The under-appreciated genius of Bruno Maderna
A salutary reminder of the genius of Bruno Maderna
Hearing Boulez' Rituel: In Memoriam Brumo Maderna the other day as part of LSO Futures; reminded me that Maderna (1920-73) remains an under-appreciated genius.
Here's the promo video for the present disc:
The Serenata No. 2 of 1954-57 is written for 11 instruments. Scored for flute (piccolo), clarinet, bass clarinet, trumpet, horn, harp, xylophone, vibraphone, piano, glockenspiel, violin, viola, double-bass, its pointillism points to the music of the Damstadt composers; and the 1953 course concentrated on analysis of late Webern. Madena's take is crystalline. The sparse outer sections frame a more contrapuntal central section. The performance is superb here, by Diego Bonolis and the Bruno Maderna Ensemble:
The title of Honeyrêves for flute and piano has resonances with "sweet dreams" and indeed dreaming ("On y reve"), but the music's pronounced angularity (it does put me in mind of Boulez' flute pieces) speaks very much of its time:
Aulodio per Lothar is for solo oboe d'amore - that instrument's melancholy tone, so related to the cor nglais, does indeed make this a more reflective piece. The title refers to melody. It was written for Lothar Faber and premiered in its published version for oboe d'amore and guitar with Alvaro Company on guitar; this disc suggests a solo version is possible. This feels more of a song-soliloquy to me:
The Serenata per un satéllite (1989) is aleatoric, the score a single sheet of paper and takes between 4 and 12 minutes (here, 10'13). It does sound improvised (with parameters). The score looks like this:
... a sequence of junctions and crossroads punctuated by isolated short gestures. It does in fairness sound vey much of its time (and 11 minutes can feel a while in this context) but there is some fine improv going on, not least from the ensemble's pianist:
The piece was performed simultaneously with the launch of the European Space Operations Centre satellite Boreas was launched (October 1, 1969).
The piece Widmung is for solo violin and it holds a dual life as the cadenza for Maderna's violin concerto of two years later. The recording is a bit dry and airless; the performance though is gripping, especially in its quiet, more rarefied moments:
Most compelling of all is the remarkable Venetian Journal of 1972 for tenor, orchestra and tape, on words by James Boswell. It was composed for Paul Sperry, and premiered in America in 1972. Its libretto, fashioned by Jonathan Levy, taken from Boswell's Boswell on the grand tour: Italy, Corsica, and France. 1765-1766. as its basis. The text is a patchwork quilt of quotes and languages, mirrored in Maderna's magpie polystylism:
The disc is available on Amazon here.
