Amadeus
February 2001 – Harmony and invention
Meeting with the harpsichordist and musical director
and interpreter , together with Accademia Bizantina,
of "Cimento dell'Armonia e dell'Invenzione" by Vivaldi
which "Amadeus" will publish in its next issue

His first harpsichord he built when still a child : the upright piano at home he "fixed " with thin pieces of paper inserted between the chords. His first, real, harpsichord he created by himself a little later by assembling pieces from a building kit. This is Ottavio Dantone’s musical history : from the study of the organ and polyphony, when from nine to thirteen years of age he attended the choir of the Cappella Musicale of Milan Cathedral, and from an inborn passion which drove him to experiment and explore his imaginative powers.
Today this forty-year- old maestro is one of Italy’s most talented harpsichordists. He has never lost his former passion for invention: instead it has been channelled into the precious art of improvisation on the harpsichord of which he is a refined and competent expert.
Winner of awards in prestigious European competitions , Dantone is one of the few Italians to have received international recognition

How can you explain this great lack of awards for Italy?

You have to remember that early music, philology of music and the use of period instruments was a bit late in coming to Italy compared to other European countries which are the so-called pioneers in the field. When I was taking part in competitions, there had been for some years, in Italy. the emergence of a strong tendency towards and notable interest for early music, but there was still a feeling of inferiority compared with, for example, the Dutch or the English who, in their turn, and perhaps not without reason, considered us still as “dilettanti”. What’s more, even now in the Italian Conservatoires there is still little emphasis on early music and , compared to these countries, certainly fewer chairs for the teaching of period instruments. This notwithstanding, I believe that, in the past few years, the Italians have reached a prominent position in the European musical scene, particularly as far as the Italian repertoire of the Sixteenth-Seventeenth centuries is concerned: as testified by the increasing success that

How does one become a good improviser?

I think I acquired the practice of improvisation thanks to the type of musical formation I had : first of all, at about the age of six, I started to play spontaneously and then, I don’t remember how, to read and write music on my own; this probably made things a lot easier. Afterwards, studying the organ, which constantly involves you in a close examination of harmony and counterpoint, provided me with a solid base of musical knowledge, and finally, the study of a historically- informed performance of early music helped me to perfect my style. But knowing how to improvise is like the skilled work of an artisan which requires constant practice: when I sit down at the harpsichord a large part of the time I devote to study is taken up by improvisation work. I think this allows me to get inside music and reason like a composer, so I would say that this has helped me in many aspects of my work.

You became Accademia Bizantina’s musical director after seven years of working with them as their harpsichordist : how do you feel about this step?

I became the ensemble’s director in '96 when, the relationship with the previous leader having terminated, I was chosen by my fellow- musicians to take over this position. Naturally at first I sensed I was being tested and so I felt I always had to prove my worth in this new role. Apart from the friendship which has steadily grown among us, I would say there is a sense of mutual trust which comes from the realisation that so far we have worked well together, and this stimulates us to try as hard as we can to achieve even better things.

How would you describe the personality of the ensemble?

I think the artistic personality of a group, especially when dealing with a repertoire of early music, may be judged by the awareness the ensemble acquires concerning the historical and aesthetic aspects of the music they perform. As far as baroque music is concerned, for example, the ideal would be to annul one’s own interpretative personality in the study phase of a musical score, to allow the most authentic possible reading of the complex rhetorical- musical code which regulated composition in those days. And this is exactly what we have aimed at achieving over the years. Our most evident quality is flexibility in adapting to the various repertoires as well as to the different nuances in performance and to diversity of style: an essential element for any ensemble who perform early music today.

What instruments do you use?

Before I became the Director of Accademia, the group used modern instruments with strings made from gut and baroque bows, in my opinion the very least one can have for the performance of certain repertoires. Now we prefer to use original instruments; this is not a choice for its own sake, but simply because, if we want to achieve a complete understanding of early music there are certain conditions of technique, timbre, expression and articulation that cannot be set aside. What’s more, the public’s increasing appreciation of original instruments is further proof that this way of performing the repertoire of that period is more communicative and better expresses the music.

Accademia is no novice, even to unusual choices of repertoire . In the recording made for Amadeus, instead, you perform well-known works by Vivaldi ...

Our choice fell on a title that symbolises the changes brought about by the group over the past few years; in fact, Accademia Bizantina had already recorded the Cimento around about 1990 under its previous Director and soloist, Carlo Chiarappa. It was, therefore, necessary to introduce ourselves with an important work which represents the bridge between our past and our present image.
And what was your approach, considering the many recordings of the work?
You may find this difficult to believe, but the only recording that I have listened to from beginning to end is the one by Harnoncourt, but that was about twenty years ago. Actually I very rarely listen to recordings of early music; I prefer to play it myself on the harpsichord or imagine it in my head by reading the score.

What makes your interpretation different?

What is particular about Vivaldi’s music is that it allows the performer to intervene in a very personal way in his reading of many of his works. What I’m saying may sound obvious, but it isn’t if you think that the modern concept of interpretation of music was, at that time, unknown since performance of music in those days was regulated by codes, affections and general musical approaches which involved the composer, performer and listener in a sort of game of winks that more or less everyone was able to recognise. In the Four Seasons, especially, Vivaldi’s modernity in the minutely descriptive style consists in his placing the figure of Man not in contemplation of Nature which surrounds him but at its mercy, in accordance with a vision which I would dare to call post eighteenth century . This has allowed us to highlight the various aspects of performance, especially when they are linked to Nature. We have placed particular attention on the dynamic aspect and embellishment of the adagios, not only in the Four Seasons, listen to the first movement of the Tempesta di Mare , for example, and the adagios of the concertos number 7, 8 and 10.

And what can you tell us about the virtuosity of the first violin, Stefano Montanari?

Stefano has tackled the difficult score with his usual daring, giving excellent results; although I’m not a violinist my impression is that virtuosity for Vivaldi, even if it reaches remarkable levels for the technical possibilities of his day, is never about virtuosity for its own sake, quite the opposite, it always has a purpose and is very much a part of the oldest concept of the concerto, which is about harmony of the various elements that make up the whole, thus a virtuosity that is certainly a product of its time.

Nicoletta Sguben