Luci mie traditrici by Salvatore Sciarrino (review)

Salvatore Sciarrino is considered one of the top names in contemporary European music, although his work does not appear to have garnered much of a following in North America. Born in 1947, he is a self-taught modernist who came under the influence of Luigi Nono, and went on to further study at Rome’s Accademia di Santa Cecilia. Sciarrino’s musical language is un-apologetically avant-garde, and is described in Wikipedia as containing “isolated sonorities, extended playing techniques, frequent silences, and ironic or confrontational quotation of previous music.” This is an accurate description of what is on hand here. His extensive catalogue leans heavily towards chamber music, but he has written 15 stage works, of which Luci mie traditrici is the eighth.

Luci mie traditrici had its first performance at the Schwetzingen Festival in 1998. Subsequent productions appeared in 2003, in 2008 at the Salzburg Festival, and in 2010 at the Berlin Festival of Contemporary Music. The production presented here on DVD was recorded during the 2010 Festival of Contemporary Art in Montepulciano, a festival established by Hans Werner Henze in which all artists donate their services.

The libretto by the composer, adapted from a seventeenth century Italian play, was inspired by composer Carlo Gesualdo’s murder of his wife and her lover. Rather than draw on Gesualdo’s music, Sciarrino has taken a madrigal by Claude Le Jeune as his musical inspiration. The Le Jeune piece is used as the basis for three intermezzi which divide the scenes of this 70 minute piece, first in a fairly straightforward transcription, then deconstructed for its later appearances. The vocal writing is declamatory, frequently requiring the singers to crescendo rapidly and then glissando into a sort of Sprechstimme. There is virtually no traditional singing for any of the four soloists. The small orchestra likewise relies on extended techniques, outside of the intermezzi, providing something closer to cinematic sound effects.

Sciarrino has declared that this performance is definitive and a point of reference for any subsequent performances. Without a score or any other productions on video, one has to take his word for it. Indeed, the performances are staggering. This has to be extremely difficult music to perform, let alone memorize, and the singers – all young artists from the Frankfurt Opera, which is cited as a co-producer of this production - seem to be at ease with it and only rarely can be seen looking to the conductor for guidance. The DVD includes a “making of ” documentary that shows the rehearsal process and provides essential commentary from the composer and performers. As one might expect, the technical quality is excellent.

Luci mie traditrici is difficult and demanding listening, and is not going to appeal to everyone. It is a far cry from the accessible literary and/or tabloid adaptations which dominate the field of new operas in this country, but it is a worthwhile addition to collections with an interest in contemporary music.