Ivan Fedele (*1953) ERINNI (1998) per pianoforte, cymbalon e vibrafono
Erinni was born from a project organized by the Festival Milano Musica dedicated to György Kurtág where six different Italian composers were asked to set six poems by Alda Merini. A double tribute, therefore, to two very different artists, in some ways very far from each other but both sharing a dazzling lucidity of expression.
Of the six composers (there were also Adriano Guarnieri, Fabio Nieder, Francesco Pennisi, Alessandro Solbiati, Fabio Vacchi) Fedele was the only one to make a choice that is quite uncommon in such cases: to exclude any participation of a voice and thus any explicit rendering of the words of the poem.
Yet again Fedele chooses a formal starting point where the compositional procedures are defined from the form and for the form. Here is the text by the Milanese poet
Erinni (from Il volume del canto)
Fino a quando dovrò, mente dannata, partorir la tua rima e la tua forza onde per gioco mi giocò l'amore? Fino a quando dovrò mandare aromi di tremende vendette alle tue Erinni? Fino a quando giocare sopra questa bussola torta che mi porta piano a farmi di me stesso capitano?
The structure of the poem shows a clear three-part division marked by the words "Fino a quando". The number of lines is irregular (3 - 2 - 3), but the scheme is very well balanced and basically symmetrical thanks also to the internal balance present within each line. This gave Fedele the idea that the three parts portray the same object as seen from three different points of view; three different images that, two to the requirements of verbal language, are presented one after the other but when transposed into music can enjoy the luxury of simultaneity. Each of the three instruments thus assumes a given point of view and develops it in a similar but slightly divergent manner. Passing through phases of impelling urgency or of suspended abandon, the course of the composition traces an elliptic form that reflects the most intimate proprieties of the poetic text. [by Claudio Proietti]
_ Ensemble Accroche Note. Michèle Renoul, piano. Luigi Gaggero, cymbalon. Emmanuel Séjourné, vibraphone. Studio recording 2004
