They say about us
Glocal
Glocal, they say. Global meets local. Or better still, local opening its eyes wide (eyes wide shut...) towards global and then coming back home, with a heavier bag. That's how it works for nonmaterial economy, for web communication and for new virtual arts. And for music? Is there a definite, complete, systematic form of global music? The L'arsenale experience, among others, puts a steady "yes" after the question mark. Performers ensemble but also ensemble of composers, group of musicians but also team of organizers, L'arsenale comes to life in a little geo-cultural enclave of north Italy, locked in an archaic "tribal" autarchy, thus looking from the beginning to the more radical experiences of the contemporary. The ensemble makes music in non conventional sites, opens out to the less reassuring experimentations, develops an original musical identity, resists the temptation of neo simplicity and neo brevity. And it tries to work, everyday, like a sound magnet charged with "electricity", able to attract every "form of new": premieres, young (for real!) performers, unheard sound combinations, lucidly radical performers. So from the nest in Treviso arise the wings of a young hawk speaking every sound language.
In Signo Stockhausen, L'arsenale in concert
In the slow, unstoppable process of cultural "desertification", assisted in many cases by concert programmes (even of a certain quality) designed for fast consumption, these youthful "incursions" into the field of new music come as a very pleasant surprise indeed.
A prestigious ensemble, L'arsenale, a splendidly restored theatre, the Teatro delle Voci, and an occasion (13th May last) channelled a small music project into a new and original flow of sounds...
...the commitment, application and skill of the players and especially of the conductor drew the listener to share dialectically in an innovative and certainly very courageous undertaking.
...When I was able to get to Treviso, it was quite startling to discover these young musicians: such enthusiasm, talent, imagination, and such faith in composing today! I wanted to write something at once for such a group, as exceptional as it is atypical, where the composer and the performer are often one and the same; a truly innovatory artistic movement.
An Arsenal of musical ideas comes to life
One cannot live by the past alone. A new music group, called L'arsenale, has just begun life in Treviso, with the grand ambition of making itself available to new composers...in prospect, the superimposition of languages, seeing the need to cross over all kinds of barriers between public-players-composers and between the various musical-stylistic labels…
L'arsenale ensemble, living music in concert
Ferment. New generations of musicians arise to stake out a territory of their own. It can happen here in the provinces, too, where, at times, the possibility of creating roots and hence generations appears doubtful.
L’arsenale, new music
New music comes centre-stage. Really new.
This is the music played by L'arsenale. With the applause of the audience at the Teatro delle Voci still ringing in our ears, this young group confirms itself as a real music workshop, bursting with new ideas and able to reach out to the listener with exciting, dynamic performances of new music that are never pedantic but alive and authentic. Proof of this lies in the fact that in the first few months of its existence L'arsenale has already given fifteen first performances, thanks both to the real professionalism of the young players in the group and to the precise, responsive conducting of Filippo Perocco...
L'arsenale shows rare flexibility in approaching music often varying widely in itself, calling for very different techniques and aesthetic attitudes…
With professionalism of the highest, freshest quality, this is an ensemble that loves to challenge established habits of interpretation, venturing in search of ideas never heard before or made over anew…
... trouver du nouveau ...
...Recently I had a chance to appreciate the musicians' attitude to interpretation and their exploration of instrumental timbres, both the familiar and, in particular, the completely original. It is as if the material the instrument is made of already formed the material or rather the basic structure of the music. The idea, besides, is not to give a pedantic performance of a sacrosanct score: a score exists, certainly, but what is decisive in the interpretation is the impulse to improvise and the rhythmic inventiveness, regulated and highly controlled though they are...With great professionalism, these young musicians love to challenge established habits of interpretation, venturing in search of ideas never heard before or at any rate made over anew, and made exciting by their awareness that it is only through modifying what is already known that something new can be achieved, and not a nondescript newness but one full of sense that restores to us, in the form of sound, our experience of absolute contemporaneity, including musical time. Does this seem too difficult? For words perhaps. But just try suspending the verbal logic of language for an instant, surrendering instead to what can only be called language by way of metaphor, and yet reproduces our most profound experience of time and thus of contemporaneity, that is to say, music.
...I really must congratulate you once more on your work and on the commitment shown in tackling a variety of music, often differing greatly in itself, and calling for highly-differentiated techniques and aesthetic attitudes. I think your choice of repertoire is also admirable. Working alongside the composer is a good way for both to develop together, penetrating deep inside the musical ideas of individual works: useful not only for yourselves but for the composer too.
I was very favorably impressed by your performance of Workers Union. Many thanks for giving such careful attention to my work.
...I think your project most worthwhile. Compared to twenty years ago things have changed a good deal and it is not easy to form a contemporary music group today. I very much liked the conductor, with his clear direction, full of personality. The group seems to me to have all it takes to do very well. I can only encourage you to carry on!
