Suspended Song

Rating:
Summary: The first collection in English on a sound sculptor
Review: The Contemporary Review is an esoteric journal devoted to contemporary expression in music. They solocit the most vigorous practicioners in the field of music. In fact this is the only source for knowing what some esoteric composers think, and reflections on their work by equally gifted scholars and analysists. Since his death in May 1990, Luigi Nono has solicited a broad following primarily in Europe and the presence of his Marxists affinities doesn't seem to bother Europeans who look beyond this. We have learned to look beyond it as well, way beyond politics in this country. But Nono now is no longer an enigma. His late music is what everyone has gotten excited about, but if you know his early work, the suspended songs and cluster sonoricisms there really is no conceptual rupture as the French are fond on saying. Helmut Lachenmann is a gifted noise composer who studied with Nono in the late Fifties. And he admirably reflects on Nono's penchant,his sensitivity for the pure power of sound, something which engages his own music, although not quite as orthodox as Nono. Perhaps living in his native Venice taught Nono the mysteries of sound, and the haunted-ness of silent spaces, of bells peeling from an unknown distance. Flutist Roberto Fabbriciani reflects more on a personal level, their first meeting which was simply walking and talking through Venice all day.;Not a tone was emitted. Stabler's piece is more about Stabler than Nono,but draws to Nono's influence on the younger generation German composers Stabler and Wolfgang Rihm have found in Nono a deep reservoir. The editor here Davismoon is the most squarely analytical, the piano and tape piece is good grist for this mill "serene waves endured" dedicated to Maurizio Pollini. Nono's massive "Prometeo" is also discussed but I'd like more of this, everyting seems to be emitted in small fragments, rather than rendering the work in totality. Nono has pointed to something deep within the Western tradition, again the pure appreciation, the pure perception of sound, its contours and internal structures in microintervals, in timbre, in its spatialization. When spatialized as in "Prometeo" assisted by computer, we hear/perceive sound as if under a microscope. There is another installment publication with more Nono illuminations. Don't miss it, there may not be another from anywhere in English.

Rating:
Summary: The first collection in English on a sound sculptor
Review: There is scant material on Luigi Nono in English,in fact it has only been since his death in May,1990 that we even have any encounters with his music(recordings at all. Perhaps his affinity for Marxism as a creator of music has kept neglect high this side of the Atlantic in terms of performances. Abbado gave the local premiere of a concert reduced version of his monumental "Prometeo" in New York in October on tour with Berlin Phil. These essays in English or translated from other languages aptly fills many of the conceptual craters we have here with a musical culture intensily magnetized toward the market. The most deeply felt piece here is by Helmut Lachenmann, a one time student from 1958 of Nono. Lachenmann observes quite perceptively Nono's penchant,his sensitivity for the pure quality of timbre,of raw almost unfinished structure,much like a sculpture by Serra or Abakanowicz,where Nono felt you, the composer always needs to go deeper not farther into his materials. This has meant an incredible voyage into microintevals, silences as a durational mirror,spatialization and the use of the voice and computer. The capable editor here Stephan Davismoon should be decorated for devoting this space,his time to this endeavor. He analyzes the well known string quartet, the feathery reflections of "Fragmente-Stille, an Diotema", aspects of time, metronome indications and pitch/timbral surfaces is what this late music engages. The Stabler piece(with excerpts from his "string quartet" is more about Stabler than Nono,but a good reflection on how Nono's powerfull music may inspire. There are necessary contributions by natives, those who knew Nono his entire creative life and worked with him as Claudio Abbado who was a devoted follower/interpreter of Nono's music long before it became popular.There is also backward looking materials as Spangemacher's use of Schoenberg as a metaphor for early Nono. Actually early Nono is not very interesting,he was more of a moral voice one with an engaged vision that was a live magnetizing force against the social escapism of a Stockhausen,Berio or Boulez,who all grew simultaneously in the cultural mileau of post-War Europe.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful insightfull essays,necessary contributions
Review: There is scant material on Luigi Nono in English,in fact it has only been since his death in May,1990 that we even have any encounters with his music(recordings at all. Perhaps his affinity for Marxism as a creator of music has kept neglect high this side of the Atlantic in terms of performances. Abbado gave the local premiere of a concert reduced version of his monumental "Prometeo" in New York in October on tour with Berlin Phil. These essays in English or translated from other languages aptly fills many of the conceptual craters we have here with a musical culture intensily magnetized toward the market. The most deeply felt piece here is by Helmut Lachenmann, a one time student from 1958 of Nono. Lachenmann observes quite perceptively Nono's penchant,his sensitivity for the pure quality of timbre,of raw almost unfinished structure,much like a sculpture by Serra or Abakanowicz,where Nono felt you, the composer always needs to go deeper not farther into his materials. This has meant an incredible voyage into microintevals, silences as a durational mirror,spatialization and the use of the voice and computer. The capable editor here Stephan Davismoon should be decorated for devoting this space,his time to this endeavor. He analyzes the well known string quartet, the feathery reflections of "Fragmente-Stille, an Diotema", aspects of time, metronome indications and pitch/timbral surfaces is what this late music engages. The Stabler piece(with excerpts from his "string quartet" is more about Stabler than Nono,but a good reflection on how Nono's powerfull music may inspire. There are necessary contributions by natives, those who knew Nono his entire creative life and worked with him as Claudio Abbado who was a devoted follower/interpreter of Nono's music long before it became popular.There is also backward looking materials as Spangemacher's use of Schoenberg as a metaphor for early Nono. Actually early Nono is not very interesting,he was more of a moral voice one with an engaged vision that was a live magnetizing force against the social escapism of a Stockhausen,Berio or Boulez,who all grew simultaneously in the cultural mileau of post-War Europe.