Oneira – after the Greek [όνειρα], “dreams” – is the first album of our duo. This title aims at evoking, first and foremost, the content of the project itself. It refers to the atmospheres that composer Michele Mangani is able to constantly evoke, powerfully and with melodic inventiveness, in all of his works.
Mangani is one of the best-known composers in the literature for clarinet. He makes the spirit his own, according to which one aims firstly at emotionally involving the listeners, be they specialists or not. He employs melodies with an intense evocative charge, and, at the same time, free from the rhetorics found frequently in the contemporary repertoire. Oneira is therefore a project which not only embraces a primary poetics of today’s music. It also does not fail to explore, through the music it proposes, the clarinet’s timbral and technical idiosyncrasies. The clarinet is supported by the twofold nature – percussive, and, at the same time, melodic – of the piano.
In these pieces, the vocality and the virtuosity of the wind instrument merge with the suggestive piano harmonies; this consolidates a perfect union which has always belonged to these two instruments starting with the nineteenth-century repertoire.
This style, therefore, is characterized by a polished simplicity, always elegant and in quest of a constant refinement. Whilst this, one the one hand, certainly satisfies the most immediate listening needs, it is on the other hand capable of highlighting the melody’s communicative power. It stands out over everything, as a dominating principle and as the instrument for communicating a musical message. It is easy, therefore, to understand that also the choice of the compositional structure – almost always in the traditional scheme A-B-A – is studied precisely with the purpose of instilling in the listener a sense of circularity and regularity, typical for a timeless musical scope.
Aldo Botta, Luigi Gagliardi
The Pieces
Preludio: It is a composition for solo clarinet written in 2020 during the Covid lockdown. The song was dedicated to all clarinetists, and it was gifted by giving the opportunity to download it for free from the website of Edizioni Musicali Eufonia.
Executive: It was written in 2010 and dedicated to Sergio Bosi and Riccardo Bartoli. The structure of the song is in three parts (ABA) joined together in one solution. The main theme set out at the beginning by the clarinet is used as the main cell throughout the composition, from which all the themes of the piece flow.
Pagina d’album: One of the most famous compositions on this CD. It dates to 2007 and was composed for the International Clarinet Competition “G. Mensi”. It is distinguished by the simplicity of the lines and the tuneful melody, and it has quickly spread worldwide both among young clarinetists and great performers.
Romanza: The first draft dates to 2010 as a composition for flute and strings. In 2012 a version for clarinet and piano was made by changing the key from Lam to Rem. The minor key and the very melodious theme give this composition a particularly intense and expressive color.
Adagio: It was written in 2014 both in version for clarinet and strings, and clarinet and piano. Its particularity is using as a quote in the first three notes of the theme, the same as the Adagio of Mozart’s Clarinet concerto K622.
Intermezzo: It was commissioned by clarinetist Seunghee Lee to whom it is dedicated, it was composed in 2013. In addition to the piano version, a more extensive one has also been made for clarinet and strings.
Theme for clarinet: Initially, it was composed for trumpet and band, and it was dedicated to trumpeter Marco Pierobon. In 2016, it was proposed in the version for clarinet and piano.
Suite I: It is a 2018 track and it consists of 4 movements all in the tone of RE (effect note). The first and third are written in the key of RE major, while the second and fourth use the modal scale of RE. The two movements in major (1st and 3rd) are characterized by slow, tuneful and very expressive melodies, while the two modal tenses are characterized by rapid melodies, very technical and with irregular metrics formed by the alternation of 2 and 3 movements.
The Dancing Doll: The main theme was taken from a band suite entitled ‘The games’ trunk’. It is a melodious and sweet track, with a melody full of expressiveness that alternates wide breaks with joint degrees movements.
Love Theme: It was composed in 2019 for the wedding of the clarinetist childhood friend Egidio Fabi, it is a very tuneful and penetrating melody in what is now called the’Mangani style’. In addition to the piano and clarinet version, the author has at the same time prepared a version for clarinet and strings too.
Fantasy: It was composed in 2013 and is a tripartite composition (ABA) in a single movement. The whole song is based on a themed cell that is used both in minor key in the initial and final allegro moderato, and in major key in the central part.
Silvio Maggioni, Edizioni Musicali Eufonia
Michele Mangani, was born in Urbino, graduated from the Conservatory “Gioachino Rossini” of Pesaro in clarinet in 1984, in band instrumentation in 1987, in composition in 1990, in orchestra direction in 1992, and from the Conservatory “GB Martini” of Bologna in choral music and direction in 1988. In the year 1995/96 he attended the international course in orchestral conducting with Maestro G. Dimitrov in the Republic of San Marino. He collaborated with the Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana as 1st Clarinet and as a member of the group “Assieme en plein air” played the basset horn. He has performed concerts in various chamber music ensembles (duo, trio, quartet and quintet). In 1985 he began working as an acting director in several cities in the Province of Pesaro e Urbino, including the Orchestra of wind instruments of “Cappella del SS. Sacramento” of Urbino and the “Corpo Bandistico di Candelara” (Pesaro), which he still directs.
He has directed several both wind and arched chamber groups, including Ensemble di fiati della “Cappella del SS. Sacramento” of Urbino and the “Ensemble Colonne di Armonie”, the “Orchestra dell’Accademia Filarmonica Urbinate” and the Orchestra Sinfonica Rossini.
In 1993 he was awarded the second place at the national competition in State Conservatories of Music. In 1996 he won the National Competition for Master Director of the Italian Army.
He participated as a collaborator of the M° Lorenzo Della Fonte at the Course for Band Directors of the “Giovanile Orchestra di Fiati” organized by the European Social Fund, held in Ripatransone in the years 1998/1999/2000. In September 2001 and 2002 he was requested at the “Settimana di studio per direzione, esecuzione e cultura bandistica”, as a teacher collaborator of Eugene Migliaro Corporon (Director of the North Texas Symphonic Wind USA).
In January 2002 he worked as a composer with the Nobel prize Dario Fo, writing songs for the theatrical performances of the Itinerant Event Entertainment, in the Carnival of Fano.
In 1983 he was given an award for the 3rd National composition “Diapason d’Argento ” – Fair Millenaria of Gonzaga (MN). In 1988 his composition “Fantasia Marchigiana” received a mention in the national competition for band and choral compositions inspired to the folklore of Marche.
In January 2000 his song “Aubade” was awarded on the occasion of the 1st National Competition for Original Band Compositions organized by the Foundation Institute of Musical Valle d’Aosta.
In April 2000 he received the reporting with the publication of The National Processing Choral singing of a popular song of Valle d’Aosta.
In September 2001 was awarded the 3rd prize with publication on the 1st National Competition for Band Compositions “Pellegrino Caso” in Vietri sul Mare (SA) with the song “Irregular Suite.
In 2002 he won the 1st prize at the National Competition for Band composition in Adro (BS) with the song “Three Symphonic Dances”.