The musicians of Teatro Magico (APS) carry out an aphoristic version of Raccolta di pietra e sabbia (≈ Collection of sand and pebbles) for Residenze Erranti, inspired by the work of buddhist monk Ichien Mujū (1227-1312) by the same name.

 

This version of Raccolta di pietra e sabbia pivots around Stefano Landi’s aria Augellin, whose lyrics are quite enigmatic, yet manage to convey both the assertive lightness of the Augellin – a bird – and the doubtful graveness of a confused lover.
The other guest of this perfomance are Franz Kafka’s Zürau’s aphorisms. Perhaps only a few works in all of western literature overturn so effectively the average relationship between answer and question: while we commonly conceive the question as lurking, fickle, and doubtful, and the answer as present, assertive, and secure; in Kafka’s aphorisms the question is the only grave presence, while the answer crawls and despairs in doubt.
Raccolta di sassi e sabbia attempts to offer the audience a similar duality – found in the contradiction between the two conceptions of question/answer – also between interpretation and representation in music, as perceived by the performer.

 
 
» Residenze Erranti
» Centro Asteria
 
 

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Festival Corde d’Autunno
Sunday 26th November 2023 – Teatro Centro Asteria, Milan, Italy