Stefano Scodanibbio, double bass
in concert
Please join us for a very special early evening solo concert -
La S.V.è cordialmente invitata ad uno straordinario récital -
Italian double bass virtuoso/composer Stefano Scodanibbio returns to Crown Point to perform the Bay Area premiere of Luciano Berio Sequenza XIV - Versione per Contrabbasso di Stefano Scodanibbio, and his own masterwork for the instrument, Voyage That Never Ends. It has been nearly two years since his last remarkable performance in the gallery, this will again be a musical event not to be missed.
For seating considerations, an RSVP to
is appreciated.
Suggested donation: $15.
For additional information, be in touch.
Thomas M. Welsh
elision fields . mgmt
tel: 415.637.9237
www.elisionfields.com/StefanoScodanibbio
"Scodanibbio is quite simply a magician of his instrument. His exquisite tone, nifty arabesques and, most importantly, range of percussive effects are all devastating. Make a note of the name, and learn how to spell it, because if there's any justice it should crop up pretty regularly from now on."
- The Wire
“Stefano Scodanibbio is one of the leading contemporary bassists and has created a new sound world and technical palette for his instrument, enabling it to sing with its own voice. He has joined the Italian tradition of soloist composer…. Here the bass is played, scraped, hit and manipulated in almost any other way imaginable to produce new soundscapes and experiences. Scodanibbio calls on the entire tonal and timbral spectrum to produce music that is by turns violent, lyrical and charming., but always interesting, expressive and communicative.”
- David Heyes, The Strad
“Scodanibbio ultimately built ["Voyage That Never Ends"] to an understated climax where, even after 45 minutes, the end came all too soon. A masterful and moving performance - and even with the festival only half over - Scodanibbio's concert should go down as one of the highlights of the festival.”
- John Kelman, reviewing the International Festival Musique Actuelle, All About Jazz, May 2005
STEFANO SCODANIBBIO, contrabass soloist and composer, was born in Macerata, Italy, June 18th 1956. In the 1980s and 1990s his name has been prominently linked to the renaissance of the double bass, playing in the major festivals throughout the world. Dozens of works have been written especially for him by such composers as Bussotti, Donatoni, Estrada, Ferneyhough, Frith, Globokar, Sciarrino and Xenakis. In 1987, in Rome, he performed a four hours non-stop marathon playing 28 pieces by 25 composers. He has created new techniques extending the colors and range of the double bass heretofore thought impossible on this instrument. He collaborated for a long time with Luigi Nono ("arco mobile à la Stefano Scodanibbio" is written on Prometeo's score) and with Giacinto Scelsi. John Cage, in one of his last interviews, said "Stefano Scodanibbio is amazing, I haven't heard better double bass playing than Scodanibbio's. I was just amazed. And I think everyone who heard him was amazed. He is really extraordinary. His performance was absolutely magic." In 1996 he taught contrabass at Darmstadt Ferienkurse. He regularly plays in Duo with Rohan de Saram and, furthermore, with Markus Stockhausen. Active as a composer, his catalogue consists of more than 30 works principally written for strings (Sei Studi for solo contrabass, Six Duos for all combinations of the four strings, Three String Quartets, Concerto for contrabass, strings and percussions, etc.). Most of his compositions has been performed and recorded by Arditti Quartet. Of particular importance is his collaboration with Terry Riley and with poet Edoardo Sanguineti. In 1983 he founded the "Rassegna di Nuova Musica", New Music Festival held every year in Macerata, Italy.
STEFANO SCODANIBBIO on the sequenza by Berio:
"I knew Berio for at least ten years. He heard me in concert many times and once, in 1999, asked me to pay him a visit in his studio in Florence to show him the possibilities of the contrabass. He was very interested in my pieces for strings and since then always asked me to send him my recordings and scores. I remember, with great emotion, when, after hearing my Six Studies for solo double bass, he called me and left a message on my answering machine expressing his admiration and interest.
Since 2000/2001 Berio was talking about a Double Sequenza for cello and contrabass. His first idea was to have them performed one after the other. But eventually he wrote the Cello Sequenza (XIV) which, in its final version, was performed by Rohan De Saram in 2003. He sent me the score in April of the same year asking me to "reinvent" (that is the word he used) it for double bass. He didn't want a transcription - this was very clear. He expressly asked me to make a version for double bass using the new techniques he heard in my pieces. We where supposed to meet in June to work together and we had a couple of phone conversations before he died, at the end of May 2003.
I've been working eight months on this "reinvention," studying again and again the other 13 sequenzas, listening to many of his works and reading his scores, texts and interviews. I composed a string quartet based on Monteverdi Madrigalis dedicated "In memoriam Luciano Berio" (he was a Master of reinventing composers of the past - Schubert, Boccherini, Puccini, etc.).
This is the work I would have liked to play for him trying to respect what in my opinion were his wishes, his style and his ideas."