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Was born in Lecce (Italy) in 1953. He graduated from
the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan, where he studied piano with
Bruno Canino and Ilonka Deckers. He also studied composition with Franco
Donatoni at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and philosophy at
Milan1s State University.
His pieces have been premiered by the Orchestre Nationale de France, the
Orchestre de Radio France, the Orchestre Nationale de Lyon, the Orchestra
Filarmonica della Scala as well as prestigious new music ensembles,
including Nuove Sincronie, Ensemble Varese, Contrechamps,
InterContemporain, Gruppo Musica Insieme, Accroche Note, and Octandre,
under such world-renowned conductors as Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Muti,
Myung-Whun Chung, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Leonard Slatkin and David Robertson.
Ivan Fedele also writes music for radio, film and installations. He
composed two works for Italian Radio: Orfeo al cinema Orfeo (1994) and
Barbara mitica (1996), the soundtrack for the 1928 silent film The Fall of
the House of Usher (dir. Jean Epstein) and for the interactive
installation New Metropolis, Amsterdam (1997, Studio Azzuro, Milan).
Selected works: Chiari for orchestra (1981),
Divertimento for string orchestra or 10 soloists (1981), String Quartet
No. 1 (198189), Oltre Narciso, cantata profana with stage action to the
composer1s libretto (1982), E poi... lyrics for soprano and 12 instruments
to a text by Livio Lucchini (1982), Aiscrim for flute, clarinet and piano
(1983), In giardi-
no di Giada for oboe d1amore and string trio (1983), Armoon for four
pianos (1983/84), Naturae, metaphysical madrigal for countertenor, tenor
and bass to the composer1s texts (1984), Latinamix, three pie-ces for
guitar, piano and flute ad lib. (1985), Magic for four saxophones (1985;
version for four clarinets 1996), Chord for ten performers (1986),
Flores for organ (1987), String Quartet No. 2 OPentalogon1 (1987), Bias
for oboe and guitar (1988), Modus for bass clarinet and percussion (1988),
Epos for orchestra (1989), Mixtim, ritual music for seven performers
(1989), Concerto for Viola and Orchestra (1990), Imaginary Sky-lines for
flute and harp (1990), Etudes boreale for piano (1990), Duo en resonance
for two horns and ensemble (1991), In giardino di Giada II for flute and
string trio (1991), Donax for solo flute (1992), Imaginary Islands for
flute, bass clarinet and piano (1992), Carme for chamber orchestra (1992),
Carme secondo for symphony orchestra (1993), Piano Concerto (1993),
Richiamo for brass instruments, percussion and electronics (199394),
Allegoria dell1indaco, version for chamber orchestra (1994), Orfeo al
Cinema Orfeo for two reciting voices and midi equipment set to texts by
Giuliano Corti (1994), Profilo in eco for flute and ensemble (199495),
Allons for soprano with cello accompaniment (1995), La chute de la Maison
Usher (The Fall of the House of Usher), music to Jean Epstein1s film of
1928 for female voice and ensemble (1995), Ça ira for voice and cello
(1996), Cello Concerto (1996), High. In memoriam Miles Davis for trumpet
(1996), Barbara mitica for tape, radio piece to a text by G. Corti (1996),
Coram for solo voices, choir and orchestra to a text by G. Corti (1996),
Coram Requiem for solo voices, reciting voices, choir and orchestra to a
text by G. Corti (1996), Corrente for piano and seven performers (1996),
Corrente II for piano and six performers (1997), L1Orizzonte di Elettra
for viola, live electronics and chamber orchestra (1997), Correnti
alternate for piano and seven instruments (1997), Dioscuri for two cellos
and orchestra (1997), Imaginary Depth for cello and chamber orchestra
(1997), Donacis ambra for flute and live electronics (1997), Scena for
orchestra (199798), Violin Concerto (199899), Erinni for piano,
dulcimer and vibraphone (1998), Codex, due contrapunti dall1Arte della
Fuga di J. S.Bach for chamber orchestra (1999), Maja for soprano, piano
percussion, flute, clarinet, violin and cello to a text by G. Corti
(1999), Elettra for viola and electronics (1999).
Music in the theatre of memory (interview with Ivan
Fedele)
Where does the title Scena come from?
It is a reference to the theatrical aspect of the piece, which is a
kind of spectacle. Usually I take into account the performance venue for
my pieces. Sometimes I myself create these venues and put forward certain
conditions for performers which I consider ideal for the best reception of
the piece. My proposals concern, for example, the distances between the
instruments and the links between them. In this case, I had a specific
venue in mind: La Scala is a theatre in Italian style, which the general
public associates with opera performances rather than the symphonic
repertoire (this is not to say that my piece cannot be performed elsewhere).
What is the gist of the theatrical aspect of the piece?
In Scena I took the opportunity to [...] realize a composition whose
individual sections would appear as characters in the so-called theatre of
memory. These Ocompositional figures1, which have to be outlined in great
detail and very distinctly, come together, are joined and become separated
in various contexts, in a fashion similar to the characters in an opera.
The challenge consists in creating a spectacle which could be re-created
in a listener1s memory, i.e. in the place where form assumes form. In
Scena I follow therefore two fundamental premises which are the basis of
my compositional process. Firstly that the sense can and should be
communicated through music and that the sense can be organized formally.
At the same time I allow the demon of imagination to play a fundamental
role in the unpredictability with which various sections enter into mutual
relationships. Secondly, intuition and reasoning, i.e. invention and
structure, are equally indispensable. Renouncing one or the other would
mean creating something cool and detached, or chaotic and deprived of
contours.
What are the performance forces in Scena? Do they constitute a whole or
are they divided into sections?
The work is scored for large symphony orchestra and percussion ensemble
[Š] The sound of some instruments is amplified, but the use of
electronics is not envisaged. I pay much attention to the distribution of
sound in space, at the same time preserving the traditional lay-out of the
orchestra. [...] And so, for example, first violins and cellos sometimes
play on the principle of an echo. At a certain moment
a pedal point appears; it moves from double-basses to first violins,
drawing a semi-circle. Scena is divided into several sections, with
a fairly smooth passage from one to another. Some characters remain, while
others depart and new ones appear: [...] sometimes, old characters return
in a new role.
(Interviewed by the editors of Edizio Suvini Zerboni News)
Mixtim. Musica rituale per sette esecutori
Mixtim (Lat. Omixed together1) is about the continuous interweaving of two
contrasting conditions: a repeated transition from the static to the
dynamic and back again, through Ocompression-contraction1 in one direction
and Odilution-expansion1 in the other.
Mixtim unfolds as field of forces which alternately attract and repel each
other, and which eventually achieve a formal equilibrium through their
equidistance from a common point of reference. Once reached, this state of
equilibrium crystallizes into recurrent formal Oislands1 coordinated by an
iterated pattern that suggests the Oritual1 of the title.
Ivan Fedele
Profilo in eco
One of the main aspects of the piece is the notion of space, in the two
meanings summarized by the title: on the one hand, the profile of the
figures of the solo flute defines a Osemantic space1 on the score; on the
other hand, the phenomenon of the echo (in the broadest meaning of the
term) defines the perception of an Oacoustic space1. It is derived from
the interaction between the soloist and the other instruments, arranged
according to a geometry which becomes an essential element in the
compositional process.
The complex of instruments appears this way like an environmental
resonator, continuously stimulated by the flute figures: these seem to be
projected in a kaleidoscope that transforms them and gives them a new
aspect.
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