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PERFORMING LUIGI NONO'S FLUTE MUSIC

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2018

Daniel Agi  and
Helen Bledsoe
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Abstract

A performer of Luigi Nono's late works is often faced with crucial questions regarding interpretation and technical details. An important tradition has evolved in performing these works, nevertheless it is not always easy to find the necessary information to play them adequately. This article attempts to answer some of the technical and interpretational questions in the context of Das atmende Klarsein and A Pierre – Dell'Azzurro silenzio, inquietum. Our hope is that it will contribute to the discussion about authenticity and freedom of interpretation and provide flutists with practical information not found in the scores.

Type
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Information
Tempo , Volume 72 , Issue 285 , July 2018 , pp. 5 - 19
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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References

1 Zattra, Laura, Burleigh, Ian and Sallis, Friedemann, ‘Studying Luigi Nono's A Pierre. Dell'azzurro silenzio, inquietum (1985) as a Performance Event’, Contemporary Music Review, 30, no. 5 (2011), pp. 411–39Google Scholar.

2 For example, Ciro Scarponi, clarinets and Giancarlo Schiaffini, tuba, trombone and euphonium.

3 Philippe Albèra interview with Luigi Nono in 1987: ‘[PA] Le jour où vous n’êtes plus là, que se passe-t-il ? [LN] D'autres musiciens feront d'autres musiques! On essaie tout de même de fixer graphiquement les choses, mais j'ai dit plusieurs fois que je ne tiens pas au concept d’écriture! C'est comme la musique de Gabrieli: il écrit “a sonar et cantar”. La dynamique, le tempo, la répartition entre voix et instruments ne sont pas fixés. La pratique qui en faisait la réalisation a disparu … [PA] Pour vous, faire, communiquer, vivre l'expérience de la création, est plus important qu'aboutir à une forme fixée … [LN] Absolument.’ Quoted in Zattra, Laura, ‘A colloquio con Roberto Fabbriciani’, Rassegna Musicale Curci, 67, no. 3 (2014), pp. 45–51Google Scholar.

4 See, for example, Levine, Carin and Mitropoulos-Bott, Christina, The Techniques of Flute Playing I (Kassel: Bärenreiter-Verlag, 2002)Google Scholar or Veale, Peter and Mahnkopf, Claus-Steffen, The Techniques of Oboe Playing (Kassel: Bärenreiter Verlag, 1994)Google Scholar.

5 The general rule is that effects with a covered embouchure produce tones that sound a major seventh lower. However, the curve of the bass flute creates a more complicated acoustic environment. To produce this sounding C#, I finger the B$ which lies a major second below the C#.

6 The spectral analysis was done by Nono, in the studio, or by Artaud, Pierre Yves, for the preparation of his book, Flûtes au présent (Paris: Editions Joberts, 1980)Google Scholar. Fabbriciani mentions Artaud as Nono's source for multiphonics, although Fabbriciani's manuscript indicates the fingering system from another source, Bartolozi's, Bruno New Sounds for Woodwind, trans. ed., and Reginald, by Smith (London: Oxford University Press, 1969)Google Scholar.

7 Zattra, Burleigh and Sallis, ‘Studying Luigi Nono's A Pierre’.

8 Benjamin, Walter, ‘The Task of the Translator’, in Selected Writings, 1: 1913–1926, ed. Bullock, Marcus and Jennings, Michael W. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002), p. 262Google Scholar.

9 Benjamin, ‘The Task of the Translator’, p. 258. Earlier, Benjamin states: ‘Translation is so far removed from being the sterile equation of two dead languages that of all literary forms it is the one charged with the special mission of watching over the maturing process of the original language and the birth pangs of its own’.

10 Benjamin, ‘The Task of the Translator’, p. 261.

11 Benjamin, ‘The Task of the Translator’, p. 260.

12 Benjamin, ‘The Task of the Translator’, p. 260.

13 Stanislavski, Constantin, An Actor Prepares, trans. Reynolds, Elizabeth Hapgood (New York: Theatre Arts, 1936)Google Scholar.

14 Zattra, Burleig and Sallis, ‘Studying Luigi Nono's A Pierre’.

15 Preface to the score Nono, Luigi, A Pierre. Dell'azzurro silenzio, inquietum, ed. Richard, André and Mazzolini, Marco (Milan: Casa Ricordi, 1996)Google Scholar. The spatialization described also has a connection with the indication ‘á più cori’ in the subtitle of the piece. Nono makes specific reference to the Venetian polychoral style of the sixteenth century. Notable exponents of this practice, such as Giovanni Gabrieli, placed several ensembles around the congregation in the Basilica San Marco, thus using space as a compositional parameter.

16 For example bar 2, bar 9 on beat 3, bar 16 etc.

17 André Richard and Marco Mazzolini in preface to Nono, A Pierre, p. xxii.

18 Preface to Nono, A Pierre, e.g. pp. iv and xvii.

19 See www.hp-haller.homepage.t-online.de/venedig.html. Here too the misleading term ‘contra-alto flute’ is used.

20 Pitch notation in this text follows the Helmholtz system: c′ equals middle c.

21 All pitch indications in the article are, as in the score, an octave and a perfect fourth higher than the sounding pitched.

22 It would be interesting to try these passages on a narrower bass flute. Perhaps this would be closer to the sound of the Jäger flute.

23 See Table 1: Fingerings and comments, e.g. bars 36 and 38 as well as 46.

24 This and the following details about the execution of these techniques came out of my collaboration with Joachim Haas at the SWR Experimental Studio. Haas has worked with both André Richard and Roberto Fabbriciani on realisations of A Pierre.

25 See Preface to Nono, A Pierre, p. xxii, third paragraph of the text.

26 Nono, Luigi, Das atmende Klarsein, ed. Richard, André and Mazzolini, Marco (Milan: Ricordi, 1987/2005)Google Scholar.

27 Preface to Nono, A Pierre, p. xxii.

28 NEOS 11122CD, Roberto Fabbriciani – flute, Ernesto Molinari – clarinet, SWR Experimental Studio.