Isang Yun: Sori (1988)
Hinako Takagi: Lost in __________ (2020) | winning work of the international call-for-score for Mario Caroli in 2020 by PROJECT21st
Kaija Saariaho: Laconisme de l'Aile (1982)
María Eugenia Luc: Red (2006)
Toshio Hosokawa: Sen I (1984)
Can you share with us your thinking and ideas behind the selection of the 5 pieces in the series?
Mario Caroli: There are many reasons why I came up with this programme. The main theme is “Asia”. The idea is to find the fascination and charm of the Asian artistic world. So, there are of course composers such as Isang Yun and Toshio Hosokawa. The other two composers, Kaija Saariaho and Maria Eugenia Luc, they are included in the programme because they have been fascinated by Asian art. At the same time, two of the Asian composers I chose, Isang Yun and Toshio Hosokawa, they are very “European” - their music is very much presence in Europe; not to mention Yun was Hosokawa’s teacher and had lived in Germany for a long time. I would also like to feature woman composers in the series, that’s why I included Saariaho and Luc in the programme.
In terms of the music, what would you say about these solo flute pieces? How are they distinctive musically?
Let me start with Isang Yun’s Sori. I found Yun’s music very intense and romantic. The work almost sounds like a violin piece because of the tension throughout the music. The final part of the work was inspired by Korean Zen Buddhist traditions, with a meditative and minimalist mood. I also like the fact that he used classical writing technique for his music. Some composers think that in order to be modern you have to use new writing technique or invent a new way of notation. In Sori, everything is classical in terms of notational technique but it sounds very unique! From the first bar listeners can identify this is Isang Yun because the sound is so distinctive. I think the most important thing for a composer is to be unique. This can be achieved by inventing new techniques and new sound, but it is not the only way. A composer has to find his/her own voice with everything you have at your disposal.
Then I recorded the winning piece Lost in _______ by Hinako Takagi from the international call-for-score. The intention of the composer, including the direction of the piece and the phrasing, etc, everything is very clear. The writing is dense but transparent. There are quite a large number of materials, but they are never too overwhelming. I found the piece very balanced and musically interesting, that’s why I selected this piece. The work was more difficult than I thought, to be honest! When tackling a new work, my way of practice is to make it sound in the head before I try to play it with the instrument. Sometimes my impression is right, sometimes I get surprised. In Takagi’s piece, the impression I made in my head is rather different from how it actually sounds. In my impression the piece was pretty charming, but when I play it I found it quite aggressive. Nevertheless, my impression about the structure and construction is right. The structure of this work is very clear and transparent.
Can you tell us more about Saariaho’s Laconisme de l’Aile?
It is an early piece of Saariaho. It was written in 1982. I have played this piece many times and I had also worked with the composer on it. It is an abstract work, but it does not interfere the expressiveness of the work itself. That’s why I think this piece is a rare gem in the contemporary solo flute repertoire. It is an ultra-expressive and poetic work, yet the materials are abstract, refined and elaborated. It is very difficult to play, as the sound is always moving and transforming. I found this work a wondrous because even if she used some extreme materials in it, such as the multiphonics, it sounds very moving, intense and poetic when you play it. If you use such a large number of elaborated materials in a work, the result you get is usually cold and intellectual. But in this case, Laconisme de l’Aile is a lyrical piece and is one of my favourites.
How about the speaking part? Does it have to be processed when doing live performance?
Well, you can. But in the score it is conceived to do it acoustically. Later she composed a version with live electronics but it was not the version I played for this series. In this recording, I wanted to add some breaths at the end. The text starts with normal speaking, with rhythms. Then the player slowly transforms from speaking to whispering, and then articulates the text less and less clear. The voice eventually becomes the flute and disappears into the sound of the flute. So towards the end I speak in a less articulated way and to make my voice airy. I intentionally did it very close to the microphone, so the airy quality of my voice could cover the words I utter, and then the flute consumes the words and takes over the voice. The piece is divided into three parts. First it is the text, then is the musical part and then the text reappears again from the exact point it stops at the beginning.
This work is a musical reflection of the text. The text is taken from Nobel prize-winner St. Jean Perse ’s collection of poems Oiseaux (Birds). The flute is referencing the bird. Of course this is not something new. Prokofiev, Messiaen and other composers had used flute to symbolise birds. But I like the fact that she kept the reference of flute as bird but in a completely unusual way. Both St. Jean Perse and Saariaho are not fascinated by birdsongs. Birds in the text by St. Jean Perse is immaterial, not bothered by their shadows nor the weight of death. They are only aware of things that are far away from them. Saariaho likes the sound of the flute because it could be as immaterial as birds. The sounds created in the work are fragile and could be destroyed easily. That’s why in the piece listeners can hear the shifting between sounds and breaths. It resembles the ethereal physical body of birds. I like this piece very much because there is an extremely captivating and elaborated link between birds and flute.
Ignorants de leur ombre, et ne sachant de mort que ce qui s'en consume
d'immortel au bruit lointain des grandes eaux, ils passent, nous laissant,
et nous ne sommes plus les mêmes. Ils sont l'espace traversé d'une seule pensée. Laconisme de l´aile! ....
[Ignorant of their shadow, and knowing of death only that immortal part
which is consumed by the distant clamour of great waters, they pass, leaving us,
and we are no longer the same. They are space, crossed with a single thought. Laconism of the wing!…]
Excerpts from Oiseaux (Birds, 1962) by St. Jean Perse. English translation by Robert Fitzgerald
Maria Eugenia Luc’s Red is one of the most effective and beautiful pieces for alto flute. I chose this work because I want to show the beauty of alto flute and I really admire the wide range of textures she created in the piece, from materials which are extremely polarised to some melodically charming passages. This is another piece that I played many times since its première. I am much connected with composers who go deep into the sonorous sounds in their compositions, such as Giacinto Scelsi, probably because flute has a rich timbre. Luc’s flute music is an exploration of the wide range of sonorities that the instrument is capable of producing.
Sen I is Toshio Hosokawa’s earlier work. His music during this period is extremely tense. The tension accumulates to a peak level and then it abruptly explodes. When I play it, I can feel the intense energy flowing underneath the music even though the music may sound calm. The work starts with silence. When you hear the first pitch, the piece has actually started for a while. So even in the silent part, the work is charged with energy, emotions and full of meanings. When I did the recording, I intentionally put it at the end because after this piece, I could not play anything else. Throughout the piece there is an uninterrupted strong energy. I feel consumed every time I play this work. Like Isang Yun, Hosokawa’s teacher, you can immediately recognise it is a work by Toshio Hosokawa. He has a very strong personal signature soundscape in his music. What I feel really special is, when I play the piece and in the moments of pause, I feel charged of energy, as you know what is the music that follows. The sustaining tension throughout the work gives me an intense and fascinating performing experience.
Although you mentioned you tried to make a link between Asia and Europe through the programming, aesthetically there is a very strong emphasis on the personal touch of sounds and materials. The programming in a way also reveals a quality of you as a musician.
After many years of performing, I become clearer and clearer of my own taste, and it is something that cannot be cheated. I would not say it is a matter of aesthetics, as these pieces are very different from each other, but I would say I prefer this way of expressing myself through the music.
Can you share with us your experience and thoughts on pandemic situation of the global cultural scene in the past 2-3 years? Has this changed anything in you as a musician and an artist, and how?
At this moment, the pandemic situation in Europe is easing significantly. I can see many aspects in life changed, but not our musical practice. At first it might be hard to bring people back to the performing venues, but gradually audiences are coming back. Music is meant to be performed and experienced live. We have recorded music since decades so there is nothing new that you could stay at home and listen to music. There are always recordings, whether in digital format or physical copies, to listen to anywhere, anytime. Recording is not born from the pandemic. Even if there are recordings everywhere, it does not change the fact that people enjoy going to live concerts.
During the worst time of the pandemic, I turned down a lot of projects I was invited to do, because in my opinion, sometimes we have to accept what life brings us. This was the moment when a pandemic was spreading all over the world, and in such a time I think we should face the harsh reality that we need to be in isolation to prevent the spreading of the virus. At that time I was really in pain for all the people dying; and I don’t want to act like nothing has happened. It was important to react and not to be defeated by the situation, but at the same time I think we should also be conscious that something tragic is happening. In such a critical moment, a pause perhaps was what we all needed, and music is not the only thing in the world.
