EXTENDED WOOD PERCUSSION SOLO Simone Beneventi (promo)

Описание: Live recording at Rocca di Vignola 27/11/2016 "Suoni entro le mura"
by Circolo musicale Bononcini

PROGRAM
Silvia Borzelli: Wooden (2015)
per marimba, log drum, woodblock - 11’
Commissione con il supporto della Fonds Podiumkusten (Holland)

Franco Donatoni: Mari (1992) for marimba - 7’

Johan Svensson, Suite from: One man band (2016)
for wood  instruments  and small electronic devices - 12’
Commissione con il supporto della Helge Ax:son Johnsons stiftelse (Sweden)

Giorgio Battistelli: Libro Celibe (1976)
for a performer (movement of sounding papers and not)
esecuzione sull’esemplare realizzato dall’artista del legno Giuseppe Bussi (2015)


CONCEPT
The starting point of this project is an in depth research into compositions for marimba
solo, one of the few percussion instruments that can claim a rich solo repertoire. From this
well nourished body of work I have selected pieces that are connected by their
compositional originality. Fruit of the exploration of the acoustic potential of the instrument,
they have brought unconventional and unexpected results in sound, partly through the
expansion of the marimba with supplementary instruments (mostly wooden), and partly
through a circumscription of the area of action with a strict economy of means. Working
from these pages I have therefore taken a road of investigation both of the sound
properties of my materials and of the creation of interaction between the various
instruments, collaborating with artisans of wood (who became luthiers for the occasion)
and composers interested in letting their musical imagination into the non habitual
environment of the exclusively wooden instruments I have limited them to. Of the three
types of percussion instruments, metal, membrane and wood, this last is surely the least
generous in terms of resonance, timbric versatility and sensitivity in response to touch.
Notwithstanding this, certain wooden instruments have gained a strong identity and a
consolidated position in numerous musical traditions. Their cultural heritage is thereby well
established and their inclusion in this project creates a dialogue between past and present
languages. Thus, this collection of instruments defines the limits of a universe of wood
sounds where apparently distant voices and aesthetics live together and give light to each
other.