Sunday 21 October 2012

Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Cipressi op.17



Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968) was one of the most productive Italian Modern (or Avant-Garde) composers. His major works were for the guitar, but he also composed for many other genres – including piano music, chamber music, vocal and choir music, and symphonic music. After fleeing to the United States, in 1939, to escape Nazi persecution, he started writing scores and soundtracks for Hollywood’s major studios. He wrote over 250 film scores.

Castelnuovo-Tedesco got his degrees on piano and composition from the Florence Conservatory, having studied with Ildebrando Pizzetti and attracted the attention of composer,  pianist and conductor Alfredo Casella. 

 The composer’s works were influenced by a number of styles – comprising Impressionism, neo-Classicism (hence the melodic characteristic of his style,  in times when anything that was not  ‘progressive’ was considered ‘outdated’ or ‘reactionary’ ) and, briefly, Serialism[1]. However, he was reluctant towards aligning himself categorically with any of those trends (many times associating his own music to neo-Romantic influences), stating: 

'I have never believed in modernism, or in neoclassicism, or any other isms. I believe that music is a form of language capable of progress and renewal (and I myself believe that I have a feeling for the contemporary and, therefore, am sufficiently modern). Yet music should not discard what was contributed by preceding generations. Every means of expression can be useful and just, if it is used at the opportune moment (through inner necessity rather than through caprice or fashion). The simplest means are generally the best. I believe that my personality was formed to a decisive degree quite early, but what I have sought to do, during my artistic evolution, has been to express myself with means always simpler and more direct, in a language always clearer and more precise.'
 
In the following piece, notice the subtle influence of Serialism in the first systems of the piece, and all along towards its end, a clear tinge of neo-Romanticism, and Impressionist hues.

Performed by Hamelin. Enjoy!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itL4WGzzGTs&feature=related


[1] ‘Serialism’ is a compositional method which emerged in the 1920’s, with the dodecaphonism or 12-tone music of Arnold Schönberg – which was one of the two types of serialism, namely Dodecaphonism and Total Serialism. In Dodecaphonism, only one element or aspect of music – i.e., pitch – is serialized (arranged according to a series of numerical patterns). In Total Serialism, all elements of music – i.e pitch, note length, volume and timbre – are serialized. However, this does not mean that the serial music composer would pick numbers randomly and try to make music with them; the great challenge was to make serial music that had some degree of sense (unlike ‘indeterminism’, or total randomness). Finally, as the listener is exposed to serial music, he can only perceive unrepeated and unpredictable music ‘events’, which follow one after the other in an apparently random way. The result is very complex, and if it is ever understood, this could only be after many listenings.

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