Enrico Fazio Ensemble

A labor of love and obsession for Italian bassist/composer Enrico Fazio, Girotondo is musical recasting of the circular sexual relationships depicted in Austrian Arthur Schnitzler’s 1897 play which is better-known under its French title of La Ronde. Adapting a dodecaphonic series, Fazio, an academic who has lead various-sized ensembles and played with Carlo Actis Dato among many others, uses the play’s male and female  pairings to creates duets between what he calls “male” and “female” instruments. Although involving main and secondary series, musicians were free to use fragments or interpolations of other section during their improvisational duets.

The details make the performances seem more convoluted then they actually. In essence this is a series of thoughtful timbre-contrasting miniatures which display characteristic conventional and extended tones to their best advantages. Mating the carnal with the contrapuntal, the 10 themes create defining sound pictures. Less provocative then Schnitzler’s pre-and-post-coital encounters would suggest, depending on the situation the melding of timbres between, say, portamento brass flutters and squeezed low-pitched reeds is alternately romantic and rutting, with Gianni Virone’s flute usually projecting Arcadian tones. Messy timbral ejaculations are infrequent, reflecting self-control in the characters and the musicians.

More interesting is when circular breathed patterns or repeated spetrofluctuation from one or more of the five woodwind players is emphasized or when gnarly spiccato slices from violinist Emanuele Parrini meet low-pitched reed burbles to confirm heightened intensity. One notable innovation is using Valeria Sturba’s theremin manipulation on a couple of the tracks. The very human-ness of the instrument’s bel canto lyricism contrasted with renal reed snorts adds to the veracity of the interpretations.

With Fazio’s electronic input adding whizzes and crackles to the introduction and finale that bookend the duets, he has created a work of art that can be appreciated as a stand-alone suite or as individualistic commentary on the play itself.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. L’ospite, lo spazio scenico 2. La prostituta e il soldato 3. Il soldato e la cameriera 4. La cameriera e il giovanotto 5. Il giovanotto e la giovane signora 6. La giovane signora e il marito 7. Il marito e la donna galante 8. La donna galante e il poeta 9 Il poeta e l’attrice 10. L’attrice ed il conte 11. Il conte e la prostituta 12. Girotondo finale

Personnel: Alberto Mandarini (trumpet); Gianpiero Malfatto (euphonium); Francesco Aroni Vigone (alto saxophone); Marco Tardino (baritone saxophone); Gianni Virone (flute); Giancarlo Locatelli (bass clarinet); Adalberto Ferrari (contrabass clarinet); Mario Arcari (oboe); Emanuele Parrini (violin); Enrico Fazio (bass, electronics); Valeria Sturba (theremin)