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MARCO STROPPA Miniature Estrose – Primo Libro per pianoforte d’amore Erik Bertsch © Roberto Masotti Marco Stroppa (*1959) Miniature Estrose Primo Libro (1991 – 2003; rev. 2009) 1 Passacaglia canonica, in contrappunto policromatico 08:30 2 Birichino, come un furetto 03:41 3 Moai 09:56 4 Ninnananna 06:04 5 Tangata Manu 10:00 6 Innige Cavatina 11:40 7 Prologos: Anagnorisis I. Canones diversi ad consequendum 13:08 TT 63:00 Erik Bertsch, piano 3 Miniature Estrose “Miniature” as it is used here does not no. Each Miniatura is based on a com- so much refer to a piece that is brief plex system of resonances created by as it does to one that is fashioned in a sizeable number of keys being low- great detail, like the elaborately dec- ered silently prior to the performance orated initials of medieval illuminated and then held by the sostenuto ped- manuscripts or some of the miniatures al, leaving the relative strings free to from India. “Estrose” is an untrans- vibrate throughout the duration of latable word with various shades of the Miniatura. In this manner, the oth- meaning, having to do with imagina- er notes played interact with the free tion, creative intuition, inspiration and strings, generating countless sympa- genius, but also extravagance and ec- thetic resonances and giving rise to centricity. Suffice it to say that Antonio the formation of latent harmony. This Vivaldi chose this same word for his mechanism, which lies at the basis of L’Estro Armonico. a metamorphosed instrument which Stroppa refers to as the pianoforte Marco Stroppa, from d’amore, demands a radical change Miniature Estrose, Primo Libro – from the performer in his or her ap- Casa Ricordi, Milano proach to the piano. Indeed, the study of the Miniature Estrose forced me not The First Book of Miniature Estrose by only to focus my attention on the sound Marco Stroppa is a work that revolu- produced directly by the movement of tionised my relationship with the pia- my fingers on the keyboard, but also to 4 listen with just as much concentration ly refined use of the sustain pedal, the and repeated notes which return in the to the prism of sounds emerging as a performer has the chance to interact various Miniature, transformed each secondary consequence of this ac- with the full spectrum of resonances, time in a more or less recognisable tion. During the performance, the res- modifying their intensity and duration, manner. I was very much won over by onances accumulate, fade, grow, over- thus allowing for the construction and the task of shaping this sort of hidden lap and are enriched ever more, from sculpting of the sound over time, and macroform, full of the references and which a sort of parallel piano emerges demanding profound dedication to the anticipations with which the Miniature that appears to live a life of its own. For listening process from the pianist. secretly communicate with one anoth- me, the most fascinating aspect was er. The performance of the First Book indeed the relationship that emerges The multitude of agogic directions, of in its entirety turned out to constitute with this latent universe of sound. diverse character and colour to be an inner narrative capable of shifting found in the score, fundamental for submerged layers of memory and in- Despite the infinite resources it has the estroso nature of the work, repre- fluencing our perception in unexpect- to offer, the piano has always suffered sented a further, seductive challenge ed and surprising ways. from one major limitation compared to for me: to yield the infinite timbric vari- the human voice or string, brass and ety essential to the sound universe in woodwind instruments: the impossi- the collection, a kaleidoscopic study of bility to control the sound beyond the imagination and fantasy is in fact nec- moment in which it is emitted. There essary, exploiting the extremes of the have been countless strategies de- piano’s range of colour and dynamics. ployed by composers and pianists alike to mask this inevitable decay of Lastly, the First Book of Miniature Es- the sound, and magically make the pi- trose is a wonderful journey through ano “sing” (suffice to think of Chopin’s perception. The seven pieces in the cantabile) or imitate various orchestral collection, despite being characterised timbres. However, in the case of the by their own very clearly defined musi- Miniature Estrose, thanks to the use cal ideas, are in fact brought together Erik Bertsch of countless tremolos, trills and re- within a web of references, ones that peated notes and various approaches Stroppa defines as “imprints”, i.e. a translated from Italian by to striking the keys, along with a high- number of gestures, groups of pitches Ben Bazalgette 5 The Passacaglia canonica, chosen by Erik Bertsch to open his itiner- ary through the Miniature Estrose by Marco Stroppa, is dedicated “à Pierre-Laurent Aimard pour que ‘les parfums, les sons et les couleurs se re- pondent’.” The dedication to Aimard could not have been more fitting, not merely for the fact of paying homage to the musician who inspired the cycle, but also because – quoting Baudelaire – it highlights some of the individual characteristics that make the Minia- ture Estrose a classic of modern piano literature. In fact, the correspondenc- es evoked in the tribute do not mere- ly concern the aesthetic sphere but al- so and above all the architectural and poetic conception of the work as a 6 whole. The complete title of this first ture Estrose provides a map bereft forty-seven bars in the score, or rather Miniatura, which along with Ninnanan- of specific or peremptory pathways. seven times twenty-one, which in turn na makes up the oldest element of the Each of the miniatures represents is three times seven, just as there are cycle, is in fact a canonical passaca- a leg of the journey, which each per- seven “p’s” in the opening pianissimo. glia in polychromatic counterpoint. Yet former may touch on in the order s/he But the homage to Berio also emerg- what does this expression refer to ex- prefers or even singularly. To tell the es through elements embedded in his actly? In the strict sense, “polychro- truth, the map is still incomplete, inso- works: a chord or a fragment of melo- matic counterpoint” refers to the di- far as Stroppa has produced only the dy (Stroppa calls them “jewels”), hid- verse shades of sound of the rhythmic first book of his Miniature Estrose, de- den in the writing and invisible as cita- canons generated by the refraction spite the fact that the material for the tions, yet perfectly recognisable, like in of the theme through the pre-set har- entire cycle was outlined right from an anamorphosis, as soon as the per- monic fields, but in actual fact it re- the start on the basis of an overarch- ceptive axis shifts. However, this ana- veals the rhizomatic nature of Strop- ing logic. In other words, the work is lytical complexity must be framed by a pa’s musical thought. Indeed, right waiting to be defined as a complete poetical metaphor, that of flight, corre- from the start Passacaglia canonica whole, which in the artist’s plans ought sponding to the image evoked by the highlights the heterogeneous and in- to happen shortly. In actual fact, this title, Tangata manu: the bird-man, the terconnecting character of the Min- apparently incomplete and fragmen- young hero capable of defeating the iature, endowed not only with a high- tary nature corresponds to the pro- rivals from the other clans in a chal- ly refined pianistic writing – it is not by foundly poetical nature of the score, lenge on the very limit of human pos- chance that Stroppa defines Aimard a which is made up of independent seg- sibilities in order to steal the egg of “sound sculptor” – but also with a se- ments yet at the same time ribbed a white-tipped tern (Sterna fuscata), ries of shapes and compositional pro- with lines that pass through it in a hor- laid in a place practically inaccessible cesses that link the whole cycle to- izontal, swarming and arborescent to any land creature – an ancient rit- gether, proliferating in a horizontal manner. Perhaps the most fitting met- ual which continued up until the nine- fashion from one Miniatura to the next. aphor is the elegant geometry of the teenth century and which was of fun- The counterpoint acts on various lev- neuronal network, with its infinite ex- damental importance for maintaining els, both linguistic and formal, yet in a pansion of connective tissue. Tanga- the social equilibria among the Rapa de-structured manner: linear, anti-gen- ta manu, the most brilliant and virtuo- Nui people (the inhabitants of Easter erative, in contrast with the traditional sistic Miniatura in the cycle, highlights Island). characteristics of baroque form. In this this rhizomatic aspect very well. Dedi- sense, Passacaglia canonica would cated to Luciano Berio in honour of his Today, the Tangata manu and the Moai, appear to be a good starting point to seventieth birthday, Tangata manu is the monumental stone faces to be begin an excursus through the realm broadly influenced by the number sev- found throughout the island, are the of the modern piano, of which Minia- en, starting from the one hundred and vestiges of a nearly extinct Polyne- 7 sian civilisation, destroyed by the dev- applied to music, with the huge de- tieth century, comes up with a piano astating impact of the Western world, velopment of the potential merely writing based on the still largely unex- which subjugated, deported and ex- glimpsed by the pioneers of electron- plored acoustic resources of the piano terminated these peoples.

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