a piano concerto about air and a flying soloist
Paul Herruer | 10 March 2010 | Dagblad van het Noorden
Aerial is the name of the piano concerto written by Anthony Fiumara. The Noord Nederlands Orkest commissioned it. Coincidentally, the reference to air in the title matches the hobby of soloist Ralph van Raat, who is working towards his pilot's licence. The work will premiere on 11 March.
“It is not a piano concerto in the traditional sense,” states Anthony Fiumara (1968). “The piano is not playing against the orchestra. Instead, they blend into each other. Almost constantly, the piano does what it wants while the orchestra envelops it like a cloak, adding colour. I have deliberately kept the orchestra in its place to prevent it from eclipsing the piano.”
You are a composer as well as a musicologist. To what extent do these areas influence each other?
As a musicologist, I have always been fascinated by Renaissance music. The polyphonic compositions of that time are shaped like a sonorous mass that stretches in a long arc towards the end. Like cutting a piece out of eternity. I enjoy basing my pieces on a prolonged melodic line, as happens in early music. But there are other influences as well. I love Steve Reich and early Philip Glass, but also Arvo Pärt. One of my heroes is Morton Feldman. He always makes me feel as if I open a door behind which his music is playing on an ongoing basis.”
Aerial contains a Laurie Anderson song, ‘O Superman’. How did this happen?
I have known this song for years. It ends with a bass line. I extended this and used a sort of passacaglia – again a technique that has its roots in early music. When I started to discuss the piece with Ralph, I played Anderson to him and he liked my idea. He responded with jazz recordings by Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett on electric piano. I am not using that instrument but it gave me the idea to emulate the electric piano. I get Ralph to play tones wrapped in a kind of delay, and the orchestra elongates those notes through a kind of reverb effect.
Do you also listen to other rock music?
Sure, my taste is eclectic, from Massive Attack to Portishead and Brian Eno's ambient music. Alternative rock music often delights in sound and in creating a fine atmosphere. If I can only achieve a tenth of that I'll be happy. I hope the audience will simply enjoy Aerial – and I have a larger public in mind than my fellow composers.”
Where do you see yourself as a composer?
My compositions are modal instead of neo-tonal. I leave the triads used in minimal music well alone. In the past, I have tried to write chromatically but I always return to modal music. Originally, I composed in secret as I studied musicology. It didn't occur to me that I could take lessons in composition but ten years ago, Richard Rijnvos became my tutor. He taught me to choose, to stop trying to use everything at once, to be selective. Less is more than enough. Usually the structure of my pieces is quite rigorous. I am also partial towards slow music.”
So did you write a slow piano concerto?
No, you cannot keep that up for 20 minutes. The second part, in which I incorporated Laurie Anderson, is quiet and I have tried to keep it as uncomplicated as possible. There is a bass line, tubular bells ring out and a layer of strings can be heard. Simultaneously, the piano adds a very simple motif. The final part ended up fast. This was my chance to try my hand at acceleration. Exaggeration is permitted. For the piano concerto, I let go of the rigour that characterizes my earlier work. Every time the music headed in an unexpected direction I let it happen.”
You are not just a musicologist and composer, but also a music reviewer. Don't you find this a schizoid experience?
“It is typically Dutch to separate such activities but this is of all time. Debussy wrote about music, so did Schumann, and there are other examples. Of course, I do refrain from writing about certain subjects. Now that the piano concerto is imminent, I will not write about Ralph van Raat for a couple of years. But I never felt that there is a real difference between writing about music and composing music.” (translation: Moze Jacobs)