Physical and Digital Release: 24 October 2025
| Artist(s) | |
|---|---|
| Composer(s) | Antonio Giacometti, Fausto Romitelli, Kaija Saariaho, Malin Bång, Mario Garuti, Richard Barrett, Toru Takemitsu, Vincenzo Parisi |
| EAN Code | |
| Edition | |
| Format | |
| Genre | |
| Instrumentation | |
| Period | |
| Publication year |
Through the Night
In the contemporary world, the flute transforms from a mere instrument into a sonic portal, a space where breath and silence, matter and light, meet and dissolve. With profound sensitivity and uncompromising rigor, Alessia Scilipoti leads us on a musical journey that transcends the boundaries of technique and delves into the realm of gesture as a poetic and meditative act. Her flute does not simply produce sound—it tells stories of fragility, tension, mystery, and revelation.
In this vast and complex landscape, Alessia Scilipoti emerges as a figure of rare balance, capable of merging interpretive sensitivity with technical precision in a project that becomes a deep investigation into the flute’s multifaceted expressive possibilities. Through a repertoire that comprises composers of diverse geographic and generational backgrounds, this work takes you on a journey that unfolds between landscapes of intense introspection and moments of pulsing energy, between suspended silences and rich timbral flows.
The artistic vision behind this album engages with contemporary flute repertoire by following a subtle thread that weaves together music, word, and literature into a dialogue that crosses epochs and cultures. This is not a mere technical exercise or a simple collection of pieces—it is an intimate and rigorous voyage into the expressive power of the instrument as a medium capable of translating into sound the depth of poetic language, the silences of memory, and the tensions of the human soul. The repertoire selection reflects this vision, presenting works that establish a profound connection with literary texts or with poetic and philosophical suggestions, often at the edge of presence and absence, speech and silence.
The journey starts with Voice by Tōru Takemitsu (1930–1996), a key figure in 20th-century Japanese music whose poetics are nourished by the Eastern concept of ma, the empty space that gives meaning and value to sound. Here, Takemitsu employs a fragment from a poem by Shuzo Takiguchi (“Handmade Proverbs”), recited in fragmented fashion in a curious bilingual blend of French and English: “Qui va là? Qui que tu sois, parle, transparence! Who goes there? Speak, transparence.” Beyond its literary source, the music is founded on a poetic idea of absence and presence, a silent yet deeply expressive dialogue reminiscent of Zen meditation. The suspension between silence and sound becomes an invitation to perceive the invisible and to be permeated by what remains unsaid—an opening gesture that sets the tone for the entire album.
An elegy of contrasting emotions unfolds in Dolce tormento by Kaija Saariaho (1952–2023), shaped by the rhetorical figure of the oxymoron, so dear to Petrarch and eternally relevant. Inspired by Sonnet 132 from Petrarch’s Canzoniere (1304–1374), the music embodies the complexity of a love that is both sweet and painful, expressed through a musical language that abandons poetic linearity in favor of emotional tension and nuanced timbral expression. Perhaps the choice of the piccolo—a bright and lively instrument par excellence—to trace a delicate, loving, introverted line reflects the Petrarchan oxymoron? Or perhaps the selection of this poet, a cornerstone of European lyric tradition, is a reminder of how contemporary music remains rooted in a fertile and living literary heritage, constantly renewed through sound?
The sense of dissolution and the fragility of language find expression in Dying Words II by Richard Barrett (b. 1959), a meditation on the end of language and the transience of meaning. In this constellation of sounds interwoven with words, Barrett ventures quite far already in the title: “Dying Words – Solo female vocalist with flute”, suggesting the flute as a kind of corollary—perhaps not even essential—to the vocal performance by the flautist (who may not, in fact, be one…). Here, music becomes a liminal space where words unravel and are transformed into pure sonic matter, evoking the boundary between speech and silence, between what can be said and what remains inexpressible.
A central figure in contemporary English music, Barrett explores the poetic of loss, suggesting a path that becomes a metaphor for existence itself. In the performance notes for the piece, Barrett offers instructions of such precision that it is worth quoting them here in full, by way of an introduction to listening:
“The Japanese text (from the Heike-monogatari, ed.) is presented in transliteration and should be performed with the greatest possible attention to the pronunciation of the Japanese language,(…) in giving each phoneme (…) an individual ‘colour’. Plosives at the beginnings of phrases should generally be very strongly articulated, to the point of producing an exaggerated transient in the flute sound, depending on the dynamics (…). The performer of Dying Words (II) will be primarily a vocalist, with a contralto vocal range and some proficiency in flute playing as well (…)”
In the ambivalent character of the “reticent fantasy for flute” Incauto incanto, Mario Garuti (b. 1957) brings forth a dimension where enchantment is tinged with uncertainty, tracing an emotional landscape suspended between beauty and unease. Based on a poem by Jean Cocteau (Foudroyer, 1954—translatable as “to strike” or “to blast”), the piece evokes a poetic imaginary fed by internal contrasts and tensions. It plays with transparency and shadow, inviting a careful reading of subtle sound shades, enriched by the vocalization of the text, which becomes an added and enriching element of the timbral palette. Garuti himself states that the text “should seem in-formed by the sounds, just as it informs them.”
The relationship with memory and with a sort of acoustic technology finds expression in ’72 Tape Machine for alto flute by Vincenzo Parisi (b. 1984), a composer straddling classical and rock traditions. A verse drawn from a ritual chant from the Moroccan village of Oulmès (“Issur Rabbi Attiahthr Awa!”—“We must not worry, God will fix everything!”) serves, much like in Garuti’s work, as a mere pretext for expanding the instrument’s timbral potential. The deliberate choice of the alto flute enhances the resonance of the text fragments, used here with extreme sparseness. The piece becomes a reflection on the materiality of sound and its persistence over time. Even in the absence of a literary text within the composition, the music narrates a past that reveals itself in the present—an invitation to reflect on the imprints left by memory, on the layering of experiences rooted in sound, without dictating a definitive conclusion, left instead to the judgment of each listener—and perhaps to the divine: Inch’Allah.
At the heart of the album pulses the intensity of Der Umriss, composed in 1984 by Antonio Giacometti (b. 1957) for the Darmstadt Ferienkurse. In this piece, the poetic text by Nelly Sachs (1891–1970) is inseparably bound to the musical material. A significant voice in 20th-century German literature, Sachs’s work addresses exile, Holocaust memory and the search for redemption. Her key expressions resurface powerfully from a lush vocabulary of extended techniques, typical of the 1980s: “Komet des Todes,” “Der Schatten kalligraphie als Nachlass.” The title, difficult to translate precisely into English, could be rendered as “outline” or “contour,” alluding to the painful attempt to give shape to an unspeakable sorrow—to what remains after, to a past that escapes definition. The music thus becomes a profound interpretation of this poignant poetry, sketching with the flute the contours of a harrowing experience of loss.
The reflection on the threshold between mind and body, between consciousness and release, reappears in Alpha Waves by Malin Bång (b. 1974), inspired by alpha brainwaves, which mark a state of inner equilibrium. Although absent from literary text, the piece offers explicit instructions regarding the muscular, respiratory, and ocular states associated with the alpha wave state. The performer is led to use their voice as an extension of the instrumental body. The music becomes a meditative or even paralyzed experience—a search for inner harmony translated into fluid and enveloping sounds capable of evoking a state of stillness and suspension, down to the final exhalation.
The journey closes with Dia Nykta by Fausto Romitelli (1963–2004), which plunges the listener into a nocturnal and visionary world, populated by archetypal images and mythical imagination. Based on a fragment from the Greek lyric poet Ibycus (quoted in the score as: “Flegéton, ài per dià nykta makràn/séiria pamfanòonta,” translated by Quasimodo as “They blaze through the night, endlessly/the most radiant stars”), the piece evokes an ancestral and mysterious dimension, transforming music into a wordless tale that draws upon the deepest roots of the collective unconscious. Composed at a very young age, Dia Nykta remained Romitelli’s only solo flute work, as his life was tragically cut short by illness. A luminous example of his crystal-clear musical imagination—like the stars conjured in Ibycus’s verse—the piece reveals a maturity and craftsmanship far beyond his years.
In this interweaving of music and literature, of word and silence, Alessia Scilipoti crafts a coherent and profound project that invites us to rethink the flute not merely as a musical voice, but also as a poetic and narrative one. Her repertoire choices and her sensitivity in approaching each composition restore a new density to musical gesture, one capable of awakening listening and transforming our perception of the present through the resonance of both ancient and contemporary memories and words. In this path, music becomes an act of living presence and an unceasing dialogue between epochs, cultures, and languages.
Mario Caroli © 2025
Born in Messina, in 2024 she earned her Master's degree in Flute with distinction and honours at the Como Conservatory under M. Formenti, and a second Master's degree in Chamber Music, also with distinction and honours, at the Milan Conservatory under M. Piemonti.
She has won numerous first absolute prizes in both national and international competitions, including Bargo in Musica Prize (2022), XVII National Arts Prize for Winds - Woodwinds (2023), X Milan Conservatory Prize - Wind Soloists category (2024), Lombardia e Musica Competition - Winds/Woodwinds section (2024).
She also ranked first in other prestigious competitions such as: Stresa Competition (2022-2023), Premio Lams Matera (2023), XII Amigdala International Music Competition (2023), Zanuccoli Competition (2023), Alessandria International Competition (2023), Desenzano del Garda Competition (2024), Young Promises Competition (2024), Margola International Competition (2025), Piove di Sacco National Competition (2025), and Crescendo Prize (2025).
She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician for several institutions and festivals, including: Accademia Filarmonica di Messina - Giavani Talenti, Teatro Donizetti di Bergamo, Musica Maestri (Milan), Societa Umanitaria (Milan), the Conservatory of Brescia, Talis Festival (Sarajevo), and WindWorks Festival (Iceland).
Her orchestral experience is equally significant. In 2022, she was awarded a scholarship for the Orchestra Professional Course Project of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, performing under conductors such as Ottavio Dantone, Alessandro Bonato, Stanislav Kochanovsky, John Axelrod, and Michele Gamba.
She has passed auditions for flute/principal flute with several youth and professional orchestras: Principal flute at Teatro Bellini in Catania (2025), Symphonic Orchestra of Molise (2025), UNIMI Orchestra (2024), RomaTre Orchestra (2024), Youth Orchestra of the Milan Symphonic Orchestra (2022), and OSCoM- Conservatory of Milan Symphonic Orchestra (2022).
She has collaborated as principal flute, second flute, or on piccolo, alto flute, and bass flute with orchestras and ensembles including: Olympic Theatre Orchestra of Vicenza (OTO), RAI National Symphony Orchestra, Contrametric Ensemble, Teatro alla Scala, OSCoM, UNIMI Orchestra, Youth Symphonic Orchestra of Milan, and Pentamusa Wind Orchestra.
She has performed under the baton of renowned conductors such as: Pietro Mianiti, Robert Trevino, Alondra de la Parra, Ruben Jais, Sebastiano Rolli, Stefano Montanari, Ferrer Ferran, Jaume Santonja, Andrea Oddone, Vitali Alekseenok, Jacob de Haan, Alexander Lonquich, Nicolò Jacopo Suppa, Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, Hossein Pishkar, Davide Sanson and Ingo Metzmacher.
In 2024, she collaborated as a musician-actor with the Piccolo Teatro Foundation of Milan in Harlequin, Servant of Two Masters.
She has been selected for the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (LFCO) 2025 and for the special project "GO!2025" as part of the Nei Suoni Dei Luoghi Festival.
She has performed with prominent Italian ensembles such as mdi ensemble, Divertimento Ensemble, and MLOrk - Milan Laptop Orchestra, a variable-geometry electroacoustic ensemble. She has appeared in major contemporary music series including week IDEA, Nuova Musica (RAI National Symphony Orchestra), m2c (Milan), and Contatti (Milan).
She has participated in numerous masterclasses for flute and chamber music with distinguished artists including: Patrick Gallois (Accademia Chigiana in Siena), Michele Marasco, Davide Formisano, Emmanuel Pahud, Francesco Loi, Adriana Ferreira, Andrea Manco, Alberto Barletta, Marco Brolli, Tommaso Lonquich, Eric Le Sage, Sebastian Jacot, Andrea Lieberknecht, Nicolo Manachino and Felix Renggli.
In 2024, she completed the two-year advanced program with Maestro Formisano at the Fondazione Perosi, graduating with the distinction of "Excellence."
Alongside her musical studies, she holds a Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Engineering, earned in 2022 with a score of 109/110.
She was an AFS exchange student in New Zealand (2016-2017), selected through a national competition.
Antonio Giacometti è nato a Brescia il 29 dicembre 1957. Dopo aver compiuto studi umanistici ed essersi diplomato in “Nuova Didattica della Composizione” presso il Conservatorio di Milano, ha consolidato la propria preparazione nel campo della pedagogia musicale, settore nel quale s’è impegnato attivamente fin dal 1984, lasciando significativi contributi sia come pubblicista che come operatore didattico
Premiato o segnalato in concorsi nazionali ed internazionali di composizione, (tra i quali Premio V. Bucchi, Roma, 1982 e 1988; Concours International de Composition pour guitare de Sablè sur Sarthe, 1983 e 1987; Concours international de composition MC2, Avignon 1984; Secondo Concorso Internazionale Antidogma Musica di Torino, 1985; Trio Basso Köln Internationaler Kompositions-Wettbewerb, 1988; I Concorso nazionale di composizione d’insieme per ragazzi, Como, 1989; IX Concorso nazionale di composizione “Ennio Porrino”, Cagliari, 1991, “Kazimir Serocki”, Warsaw 2000, “IV Concorso internazionale Città di Udine”, Udine 2002, Hommage à Bartòk, Hungarian Radio, Budapest 2006, “I° Concorso Internazionale di Composizione Musicale per Orchestra giovanile Bruno Maderna”, Treviso, 2010, “I° Concorso Internazionale di Composizione “Monodramma”, Desenzano 2013), ha composto, dal 1979 ad oggi, più di centosessanta opere solistiche, da camera, sinfoniche e di teatro musicale, molte delle quali eseguite in Festival e Rassegne di tutto il mondo.
E’ stato membro del Direttivo nazionale della SIEM (Società Italiana per l’Educazione Musicale) e Presidente della sezione territoriale di Brescia, con la quale collabora dal 1984 nella definizione di strategie d’intervento didattico musicale per l’infanzia e nel settore pubblicistico, pubblicando articoli e saggi per l’organo ufficiale dell’Associazione, il trimestrale Musica Domani (sul quale, oltre a contributi periodici, ha curato dal 2006 al 2012 la rubrica fissa “Cantieri sonori”) e i relativi Quaderni monografici.
Interessato ai problemi dell’analisi musicale, in particolare allo studio delle sue implicazioni nella didattica della composizione, è stato tra i fondatori, e per nove anni consigliere nazionale, della SIdAM (Società Italiana di Analisi Musicale). Per più di un decennio ha collaborato con la Rivista di teoria e pedagogia musicale “Analisi” (edizioni Ricordi/Curci).
Docente in ruolo di Composizione presso l’ISSM di Modena e Carpi “Orazio Vecchi – Antonio Tonelli”, di cui è anche Direttore Didattico dal 2013, viene regolarmente invitato da Enti privati e Istituzioni pubbliche (Università, Ministero della PI, IRRSAE regionali) a tenere seminari e corsi d’aggiornamento e di formazione didattica per insegnanti della scuola dell’obbligo, relativi in particolare al ruolo delle esperienze di musica d’insieme e di composizione nella formazione musicale di bambini e ragazzi. Nel 2011 e nel 2015 si è recato in Brasile, dove è stato invitato a tenere Masterclass sulla sua attività compositiva e conferenze-laboratorio sulla musica d’insieme per bambini e ragazzi dall’Università Federale di Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul), dall’Università di Barra Mansa (Rio de Janeiro), dall’Universidade Federal de Bahia a Salvador de Bahia e presso l’Istituto “Villa Lobos”, dipartimento di musica, letteratura e arte dell’Universidade Federal de Rio de Janeiro (UniRio).
Le sue composizioni sono edite da Ricordi, Suvini-Zerboni, EDIPAN, Rugginenti, Bérben, Editions Delatour, Agenda Edizioni Musicali, Sconfinarte,RAI.COM.
One of the most promising of the young generation of Italian composers, Fausto Romitelli, born in Gorizia in 1963, died prematurely in 2004 after a long illness.
He first studied under Franco Donatoni at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, and later at the Scuola Civica in Milan. Besides Donatoni, his early inspirations were György Ligeti and Giacinto Scelsi, followed by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez and Gérald Grisey. His 1980s output already testified to his interest in sound as, in his own words, a “material to be forged”: “Ganimede” (1986), for alto, and “Kû” (1989), for 14 musicians.
In the 1990s, he continued his investigations of sound at Ircam in Paris, and with the musicians of L’Itinéraire—Tristan Murail, Gérald Grisey, Michael Lévinas and Hugues Dufourt. He studied at Ircam’s Cursus de composition and, from 1993 to 1995, collaborated with the Représentations musicales team in the capacity of “compositeur en recherche.” Romitelli’s experiments in sound synthesis and spectral analysis informed his compositions during this period: “Sabbia del Tempo” (1991), for six performers, and “Natura morta con fiamme” (1991), for string quartet and electronics.
Anything but a formalist composer, Romitelli did not shy away from hybridization, breaking down the barrier between art music and popular music. Distortion, saturation, psychedelic rock—inspired compositions and “dirty” harmonies were part of his musical universe, evident in “Acid Dreams & Spanish Queens” (1994), for amplified ensemble, “EnTrance” (1995), and “Cupio Dissolvi” (1996). The “Professor Bad Trip” cycle (I, II and III, 1998—2000), blending distorted colorations of acoustic and electric instruments as well as accessories like the mirliton and harmonica, was inspired by Henri Michaux’s writings under the influence of psychedelic drugs, and recreates a hallucinatory atmosphere.
“An Index of Metals” (2003), a video-opera for soprano and ensemble, with video by Paulo Pachini, is Fausto Romitelli final work, the synthesis and summit of his musical language.
Kaija Saariaho (1952–2023) was a leading voice of her generation of composers, in her native Finland and worldwide. She studied composition in Helsinki, Freiburg and Paris, where she lived from 1982 to her death. Her studies and research at IRCAM, the Parisian center for electroacoustic experimentation, had a major influence on her music, and her characteristically luxuriant and mysterious textures were often created by combining live performance and electronics.
Mario Garuti was born in Modena (August 4, 1957). After studying the violin, he went on to study composition under Umberto Rotondi, taking a diploma with 1st class honours at the Milan Conservatory, where he teaches today.
Richard Barrett (Swansea, 1959) is internationally active as composer and performer, teaches at the Institute of Sonology in The Hague and is Professor of Creative Music Research at the University of Leiden. His work encompasses a range from free improvisation to intricately-notated scores, and from acoustic chamber music to innovative uses of digital technology. Current projects include a major new cycle of works for the ELISION Ensemble, with whom Richard Barrett has been working regularly since 1990, for the Fonema Consort, Musikfabrik and Soundinitiative. Ongoing performative collaborations include with Paul Obermayer (in FURT), Evan Parker, and several other improvising ensembles such as SKEIN (with Achim Kaufmann, Frank Gratkowski, Wilbert de Joode and others) and Colophony (with Jon Rose and Meinrad Kneer). Richard Barrett’s principal composition teacher was Peter Wiegold. His work as composer and performer is documented on over forty CDs, including seven discs devoted to his compositions and nine by FURT. In October 2020 he set up the digital label STRANGE STRINGS together with harpist Milana Zarić. His books Music of Possibility (2019) and Transforming Moments (2023) are published by Vision Edition.
Toru Takemitsu
(b Tokyo, 8 Oct 1930; d Tokyo, 20 Feb 1996). Japanese composer. A month after his birth he was taken to China, where his father was working. In 1938 he returned to Japan to attend elementary school, but his formal education was interrupted by conscription in 1944. It was during his military service that he had his first encounter with Western music, which had been banned in Japan during the war; a military officer played a gramophone recording of the French chanson Parlez-moi d'amour to him and a group of fellow-conscripts. The song left a deep impression, and when, after the war, Takemitsu was employed at an American military base, he took the opportunity to listen to a good deal of Western music on the radio network set up for the US armed forces. At the age of 16 he decided, notwithstanding his lack of musical training, to take up composition. He received intermittent instruction with Kiyose from 1948, but was otherwise essentially self-taught.
Early on he identified Debussy as a mentor, and his fellow-composer Ichiyanagi introduced him to the music of Messiaen. Messiaen's influence is already apparent in Takemitsu's first performed work, Lento in due movimenti (1950) for piano, which was given at the seventh concert of the New Group of Composers, headed by Kiyose. The work already embodied what would became characteristic elements of Takemitsu's musical language – modal melodies emerging from a chromatic background, the suspension of regular metre and an acute sensitivity to register and timbre. The première was received rather coldly, but there were two enthusiastic supporters in the audience, Yuasa and Akiyama, who were to remain his friends. In 1951, together with other musicians and artists, the three founded a new group, the Jikken Kōbō (Experimental Workshop), for collaboration on mixed media projects. For this association Takemitsu composed Saegirarenai kyūsoku I (‘Uninterrupted Rest I’, 1952) for piano, written in irregular rhythm without barlines, and the Chamber Concerto (1955) for 13 wind instruments. He then turned to electronic music in Relief statique (1955) and Vocalism A·I (1956); the latter uses only the phonemes ‘a’ and ‘i’ (‘ai’ being the Japanese for ‘love’) pronounced in various ways by two actors. Material is similarly restricted in Mizu no kyoku (‘Water Music’, 1960), formed exclusively from recorded water sounds. Many of Takemitsu's works from the early 1960s are characterized by textural fragmentation. In works such as Ring (1961) and Sacrifice (1962) non-sustaining instruments – such as terz guitar, lute and vibraphone – predominate, and the texture is pointillistic, featuring pizzicato, harmonics and wide intervals.
In 2020 he released the album Zolfo, performed on the solo piano and recorded live during a performance in the Ballarò district of Palermo. The work is the result of years of research and study on ancient Sicilian music mixed and filtered by contemporaneity.
In June 2021 he won the 1st prize at the Composition Competition of the Conservatorio Verdi in Milan. In October 2021 he won the 1st prize at the Jorge Peixinho International Composition Competition organized by the historical Grupo Contemporaneo de Musica de Lisboa in Portugal, with national live on Antena2 of his quintet Fulmine randagio (Ava Musical Editions).
He is the winner of the Call For Scores 2021 called by the Collana Discografica 19'40" founded by Enrico Gabrielli (Calibro35, Afterhours), Sebastiano De Gennaro and Francesco Fusaro.
The year 2022 sees the debut of his music at the Sala Verdi of the Conservatory of Milan with the piece for orchestra entitled Colombre and at the Fabbrica del Vapore guest of the Festival di Milano Musica with the soliloquy for ensemble and voice entitled C'est quoi le sexe.
He composed the soundtrack for the worldwide advertising launch of Utopia, the new and highly anticipated supercar model by Pagani Automobili.
13.76€
Physical Release: 27 February 2026 Digital Release: 13 March 2026
Physical Release: 27 February 2026 Digital Release: 13 March 2026
Physical Release: 27 February 2026 Digital Release: 6 March 2026
Physical Release: 27 February 2026 Digital Release: 13 March 2026
