Musician Without Boundaries VII

The music of Andrea Centazzo defied labels. Music critics today however tend to put him in the New Age category. New Age appeared on the international scene around the mid '80s. Not so much a musical genre as a "container" where various heterogenous musical experiences can converge. It is characterized by a widespread use of acoustic instruments, of digital technology, and of simple musical language made up of themes inspired by ethnic and minimal musics, and of natural sounds which help to create suffused, dreamy sonorities. Just as New Age was starting to enjoy a certain popularity in Italy , Centazzo in a timely interview, made it known that: "Twenty years ago I was making the same music as I'm making now, bar in the early '70's New Age hadn't been invented yet, and if someone made use of unusual sonorities he was immediately filed away under jazz".
Centazzo reflected, "My problem has always been one of labels: I have lived through a whole period of my career with my music having the wrong name - jazz. In 1973 I gave my first concerts, three quarters of the jazz critics turned their noses up. Unfortunately at that time Jazz was the only "container" possible, even if my music has very little jazz in it. That's the reason why today defining my music New Age isn't a recycling operation, but a sort of historical revenge. In my opinion, New Age is visible today, but it has always been there; it's essentially a revolution in the marketing of music, not in music itself. For many musicians, including myself, to be New Age means finally having a market dimension having a physical presence in every record shop, even if limits in the market persist."
Centazzo maintains that New Age is, "A free port, the only unoccupied space at the moment in which the experimenters can cross paths with the makers of ambient music."
There is a straight line connecting Indian Tapes and Visions" (completed ten years later) and received by the critics as a New Age work. In Visions, Centazzo synthesizes his personal musical experiences creating a journey into the world of percussion, electro-acoustic instruments. Divergent styles, genres arid musical cultures; creating fascinating sound portraits with influences of the minimalist avant-garde, the voices of Dervish singers of simple melodies clothed in exotic ethnic fabrics. This is multiform and evocative music, supported by the sounds of nature; music which goes beyond the expressive limits of the so-called New Age, to arrive al a complete communication project. These factors "place the work head and shoulders above the usual, widely acclaimed New Age works."
Centazzo broadened his musical research horizons even further, and in yet another new direction, with the creation of Cetacea-Odyssey of Lost Sounds, a work inspired by and dedicated to the marine mammals living in the Mediterranean. Centazzo, ever sensitive to ecological issues, demonstrated, once again through his music, his concern as an artist for the world around him, as Franco Fayenz had already noted years previously in an article of 1975: "Centazzo's music is the portrait of the artist, of his lively bar dry humor, full of the pains and contradictions of everyday life. The etymology is jazz, but nothing is excluded and therefore you have rock experience, classical musical education, an openness the electronic means and overdubbing techniques. The titles taken from history and from newspaper headlines: Per Nazim Hikmet, Stampa specchio di carta, Chi parla del Cementificio di Lestans?; reflect the ideology of the composer and his colleagues. They are part of the compositions, of their meaning, underpinning their motivation."
Through New Age atmospheres, clothed in references to other languages, Centazzo contributes with Cetacea the our awareness of serious problems, of man's destruction of the sea and the environment. The Odyssey of Lost Sounds was made to promote and finance the activities of the Cetacea Foundation in Riccione. "I am interested in communication on all levels," explains Centazzo, "animal calls, human voices -the sounds, but also the colors. The evocative aspect and the visions provoked by images, are each ways of expressing something, of comunicating." The voices of the marine mammals used as a leitmotiv in Cetacea are so particular as to seem not sounds produced by animals, but by electronic or percussion instruments. The voices fit in perfectly to the journey through "Lost Sounds", guided by Centazzo with a simple musical language of great communicative power. "I have tried to adapt the music to the character of the animals, not creating a catalog of sounds which would have been artistically banal, but a sing an emotive approach. The pilot whale, for example inspired in me a sad, melancholy movement, whereas the striped dolphins gave me the idea of frenetic, rhythmic animation. I have put the accent on simplicity in order to make the music more immediate. First I put down a solid rhythmic base, using percussion in a new way. Cetacea offers a profusion of ethnic percussion instruments, mostly from Africa. The rhythmic parts are very elaborate and the polyrhythms unfold to the listener almost in the form of a dance. Secondly, I have made use of melodies that are singable, in homage to the theme of the Cetaceans. They are melodies which stay in your mind from the first time you hear the, and consequently they have a more immediate communicative effect than my previous works. The whole maintains however a subtext of tone-color and structural experimentation; in fact the pieces do present particular problems in execution, especially for the percussionists."
Saverio Francesco Sasso has said this of Cetacea: "The starting point for Andrea Centazzo's work is the sounds and voices of the marine mammals living in the Mediterranean. These sounds in their new context take on a truly musical validity, and go further; they represent the moment of conjunction between the cultures of all the peoples who inhabit the shores of the Mediterranean. And it is in this element that Centazzo establishes the basis for the creation of a sort of musical poem, full of epos where the song of the Cetacean recalls the voice of the aedo.
Musical sensibility and classical culture combine perfectly here to give life to musical pieces of profound poetic resonance, in which the new heroes are these last depositories of the epics of the Ancient World; the dolphin, monk seal, balenottera minore, sperm whale and all the other cetaceans living in the Mediterranean in continual risk of extinction. The titles of the pieces mark the chapters of this engaging tale of travels across the mythical shores of Mare Nostrum: from A nord dell'Egeo (North of the Aegean) to Danze del Nilo (Dance of the Nile), from Isole del vento (Islands of the Wind) to Isole di pioggia (Islands of Rain), from In vista delle colonne d'Ercole (On sighting the Columns of Hercules) to Il capodoglio parla in sogno ad Ulisse (The sperm whale talks to Ulysses in a dream). The Odyssey of Lost Sounds unfolds, chapter after chapter, transiting vanished civilizations and ancient histories, where the Cetaceans are the last living creatures to conserve the biological and symbolic cultural memory of what was the Mediterranean.
In his work Centazzo offers, among other things, a genuine occasion for reflection on how the "ecological thought", to use Edgar Morin's definition, can be the catalyzing element in artistic production in this case, the music. Centazzo's use of the sounds and voices of the cetaceans transcends the mere coloristic considerations to take on a strongly symbolic and profoundly evocative connotation. With his homage to the ocean and the stupendous animals that still dwell in it, Andrea Centazzo offers no exhilarating musical contribution to the maturing of our conscience, towards a new perception and way of living in our environment." The pendulum swings in Centazzo's artistic growth again, taking him back toward the direction of film and theatre, and from still another direction. Since 1985, Centazzo had continued to expand his artistic experience with composition for theatre and cinema. "My relationship with the cinema," he says, "has always been controversial, and bas gone in alternanting phases. For some periods I have been actively interested in it, then sometimes I have completely ignored it for other projects. In the early years of my career I even used the term 'film music' in a derogatory sense, to indicate music lacking in cultural depth, without content, just there to fill in the spaces in a story told in images. On the other hand, I have always sought the challenge of other modes of artistic expression, and as I have already said, it was just this that moved me to make my first videos.
It was practically impossible for somebody with a solitary and introverted nature like mine to get into the world of cinema; a world where appearances, politics, high society and work are all so intermingled as to make access prohibitive to someone like me with a weak stomach for such behavior. It was a very lucky coincidence that opened up the doors to working with cinematic and theatrical producers and directors; and the story merits being told. I had been invited to give a solo percussion concert (a program of difficult pieces by Gentilucci, Cage, Bussotti and myself) in Suzzara, a little town in the province of Mantova where a very courageous Arts Officer on the town council organized concerts of contemporary music. At the end of the concert I was complemented by two very pleasant people from Milan, who asked me for my phone number. These turned out to be none other than the talented director, Massimo Mazzucco and the renowned producer, Gianfranco Sacchi who were on a gastronomic visit to Suzzara! They contacted me few days later, and fro this chance meeting was born a friendship and collaboration which continues to this day."
Centazzo's first experience in writing for film was indeed with Massimo Mazzucco's film, Romance, which had great success al the Venice Film Festival in 1986. The film starred Walter Chiari in his great, last performance as no old father and Luca Barbareschi, actor and director, who went on to become a highly successful television personality. Centazzo's music for Romance moved away from his usual exploration into sounds, and entered a language of communication and support to the images, where the principle elements of Centazzo's language nonetheless reemerge dominantly giving the work a particular stylistic stamp which differentiates it from the usual Italian film soundtracks. it was on the set of Romance that Barbareschi and Centazzo met and swapped ideas on the relationship between film and music, and so an idea grew to take that type of music onto the stage.
All Barbareschi's theatrical productions since 1986 have had music written by Andrea Centazzo. "These days writing for theatre is a part of my work to which I give particular attention." says Centazzo, "My old love for literature arid theatre, born in the high school classroom has returned stronger than ever! Music written for the theatre has been historically poor in inspiration and in production because nobody wants to spend money on something that is considered an accessory Most of the time the music takes on the role of an indistinct background, almost disturbing the theatrical action. Right from the start I conceived my theatrical pieces as structurally autonomous compositions, with their own expressive vocabulary, inspired by the text and supportive of it; music that truly reinforces the action.
I believe that music for theatre should be complete in itself in order to be able to have a life of its own away from the theatrical context. Consequently, my pieces for theatre have been released on record and are performed in concerts without any stylistic or contextual discrepancy between them and pieces written specifically for concerts. This desire of mine to impart my personal stamp on the music I write, at any cost, for the stage and screen could perhaps exclude me from the world of rich pickings, but that scene tends to be artistically very limited, and work has always brought me great artistic satisfaction."
There is an inventive freshness evident in Centazzo's music for theatre and cinema, all of which has the integrity of character to be performed independently in a situation free of literary connotations with equal success. It is inspired by the text, supporting the drama with an appropriate sense of equilibrium, built on structures that are complex and whole, rich with suggestion and tone-color effects, realized with the customary instrumentation that Centazzo utilizes in his concerts.
In fact, from his music for theatre, Centazzo has further evolved his personal style utilizing a more immediate language, which is less complex, if still filled with references to other genres and cultures.
Centazzo's first real theatrical challenge came with Jacques E Il Suo Padrone which had its debut at the Duse Theatre in Genoa, December 1986. The piece based on the text by the Czechoslovakian writer Milan Kundera, recalling Diderot, followed the adventures of Jacques and his master, full of detached and disillusioned wisdom. The music, using a rich variety of percussion and samplers unfolds into eleven thematic fragments of simple and arioso melodic structure, in which precious musical icons are set, dominated by the voice of the soprano saxophone. Centazzo and Barbareschi continued with their development and research into new e formulas linking music and theatre, to the point of creating the interesting experience of the monologue "All men are prostitutes", a free adaptation by Barbareschi of David Mamet's, Sermon. The piece was presented in the series Concerti In Prosa at the 30th Spoleto Two Worlds Festival in 1987. In this new dimension the stage is shared by the actor and the musician, and the protagonist's monologue is contracted and challenged by the music. This conflict between words music proceeds on the level of a theatrical dialogue with a flexible musical core, giving the performance the air of a working-progress. It is a piece in which e rhythm of the words and the pauses between them have more significance than e single words themselves, where the music assumes the role of protagonist capable of entering into dialogue with the actor. e work bas been widely acclaimed, described in one review as: "a concert in se.....in the fullest sense ... a serious examination into how to make new theatre.
Today, for the first time the music is not just a soundtrack adding superfluous comments... the literary significance of the text locks into the rhythmic vibrations of the brushes and sticks on the cymbals and drums, to the pertinent din produced with a thousand devilish tricks by the man/orchestra alongside the actor." Surprisingly, the jazz idiom, albeit in an appropriately stylized context, makes its appearance in the music for David Mamet's Speed The Plow", which was given its European premiere at the 31" Spoleto Festival in 1987. "I had composed some amber duets and trios with a strong jazz influence for Speed the Plow, then various dramatic considerations forced me to re-evaluate my ideas, and the result that there remains today an independent suite for saxophones and bass clarinet entitled "Speed the Plow", and inspired by that text."
The music takes on a particularly leading role in "Henceforward' written by English, comic playwright Alan Ayckbourn, and produced by Luca Barbareschi. On this production, Centazzo also created the video which is projected onto a large screen at the centre of the stage. In the video, Centazzo, himself, appears in the note of Lupus, a mysterious and disgusting jazz drummer, and in so doing has added to his artistic achievements yet another role, that of actor! The magic sequence of notes played by the protagonist Jerome, a composer, and the music of the show, are written in such a way as it not just be a mete musical comment, but a genuine, integral part of the text.
August Strindberg's "Fróken Julie", presented at the Stabile Theatre in Calabria in 1989, was a difficult challenge with the tragedy of its text, and the expressive sedimentation produced by the multiplicity of its scenes. "It is a tragedy," explains director Enzo Siciliano, "based on the reality of the unconscious; the premonition of the senses into which Freud would later investigate. My work in adapting this piece consisted of no intervention on tbc words. I have stripped down the dialogue to rediscover the expressive power of the letter." For the first time in the music Centazzo uses a string quartet and a string ensemble. In the musical texture are wind echoes of minimalism and surrealism which trace the halo of a nightmare, to the point of touching at times a pained song-like atmosphere, giving way to a broader harmonic relaxation.
A charming musical air, veiled in melancholy nostalgia pervades the music of "Dear Liar", a play by Jerome Kilty based on the forty year correspondence between George Bernard Shaw and actress Stella Campbell, partners in life and in art; such a complicity has linked Giorgio Albertazzi and Anna Proclemer for years, making them the perfect pair for this drama. Cormmenting on the music, Giorgio Albertazzi had this to say, "With the exception of the music of duke Ellington for the texts of Shakespeare in my production, with the music performed by Giorgio Gaslini, l don't ever remember in my career having worked with music that was so stimulating and so in tune with the literary meaning."
A dreamlike atmosphere instead wafts through the music of the novella casanova's Journey Home by Arthur Schnitzler, adapted for the stage by Tullio Kezich and given its premiere at the 12th edition of "Cittá Spettacolo" in Benevento in September 1991, before departing for a European tour. Once again, Albertazzi was the protagonist in a work in which Centazzo's music takes on a particular importance, not only because of its continual flow, but also because of the live performance with the on-stage presence of tbc musician. This experience was followed by "The Poetry of Attilio Bertolucci in Music" at the Asti Theatre in 1990. "The poems of Attilio Bertolucci, one of Italy's greatest contemporary poets, have always inspired in me a great feeling of serenity; they are slices of simple life. I decided to write simple indicative pieces and to find sounds to serve as accompaniment yet at the same time reinforce in sound what the words were saying." said Centazzo." "This has been an extraordinary experiment, "commented actor-director, Sergio Fantoni, "because weave rediscovered the power of the living word and of live music. Theatre is not theatre without performance; it is the task of the actors to give a sound to the words so they can become images. Here we have performed the poetry in music."
Centazzo continued his prolific work composing for all arenas but in 1992 two changes would herald the newest direction of his ever fascinating career. Warner Chappell signed him to a world-wide publishing contract in recognition of the importance and appeal of Centazzo's great body of work accomplished to date. Shortly thereafter, Centazzo was invited to return to tbc United States to score and perform the theatrical soundtrack for The Odyssey Theatre Ensemble of Los Angeles' production of Euripides' "The Bacchae".
The opportunity touched his deep affection for literature again, especially for a work he had long admired and enjoyed. Centazzo accepted the offer and headed once more to the United States. "In The Bacchae," says Centazzo, "I have the chance to reimmerse myself in the barbarisms of pure percussive sound, in the musical primitivism where everything is explicit, and the interaction with the text renders it choral. The willingness of the director Ron Sossi and of the entire cast to experiment, had made this a fascinating experience of contemporary antiquity." Centazzo had experimented in the presentation style of the music becoming another actor within the dramatic fiber of the play while in Europe; the style was an innovative experience for the theatre going public of Los Angeles. The production was so enhanced by Centazzo's music and performance, as to move Sylvie Drake of the Los Angeles Times to write: "An evocative score composed and performed by Andrea Centazzo on gongs, drums, cymbals, a xylophone and synthesizers. It serves as a spine for the play."
The theatre, therefore, remains for Centazzo, even now on his new American adventure, his great passion; and he has since written music for Tom Dulak's Incommunicado (based on Ezra Pound's imprisonment), Nick Dear's The Art of Success (based on the life of English artist, William Hogarth); both projects again with the prestigious Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, arid at the time of this writing, is preparing work on Gogol's The Inspector General for the Odyssey, Shespeare's Romeo a d Juliet for the premiere performance at The lvy Substation in Los Angeles and has signed to be the resident composer for a triology of Shakespeare's works for The MET Theatre of Los Angeles.
Unlike his earlier tour experience in the United States, this relocation did not break or interrupt his European ties nor limit the areas for his performance. On the contrary, his collaboration with Massimo Mazzucco continued with" Hidden Lens" a film which thinly disguises its inspiration by the philosophy of photographer Oliviero Toscani. The music takes on a more urban character with the use for the first time of electric and acoustic guitars in solo roles, and with the appearance of songs, which although melodically and harmonically complex, put Centazzo in the mainstream of sound track composition. Centazzo and Mazzucco are working together on Mazzucco's feature film, Enigma, currently in production. As a matter of fact, Centazzo is also scoring his first American films which include Vicky, an action-adventure feature film for McAdam Produetions of Los Angeles and the film short, Chris Barden's Fish Stories.
These days Centazzo can be found, just as he was in the earliest days of his career, in a flurry of activity-still prolific, still pressing the boundaries of musical artistry and communication; this time on an intercontinental basis. Hardly the end of his story-rather the mark of a new path in his continuing remarkable journey.