Paris Mozart Orchestra plays Silvia Colasanti – fiery ostinati versus sweet lyricism

In March 2022 the Paris Mozart Orchestra tours Europe with ‘Diversita #3’, a programme featuring works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Igor Stravinsky, Clara Schumann and Silvia Colasanti. She is the only living composer on the roster. The orchestra will present its programme featuring Schumann’s Piano Concerto and Colasanti’s Capriccio a due on 12 March in De Doelen, Rotterdam, and on 15 March in Concertgebouw Amsterdam.

Whether flowing melodies, driving rhythms or dense clouds of sound, the music of Silvia Colasanti (Rome, 1975) always remains lyrical. In Italy, she is regarded as one of the most important composers of her time; her music is represented by the prestigious music publisher Ricordi.

Silvia Colasanti, photo Barbara Rigon

In the Netherlands she received commissions from the Eduard van Beinum Stichting (Burning, 2010) and the String Quartet Biennale (Ogni cosa ad ogni cosa ha detto addio, 2018), but as far as we know her work will be heard for the first time in De Doelen and the Concertgebouw.

Colasanti studied at the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. In 2012, she achieved international fame with her opera La Metamorfosi, inspired by Franz Kafka. Five years later she based the chamber opera Le imperdonabili. L’ultima lettera di Etty Hillesum on life and work of the Dutch resistance fighter of the same name.

Capriccio a due for two violins and string orchestra dates from 2013. Colasanti wrote it at the request of violinist couple Salvatore Accardo and Laura Gorna, to whom she also dedicated it. Accardo and Gorna played the premiere at the opening of the 2013-14 concert season of the Istituzione Universitaria dei Concerti in Rome. Critics responded enthusiastically, calling it ‘extremely varied and lively’ and praising its ‘balanced, clearly recognisable structure’.

Capriccio a due is played without a conductor and has many characteristics of a baroque double concerto. There is a continuous dialogue between the soloists and orchestra and between the two violinists themselves.

After a stormy, four-part opening by the string orchestra, there is a whirlwind interaction between soloists and orchestra. The vibrant work brims with fiery ostinati and fierce scratches on the strings, of both tutti and soloists, alternating with more subdued passages of elongated tones and sweet lyricism. Because of the varied and subtle interplay, Capriccio a due breathes an atmosphere of chamber music.

Emotions of attraction and repulsion seem to be the cork on which the piece floats. – Just like in a marriage.

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