Portraits: Salvatore Sciarrino

music by Salvatore Sciarrino

Esplorazione del bianco II (1986)

Adagio di Mozart (2010)

Omaggio a Burri (1995)

Anamorfosi (1981)

Gesualdo senza parole (2013)

Paesaggi con macerie (2022, Italian premiere – commissioned by Icarus vs Muzak in cooperation with Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation)

• Vento e polvere
• Frantumi
• Cancellazione

Marco Angius, conductor

Icarus vs Muzak

Giovanni Mareggini, flute
Orfeo Manfredi, oboe
Alberto Delasa, clarinet
Yoko Morimyo, violin
Vittorio Benaglia, viola
Luca Colardo, cello
Hugo Soto Mendoza, contrabass
Giorgio Genta, guitar
Diego Petrella, piano
Francesco Pedrazzini, percussions

«Not all artists manifest social and political ideals. That’s a strange and contradictory fact about people who are committed to improving society, as they work for an audience that follows them. The great ones of our history can serve as models for us; we must observe how the trajectory of their works is always refining and deepening as they come to maturity. Sometimes this happens within the limits of an incredibly short life. I quote as it happens: Masaccio (27), Pergolesi (26), Raphael (37), Mozart (34), Schubert (31), Schiele (28). Beethoven was not afraid to expose himself (nor to be wrong) when, driven by a heroic ideal of brotherhood and freedom, he wrote a dedication to Napoleon that he later removed. What about us? We even avoid arguing with our friends while the house across the street is on fire, and we are almost ashamed to take a stand and go to rescue. It’s wretching, how we are lost and paralyzed in a web of news! I have wondered how to reflect on the discomfort of the last few months. I have never ignored the bloodthirsty and fratricidal nature that moves the masses; however, today keeping silent becomes unjust and intolerable for me. In such an uneasy state of mind, Paesaggi con macerie (eng. Landscapes with Rubble) was born. Ancient paintings loved to show ruins in the countryside: they were scenic elements, vain witnesses of an illustrious past, set in pastoral contexts of extreme poverty. My „rubble“ comes from some Mazurkas by Chopin, a melancholy revolutionary. I don‘t know if I have succeeded in expressing admiration for this composer and, at the same time, the fragility always lurking against the traces our fathers left us; or have I just scarred the music of the Polish patriot? I would like to break, without controversy, the indifference that oppresses us at this time, and leads many of us to silently approve of violence.»

Salvatore Sciarrino