Stefano Gianotti
 
spinet pieces L´Arte des Paesaggio, 2000
(„The Art of Landscape“)
statement In a quiet, neoclassic landscape, a slightly out of tune harpsichord/spinet plays an Arcadian melody.
A soft wind shrouds the harmony: the landscape is swelling, becomes breath, and the breath merges with the heart of the earth beating. The heart stops beating. It starts.It stops again. Wild boars, hornets, sheep and frogs converse and multiply around a little child´singing. The child´s singing turns into a bird´s flight. Birds change into ethereal sound waves melting into wind and thus into breath.
At the end all the elements of the landscape speak to each other nín a surreal telephone conversation.

„L ´Arte des Paesaggio“ was conceived as a sort of concert for harpsichord (spinet) and orchestra, in which the traditional orchestra is substituted by an orchestra of natural sounds. The structure is based on counterpoint and is reminiscent of J.S.Bach´s “Die Kunst der Fuge“.
The piece develops on the borders between game and sound-mirage, between irony and the twisted irony of fate. The landscape becomes a language, sign and score; it becomes a mirror for the fragility of existence when the heart stops beating, and at the same time it takes the form of mother earth giving birth to a child´s singing.
The piece is composed entirely in Wiepersdorf, a little country village 80 kilometers south of Berlin. The sound used have been recorded between February and May 2000, during my Residency in the Bettina-Von-Arnim Castle. This is the structure of the piece.

(1) Esposition. A field with seep – harpsichord/spinet (main theme) – wind, wind elaborated, heart beating and breath – the heart stops beating
(2) 1st Development. Harpsichord/spinet (isolated sound) – my daughter Matilde´s singing (2 years old), breath, the ild boars of Hohenkuhnsdorf (a village in the neighbourhood) – choirs of hornets and sheep (elaborated) in crescendo.
(3) 1st Cadenza. Dialogue between Matilde and the wild boars – harpsichord/spinet (a variation on the main theme) echoed by the previous elements (sheep, hornets, Matilde, boars, breath).
(4) 2nd Development. Breath changing into wind, wild boars eating frogs, harpsichord/spinet rubbing sounds, hornets – Matilde´s shouts changes into birds cries – harpsichord/spinet (islolated sounds – pizzicato) – crescendo of all the elements (elaborated) – wind sounds elaborated like in the Exposition.
(5) Reprise. Harpsichord/spinet (main theme) on the telephone dissolves back into the original landscape of harpsichord/spinet and sheep.
link www.stefanogiannotti.com
country Italy
bio

(1963), composer, author, guitarist and performer. 
He studied composition with Pietro Rigacci and he was the assistant of Alvin Curran in "Crystal Psalms" and "Tufo Muto". Between 1983 and 1990 he performed in several European countries with the chamber music group "Trio Chitarristico Lucchese". In 1997 he started a collaboration with the Italian coreographer Roberto Castello. Between 1998 and 1999, he lived in Berlin as guest of DAAD (German Academic Exchange Program). In the year 2000 he has been guest of the Kuenstlerhaus Schloss Wiepersdorf with a Stipend of the Ministerium of Brandeburg. In the year 2002 he has been invited in Worpswede with a stipend of the Ministerium of the Niedersachsen and he has won the Karl-Sczuka-Preis (SWR, Baden-Baden) with his work IL TEMPO CAMBIA

His repertoire ranges from performance, radio-art, dance theatre to chamber music, orchestral scores and songs.
Landscape, memory, life cycles, voices of people, languages; these are some of the main themes developed in Giannotti's work.

His compositions have been performed in: Festival Internazionale Teatro d'Arte (Narni 1989), G.A.M.O. (Florence 1989), Stichting Logos (Gent 1991 and 1999),"Macrophon '91 and '94" (Wroclaw), "Wings of Sound" (Helsinki 1993), "Sounding Islands" (Faroer Islands 1995), "Musica per le Stelle" (Costa degli Etruschi 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2000), "Strade Contemporanee" (Lucca 1997), "Neue Italienische Musikszene" (Berlin 1998), Ballhaus Naunynstrasse (Berlin 1999), Kuenstlerhaus Schloss Wiepersdorf (Wiepersdorf 2000), Museum of Fine Arts (Philadelphia, 2000),  Children's Future (Yokohama, 2001), ISCM World Music Days (Hong Kong 2002), Donaueschinger Musiktage (2002), Maerz Musik Festival (2003), Voix Nouvelles (2003), etc.

Productions and collaborations with: RAI Radio 1, RAI Radio 3, Polskie Radio, Magyar Radio, O.R.F., Radio France Culture, Danish Radio, WDR Koeln, SFB, Deutschland-Radio Berlin, Saarlaendicher Rundfunk, Suedwestdeutsch Rundfunk, Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Other collaborations with: Peter Ablinger (D), Guido Arbonelli (I), Michael Augustin (D), Thomas Bloch (F), Roberto Castello (I), Enzo Fabiani String Quartet (SLO), Hugo Hamilton (IRL), Peter Machajděk (SK), Andreas F. Mueller (D), Harmonia Ensemble (I), Alan Tschertschessow (RUS), Yuan Shun (China), Birgit Ramsauer, etc.

 

International Prizes and Grants:

1991 - International Prize of Radio Art Macrophon'91, Polskie Radio, won for RITRATTO DI PAESE (1989/90), a sound documentary on the elders of a little Italian country village
1994/95 - Prix Ars Acustica International, WDR Koeln, won for VARIAZIONI SU VOLVER (1989/94), a soundscape on the voice of Carlos Gardel
1997 - 3rd Prize in the International Competition "Music and Play"- Robert Murray Shafer, Poznan, won for L'ISOLA CHE C'ERA (1996) for children's voices, bass tuba and live-electronics.
1998/99 - Artist-In-Residence in Berlin (DAAD Berliner Kuenstlerprogramm)
2000 - Artist-In-Residence at Kuenstlerhaus Schloss Wiepersdorf (Ministerium fuer Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kultur, Land Brandenburg)
2000 - 1st Prize in the International Glassharmonica Music Festival, and "Prix spécial de l'humor", Philadelphia (U.S.A.) won for the composition D.O.C. (1999), for glassharmonica and tape.
2002 - Artist-In-Residence in Worpswede (Deutschland)
2002 - Karl-Sczuka-Preis (SWR, Baden-Baden) for his composition IL TEMPO CAMBIA