RAI NUOVA MUSICA 2023
02.05.2023
Auditorium 'A. Toscanini, Torino
Ensemble Geometrie Variabili della OSN Rai
cond. Francesco Pomarico

This composi􏰁on is born as a part of a project dedicated to Igor Stravinsky that should have been realised to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of his death but, due to the difficul􏰁es connected to the pandemic situati􏰁on, it did not take place in that occasion.
I was asked to compose a new work with some connec􏰁tions with his music and which could convey evidence of the influence on my music developments as a composer and, possibly, on my ar􏰁tisti􏰁c concepti􏰁on.
This opportunity pushed me to read and listen again his scores, to reflect on what I have assimilated from them and finally to get directly in touch once more with his music world which, even if almost always there, was a bit more in the background of my research, with the opportunity to (re)discover works which I know less and going deeper in his crea􏰁ve concep􏰁on.
A􏰂fter a moment of preparatory study I left􏰂 what I have absorbed to sediment in me and allowed myself to be carried away from that sound flux waiti􏰁ng that, as in a spontaneous chemical reac􏰁tion, those elements would combine together to give life to new musical forms from which I could gather the compositi􏰁onal matt􏰀er.
The work is divided in three movements (Capriccio, Corale and Kolokol’nost’), each inspired by elements of stravinskian origin; the composi􏰁ons from which I collected this genera􏰁ve ‘molecules’ are the Three pieces for string quartet and Agon concerning the first movement; Canti􏰁cum Sacrum, Requiem canti􏰁cles and the Choral from the Symphony of wind instruments concerning the second; The flood and again Requiem can􏰁ticles (Postlude) for the last one.
Each secti􏰁on develops a specific feature of Stravinsky’s approach to composi􏰁tion transforming and transfiguring it; for instance Capriccio draws its character from the ‘montage’ technique while Kolokol’nost’ (which is the Russian word that describes the sonority of the ringing bells) is linked to specific episodes as the end of Requiem can􏰁ticles or Svadebka but also to the polyrhythmic structures more or less evident which are the grounding level of many other works by him.
Then I submi􏰀tted these ideas to various procedures of parody and distorsi􏰁on with a similar a􏰃ttiude to that Stravinsky had towards the music or the techniques of other composers (see Cajkovskij, Pergolesi, Gesualdo da Venosa etc. but also the mechanisms of the serial composi􏰁tion or the ancient polyphony) when he used and transformed some elements making them part of his background and, through the use other tools as the spectral analysis or the microtonality, I transformed and absorbed them in my turn in a new music enti􏰁ty, made up of ‘clockworks’ that together put in moti􏰁on the mechanisms that is at the core of this music.

Clockworks for large ensemble

Clockworks for large ensemble (2021)

Born in 1971, he studied composition with Fabio Nieder after being graduated in the Conservatory of Turin under Gilberto Bosco. He attended also composition workshops with Toshio Hosokawa and Luis De Pablo.   
Several ensembles and soloists as BIT20 Ensemble, Atlas Ensemble, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, Wu Wei, Michele Marelli, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Ernest Rombout, Ensemble Orchestral Contemporaine, Delian Quartett, ensemble L'arsenale among others played and play his compositions.
His music was performed in italian and international festivals such as MITO Settembre Musica, Impuls Graz, Musikfest Stuttgart, Gare du nord Basel, Rai Nuova Musica, Moscow Forum Festival, Milano Musica, Konzerthaus Berlin,  Musica Nova Helsinki, Muziekgebouw aan't ij  among the others.
Some of his compositions were broadcasted by the Italian National Radio RadioRAI3, the Slovenian Radio Television, Radio 4 Holland and Radio Yle 1 Finland.
He worked with the Centre for the Electronic Music Research AGON Arsmagnetica of Milan with which he realized several multimedia projects. 
He taught composition in the ‘Scuola Civica’ of Turin and collaborates with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai.

Clockworks for large ensemble (2021)

Stefano Pierini