Clarinet and organ – it’s their combination that reveals such thrilling wealth of colour and sonority. Profound music-making! From Gregorian to Baroque, from World music to Jazz as well as own compositions. This album rocks!


Orgelwind

Victimae Pascali Laudes

There was this – eye.

When I looked out the window, clarinet to mouth, practising, it looked back at me. From its spot on the white trunk of a birch tree outside. Was it keeping a check on me? Constantly present, it watched me while my music emerged – kindly, questioningly.

Now the time has come.

What developed from my gaze on “l’occhio della betulla” has found its band: Lorenzo Frizzera, who came to practice one day with his twelve-string guitar and keeps surprising me with his rich sound and imagination. Ivan Tibolla from the Veneto, who is just as flowing and full of ideas at the organ and on the accordion as he is at the Steinway grand, and who accompanies me on all my excursions (including the wild adventures) like a brother. And Fulvio Maras, whom I once heard at a concert, thinking: “now that is a percussionist I’d like to play with…!”

We live far apart, in quite different places, and yet we come together to play this music. When someone in the Ticino tells me an incredible, funny, or simply surprising story, I reply: “Che roba!” CheRoba is alive. Che roba!

Line-up:
Marco Santilli – clarinet, bass clarinet
Lorenzo Frizzera – twelve-string and classical guitar
Ivan Tibolla – piano, accordeon
Fulvio Maras - percussion

L'occhio della betulla

13.01.2017

Musik des Einsamen

Variationen über den Namen Hesse

Die Befreiung von Giornico. Ein episches Stück mit kontrastierenden Stimmungen, inspiriert durch die „Schlacht bei Giornico“, 1478.

Una composizione epica con atmosfere contrastanti ispirata alla Battaglia dei Sassi Grossi (1478). Pochi anni dopo venne costruita la locanda ora sede del Museo di Leventina.

La Stüa

La Giornico liberata

From the CD recommendation http://www.birdistheworm.com/recommended-marco-santillis-cheroba-il-fiato-delle-alpi-la-stua/

"Marco Santilli brought together his CheRoba ensemble and il Fiato delle Alpi for this performance recorded live at Musikinsel, Rheinau in Switzerland.  It is filled with vivid imagery, often quite majestic, and yet also displays a keen precision, so no matter how intensely the music may reflect the stuff of daydreams, La Stüa maintains a focus that keeps the ear aware and active and engaged.

Opening track “Sächsilüüte” gets right to it.  The strong folk element meshes perfectly with the chamber music expressionism, and together they create a home where furious jazz-influenced solos can thrive and take the music on intriguing detours and side-trips..."

Ein Musikstück mit dem Marco sein Kindheitstrauma des ­brennenden Bööggs verarbeitet und das gleichzeitig als Hommage an die „zurighesi“ dient - diese kuriosen Bewohner nördlich der Alpen, die er als Kind in der Stüa des Museums unterhalten hat und zu denen er jetzt selbst gehört.

Un brano per elaborare il trauma infantile del Böögg in fiamme. Anche inteso come omaggio agli „zurighesi“, questi curiosi abitanti del nord delle Alpi con cui Marco da ragazzo si intratteneva nella stüa del museo e dei quali oggi egli stesso fa parte.

Sächsilüüte

Die bekannte Krankheit, die Sehnsucht nach der Heimat, die Zerrüttung und Entkräftung der Schweizer Söldner. Der Kuhreihen  war ihnen verboten, um Heimweh und Desertion zu unterbinden.

Die bekannte Krankheit, die Sehnsucht nach der Heimat, die Zerrüttung und Entkräftung der Schweizer Söldner. Der Kuhreihen  war ihnen verboten, um Heimweh und Desertion zu unterbinden.

Morbus helveticus

From the Cd recommendation by http://www.birdistheworm.com/recommended-marco-santillis-cheroba-il-fiato-delle-alpi-la-stua/

"... And on a track like “Giorni di Giornico,” those three elements work in tandem to provide alternate shaping to a melody through the transformation of the tempo likes scenes in a movie."

Strahlend blauer Himmel, rundum zirpende Grillen. Giornico-Claro 1:0. Das einzige Tor, das Marco je in einem offiziellen Spiel schoss - gekickt mit verlöcherten Turnschuhen. Wenn nur kein weiterer Spieler ein Goal erzielt... Der Sieg soll ihm allein zu verdanken sein.

Smagliante cielo blu, attorno un bisbiglio di grilli. Giornico-Claro 1-0. Unica rete siglata da Marco in una gara ufficiale, con le scarpette bucate, sperando poi non segnasse più nessuno per essere il solo artefice della vittoria.

Giorni di Giornico

From the Cd recommendation by http://www.birdistheworm.com/recommended-marco-santillis-cheroba-il-fiato-delle-alpi-la-stua/

“Sette shows how Santilli is able to be wildly expressive on bass clarinet as he is succinct and to the point.  The deep resonance of that instrument, and the addition of musicians who specialize in the lower registers adds darker tonal qualities to music that is apt to shine as bright as the noontime sun.  This leads to all kinds of rich textures, as does the use of 12-string and classical guitars.
An absolutely stunning album."

Zahl oder Substantiv? Sieben oder Sekten? Ein Wort mit ­verschiedenen Bedeutungen. Ein Hinweis auf die sieben Kirchen des 900 Seelendorfes Giornico? John Locke fände Gefallen daran.

Numero o sostantivo?  Una parola con differenti significati. ­Oppure un riferimento alle sette chiese di Giornico? John Locke ­apprezzerebbe.

Sette

„Tango aus Wassen“ - ein Ausdruck, den einst die Leventiner für deutschschweizer Volksmusik verwendeten. Mit einem Augenzwinkern werden dem Ort Wassen, gelegen auf der Nordseite des Gotthards, diese dem Tango fernen Rhythmen gewidmet.

"Tangu da Wassen" - Espressione usata un tempo dai leventinesi per definire un brano popolare svizzero tedesco. Alla località urana una dedica che di un tango conserva solo le prime cinque note...

Tangu da Wassen

Marco Santilli develops his compositions by carefully blending influences from different European styles, including classical, contemporary and folk music as well as world music. His unique style emerges from this combination of different genres in such a way that their various sources are no longer recognizable. If we had to label “La Stüa”, we would find it categorized under “jazz”. Jazz in the sense of an open style of music and, typically Santilli, in Italian. In Italian? Yes, because although these are instrumental pieces, they reflect certain kinds of mood, themes and melodies that hark back to the musicality of his mother tongue.

Compositions commissioned by the International Alpentöne (Alpine Sounds) Festival are inspired by daydreams in the “Stüa” * recreated at the Leventina Museum in Giornico in Italian Switzerland. Here, as a boy, he gave his grandfather, the Museum’s curator, a hand whenever it was necessary to explain to tourists the use of the antique objects on display. And even then he found himself improvising. The art of story-telling has remained with him. Today, however, he tackles stories instrumentally. His village of origin and Switzerland in general continue to be a source of inspiration for many of his compositions, which Santilli refines and develops with jazz improvisations. Memories reawaken images with vivid colours, translated into diverse timbres for chamber or orchestral settings, with echoes of big bands or his own expression of rock.

To enlarge his jazz quartet “CheRoba” (the idiomatic equivalent of ‘wow’), Santilli turned to “Il fiato delle Alpi” (the breath of the Alps), a quintet of low register wind instruments: alto flute and cor anglais (instead of the oboe), and contrabass clarinet which, together with the French horn and bassoon, help make the sounds warmer and more intense.

Marco Santilli has surrounded himself with trusted associates to represent this journey along the Swiss north-south axis during which, probably for the first time, a jazz quartet meets a classical wind quintet in a musical context “(CH)ontaminato” (a pun on Switzerland (CH) and contaminated).

* Stüa – the local dialect term for the living room in traditional houses of the Leventina Valley. Usually the only room that was heated (by a stove) in which most of the household’s activities would take place.

Marco Santilli CLARINET

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