SPE - PERFORMANCE AND EXHIBITION SPACE     AT 19.30

23 MARCH 2019

Requiem

BY MICHELE RABBIA, DANIELE ROCCATO, MICHAEL THIEKE

Introitus
Kyrie
Lacrimosa
Agnus Dei
Lux Aeterna

Michael Thieke  clarinet
Michele Rabbia  percussion, electronic instruments
Daniele Roccato  double bass

with the participation of
Rocco Castellani  double bass
Mauro Tedesco  double bass

photo by Ariele Monti

In the history of music from the fifteenth century to the present day, the Requiem Mass has often been considered a musical form that had to be confronted, sooner or later.
Since the days of Ockeghem (who in 1461 wrote the oldest surviving Requiem Mass) and the other Flemish composers, the form of the Requiem and its objective have greatly changed; whereas originally the purpose was to accompany a true mass, over the centuries, it has gradually developed as a genre in its own right, following paths into the theatrical (Mozart), the operatic (Verdi), the symphonic (Brahms, Henze), chamber music (Stravinsky, Fauré), and the spiritual (Gubaidulina, Pärt).
Despite this, the Requiem has maintained its very essence through the centuries never ceasing to exercise its charm. It has something to do with the essence of our life, with our being musicians, with our being women and men in an increasingly dehumanised world.

This work has its roots in Ockeghem’s Requiem Mass, which often emerges with the transfigured voice of a contrabass chorale, while it also draws inspiration from the Requiem by Ligeti. It is a work in which our diverse backgrounds – ancient and contemporary music, radical improvisation, electronic music, avant-garde jazz – blend together, one into the other. It is the place of our meeting, so inexplicable, so indispensable. (Daniele Roccato)