been known since then for the quality and depth of the specialization in composition. In nine intense days, Emufest presented about forty different new compositions. Two features deserve mention: the large contributions of composers from 'non-Atlantic countries' -- mostly China and Argentina; and the success of Nicola Sani's Achab B, a fourteen minute composition for sax, soprano and electronic support.
Copyright © 26 November 2010 Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy

ROME
ITALY
AVANT-GARDE
CHINA
ARGENTINA
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