Federico Maria Sardelli b.1963 Troisième Suite de Pièces pour 13. Le Brin d'herbe (Sarabande legère) le Clavecin (2016) in G minor Avec simplicité et un peu vif 2’13 1. La Lunatique Très vite 4’08 14. Gigue Gracieusement 1’46 2. Le Labyrinthe d’amour 15. Chaconne en Rondeau Avec une grande tendresse, Fièrement 7’01 mais sans lenteur 4’19 3. L’Étonnement Viste 3’07 Première Suite de Pièces pour le 4. La Timide Peu vivement, Clavecin, intitulé “Les Caractères” avec hésitation 2’29 (1990) in D minor 5. Le Talon Rouge, 16. Le misantrophe Prelude 2’08 Gracieusement, et pas vite 2’55 17. La méfiante Allemande 4’07 6. Le Plaintif Légerement 3’14 18. L’ambitiéuse Courante 2’31 7. Le Papillon à la bougie Vite 2’27 19. La flatteuse Sarabande 3’38 8. La Colère Très Vite 3’07 20. L’impatient Très Vite & agité 2’29 9. Tambourin I & II 3’07 21. Le jaloux Tendrement 3’45 22. L’ingénue Rondeau Deuxième Suite pour le Clavecin avec simplicité 2’49 (2006) in D minor 23. L’importune Gigue 1’33 10. Allemande I Noblement 4’25 11. Allemande II Très vivement, 24. Chaconne composé à la mémoire et les demi-croches égales 2’09 immortelle de l’incomparable 12. Courante à l'Italienne Légerement, Mr. De Lully in G 5’33 et les demi-croches égales 1’49 Simone Stella harpsichord Harpsichord made by Jim Hall in Amsterdam, 2005, after Henri Hemsch Sardelli, or 21st century somersaults with a spirit as subtle as Salvatore Sciarrino. I think that this kind of game, which This album confirms Federico Maria Sardelli to be one of the most unusual and is what most of the composers I know are involved in, leaves Sardelli cold. It’s pure indeed remarkable personalities on the Italian musical scene. In actual fact, to speak passion that urges him to compose. He is moved by his love for the Enlightenment of music alone is reductive, given Sardelli’s insatiable appetite for various genres of world, for the vision, the atmosphere, the ethical and political ideals that take shape, creativity, and his achievements within each sphere: more than forty recordings, a become substance, embody concepts and manifest structure. There is nothing abstract couple of dozen books on music (including the fundamental Catalogue of Vivaldi’s about Sardelli’s relationship to that universe. He simply belongs to it, and in so doing Musical Concordances published by Olschki for the G. Cini Foundation, an essential must invest his own creative energy in the relative forms of expression. Such is the volume for all Vivaldi scholars, performers, composers and devotees), paintings and link he forges between idea and deed, theory and practice. Baroque Man embraced etchings that would make many professional artists green with envy, an astounding multitasking ante litteram, writing hundreds of works and sonatas in an afternoon, catalogue of compositions, as well as a vast range of live music including concerts, racing from one part of Europe to another by coach, playing three of or four rediscovered works by Vivaldi (for a fascinating account of them, see his book instruments with virtuoso skill, speaking five languages, apart from Greek and Latin, L’affare Vivaldi published by Sellerio), and critical editions. To add to which there and possibly in the meantime fathering a score of children. Because he is made of the is the sphere of his satirical writings, and his accomplishments as an illustrator and same stuff, Sardelli perceives the difference between making music and imagining cartoonist. But that, as he would say, is another story. it, between drawing and painting, between writing and reading. Everything derives Sardelli is a hugely versatile, militant artist endowed with absolute focus. Though from those models, ideals and perspectives. His aim is not to view the candlelight far from complete, the above list of his wide-ranging exploits is intended as an aid to world, but to understand what that world has still to offer. Hence the “absurd” idea appreciation of the works that Simone Stella plays so magnificently in this recording. of writing a homage to the “French” harpsichord of Couperin, Rameau and Royer. Why compose music today that harks back to the styles and canons of over three I use the term “absurd” because in a regular composition class nowadays a task of centuries ago? This is a legitimate question. Within the framework of Western culture, this sort would simply be considered an academic exercise. Yet to present such works the ultimate aim of all creative activity is to arouse aesthetic pleasure, to elicit feelings as topical today is more than a mere provocation. It is a way of reminding us of the that spread ideas and concepts, thereby giving rise to understanding and awareness. modernity of those models, of externalizing their lasting intrinsic splendour. It’s one In other words, a form of gnosis. And innovation is part and parcel of the process. We thing to admire a cathedral, and another to build it. These musical cathedrals are return to the classics because they always have something to say, and because when beautifully constructed because Sardelli can count on unmatched expertise regarding they first appeared they often (though not always, as the reception of Bach’s works style, detail, inventive expedients and the most elusive secrets of a bygone idiom. Far shortly after his death goes to prove) elicited more or less violent reactions to the from being archaeological remains, such elements become virgin territory, a promised radical originality they embodied. The catalogue is interminable: suffice it to mention land: in a world of desolation, the search for beauty intact. And it is precisely this that the effects of the works of Beethoven, Berlioz, Schumann, Liszt, Wagner, Debussy, he offers us with the suites recorded here. Schoenberg, Stravinsky or Boulez. Event first-year students of composition feel they Let me add one more consideration. For some time now I have felt that sooner or belong to that world, that they are somehow taking part in the dialogue, contributing later the widespread desire for new music would turn, at least partly, into a demand to a tradition that is in constant renewal based on conservation and development. for “new” vintage music. This would explain why in many parts of the world the Sardelli isn’t in the least interested in all of this. At least I don’t think so. I don’t concentration of audiences for classical music, especially chamber music, contrasts believe that his music is a reaction to Nono or Berio, or a response to Glass, or a with an exponential increase in audiences for so-called early music. To many people kick in the shins aimed at Stockhausen, though I can imagine an interesting exchange the latter genre comes across as completely new (period instruments, Gregorian modes, pre-polyphonic forms), and also reassuringly familiar. This explains the terms because it allowed the composer to be introspective and subtly sentimental, “popular” success of composers such as Arvo Pärt, whose works satisfy the desire for albeit in an abstract manner. Thus pieces that seem to be essentially descriptive such neo-archaic sound. So perhaps Sardelli is actually a militant exponent of an avant- as Le Papillon à la bougie or Le Talon Rouge actually transcend their titles and garde that is still to come. The 20th century introduced us to his exploits, but we still become metaphors for impalpable states of mind, most of them melancholic. The have to come to terms with his 21st (or 17th, if you prefer) century feats. form of the suite is indeed a sort of container with flexible confines, one that abides © Michele dall’Ongaro only by unity of key and the appeal of alternation. That is why this third suite of mine comprises pieces written on different occasions: One Instrument, One Language For me the harpsichord has always spoken just one language: French. And within La Lunatique, 7 October 2012 this language the finest idiom is that of Couperin, Rameau and Royer. I completed Le Labyrinthe d’amour, 15 September 2016 my first suite in 1990, when I was 27, and I based it on a book that was published L’Etonnement, 1 October 2012 in 1688, Les Caractères by Jean de La Bruyère: each movement of the suite portrays La Timide, 24 March 2009 a human characteristic or passion. The language of this music follows closely on the Le Talon rouge, composed for viola da gamba in 2008 and arranged for harpsichord heels of that of Lully, in keeping with the style of the Caractères. This is particularly on 8 July 2016 evident in the Prelude Le misanthrope, which harks back to the style of the non- Le Plaintif, 23 March 2009 measured prelude typical of the 1600s. This first suite of mine was never completed. Le Papillon à la bougie, 22 August 2016 I can’t remember why, but for some reason I had interrupted the composition of La Colère, 11 September 2016 L’importune, which I had envisaged as the last piece of the suite. So in October/ Tambourin I & II, 3 October 2012 November 2016 I went back to my notes of 1990 and rewrote it ex novo. Many years after that first composition, around 2006, I returned to the harpsichord There is another individual piece that I originally wrote as the conclusion of my and wrote a second suite. This time I had no particular paradigm to adhere to, so orchestral suite of 2009, dedicated to the memory of J.-B.