Playing the piano irremediably leads romantic artists to yield to the
temptation of improvising music. Since 19th century, many composers were in fact involved with the composition form
called impromptu: quite a romantic
concept, if you consider that Schubert and Chopin were the first ones
publishing them.
Nowadays the terms composition
and improvisation are most generally
used to designate different, or even diametrically opposed, musical activities.
But this does not mean that the second is less important than the first one for
a musician: one cannot clearly deny that the work of organization and the
architectural structure of a musical composition is the result of quite a
unique and sophisticated approach, while improvisation requires a more profound
and almost philosophical preparation, perhaps even a peculiar state of mind.
As a matter of fact, it has always been a sort of impulsive inspiration
without (apparently) studied care that led me to improvise music on piano. I
remember that actually the first attempts were not so enjoyable and
artistically remarkable… But there was absolutely no doubt that there was me inside that chaotic bunch of notes, holding
my ardor and my young fury, and it was obvious that it really took me some
years to express myself in a satisfying and full-grown manner.
Yes, just some years… An essential attribute of improvisation is
definitely the chance to manage it as a group activity, an idea historically
conceived and accomplished in the modern tradition of jazz. In this practice
musicians use several scales and modes in order to create harmonies and
melodies giving a coherent character to their improvisation. Of course, apart
from the fundamental lesson drawn from jazz improvisation techniques, it has
been experimented in many other genres through some different practices: even
in contemporary music, since the 1950s, improvisation has started gaining more
and more interest among several composers and performers.
Well, if you definitely want to explore improvisation as a group
activity, you need the right people to play with, in order to create something
really satisfying… The opportunity arrived for me to put me to the test, when I
finally met Steven Brown from Tuxedomoon in November 2000: in fact, after that
meeting, the dream to have such an important guest in the Sturm project could, little by little,
become real. I can never forget that night, when Tuxedomoon played a gig at
Riolo Terme theatre (a small village near Ravenna): I remember I gave Steven a
copy of Né l’être… éternel and soon after he showed to be very
interested in my project and in its philosophical links (e.g.: the Austrian
painter and architect Hundertwasser and his spiral-houses), and so he
was glad to give his precious contribution for the recordings of the Sturm CD
in 2001!
I will always remember the night of the 19th
of March 2001: after two days spent in rehearsal room in Ferrara Ravenna
Some months
later, after the lesson of improvisation given us by Steven, Gianluca had also the
opportunity to work with Blaine L. Reininger - the dark companion of Steven Brown in Tuxedomoon since the beginning -
for the Sun and Rain project, much focused
on improvisation, and released on CD in autumn 2001. Since then, he could have
more and more opportunities to develop his improvising skill, initially with me
during live concerts and studio sessions (for instance, a personal piano/guitar
improvised cover-version of the Tuxedomoon track Egypt was released on L’Art
et la Mort
in 2006), later also in solo conditions (two years ago he founded the project Nevica Noise, the debut album of which
will be out in 2016).
As far as my
activity is concerned, piano improvisations constantly take a relevant place
during live performances. Lately I am working in refining a new type of
improvisation, conceptually peculiar because it is based on the idea of double: so Le piano et son double was conceived as a sort of “double
improvisation”, to be performed at two separate moments and with two different
techniques. As a matter of fact, after having developed the techniques of string piano since some years, I have
made the decision of using them during live improvisations: so this double
musical entity consists of a previously video-recorded string piano
improvisation, where I make use of several tools like brushes, rubber hammer,
guitar picks, glass beads, palette knife and others, and of a second “keyboard
piano” (more conventional…) improvisation. In live conditions I have to face my
alter ego playing in front of me:
this inevitably leads to a comparison with my duality, with my “dark side”, the
one I am normally used to hide, but often ending in failure.
So this video contact can make me
react, by making me have fun with this duality, almost mocking at my double, although this implies mocking myself
somehow…
Improvisation will definitely never abandon me.
The multi-faceted experiences of my life have shown that it will always play a
relevant role in the never ending process of self-discovery.
