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(hence the melodic characteristic of his style, in times when anything that was not ‘progressive’ was considered ‘outdated’ or ‘reactionary’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.'
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment