Paolo Cavallone: Miroirs d’Esquisses, Flute Works

Description

“…A major composer of Today’s music scene… The diversity of his writing is marked by research for openness of possibilities, defined by critics as revolutionary.”
Putsch, France

“…one of the most influential composers of our time…”
Alta Formazione Musicale, Italia

“…I think that this openness represents his trademark and influenced the contemporary way of thinking New Music in the last decade. Paolo Cavallone composed for me five pieces which testify the pure artistry of this extraordinary composer: Metamorfosi d’amore, Hóros, Polimorfie, Miroirs d’esquisses, and Esquisses d’automne…”
Roberto Fabbriciani

Music imbued with meaning: expressing wisdom and fullness of life
by Renzo Cresti © 2025

When listening to a new work, one must be open to embracing the innovations it presents—not lazy or attached to a pre-codified view of music—knowing that new listening experiences open both mind and heart to interpreting the (sonic) world we live in. And when original works are created by a renowned composer, with skilful writing, and deep expressive power, these works deserve to be celebrated as they offer us an opportunity for understanding and communication. Moreover, this artist is also an esteemed poet, who masterfully brings different art forms together. This compact disc by Paolo Cavallone provides exemplary proof of this, presenting a set of extraordinary music and poetry performed by the legendary flutist Roberto Fabbriciani, assisted by other distinguished performers. The CD includes works for flute composed between 2010 and 2024 and demonstrates the extended collaboration between Cavallone and Fabbriciani.
In this compelling anthology of works, one finds a strong unity of style and language—a cohesion in which the pieces continually reflect and respond to one another, creating a sense of cyclicality that is central to Cavallone’s compositional thought and practice.
Another distinctive feature is the continuous metamorphosis of the material, creating renewed openings of meaning and exploring further possibilities of interpretation of a sonic object. The title of Metamorfosi d’amore (Metamorphoses of Love) makes clear reference to this continuous transformation, while never losing sight of the composition’s ultimate meaning, here pointing to both Ovid’s Metamorphoses and the biblical Song of Songs. The title-track of this CD, Miroirs d’esquisses (Mirrors of Sketches), underlines this interplay of recurring elements. It is a kind of guided improvisation, based on the notes spelled out based on the German musical spelling B–A–C–H. The sound undergoes a continuous metamorphosis, both dynamic and motoric, derived from the chromatic logic of the core motif, producing a sort of total variation, while formal unity is maintained through the symmetry of the sonic refractions. Time and space are conceived openly, and inhabiting them requires a rituality of gesture and sound.
Belief in the sacredness of art is an unshakable conviction for Cavallone, who is well aware that the intangible must always reckon with the vulgarity of the world, which denies all impiety and threatens every virtue.
The live recording of Fabbriciani’s brilliant interpretation honors his fluid performance of a treasury of sonic gestures, characteristic of his wide-ranging repertoire, as is also evident in Polimorfie.
In the piece Copioni (Scripts), we hear the verses of Cavallone the poet. Among them, the word “visionary” stands out—it could be a key word to describe Cavallone’s art: “writer / of parts / without script.” Cavallone himself participates in the performance, whispering and gently playing the piano. He offers us timeless poetry and sound. This piece, which opens the anthology, conveys an underlying lightness, a delicate grace that makes Cavallone’s works fluid and always inviting to the listener.
Esquisses d’automne (Autumn Sketches) is a collection of eight short pieces constituted by several musical cells. These musical fragments, forming the pieces of an idealized mosaic, interact with one another, generating sonic objects that are always different yet simultaneously complementary. From a broader perspective, the enigmatic character of the resulting figures—arising from the continuous openness of their proliferations—tends to produce a sonic palette of archetypal gestures and colors. As Cavallone himself notes, this palette remains open to the unknowable in connection with history and culture. Consequently, these brief—or more precisely, compressed—pieces take on an abstract and improvisatory character. The archetype is another essential element in Cavallone’s work.
Polimorfie, a tribute to Chopin, is a collection of nine variations on Chopin’s Prelude No. 4 in E minor. It served as a preliminary study for the composition of the flute and ensemble concerto Hóros. Each musical gesture is framed from different angles. The pieces, though brief, are dense; they differ from one another but maintain an underlying unity. Extended techniques are included poetically, especially in the first two pieces. These techniques are not included to showcase virtuosic ability, but for expressive purposes (as is always the case in Cavallone’s work—technique is never an end in itself). Here, they evoke a kind of floating veil, a dusty patina, a light powder over a sonic image of the past. In other variations (such as the fifth), extended techniques gain grammatical value, fostering the spherical dimension of each specific sonic configuration. This all aims to preserve formal relationships both inside and outside the sound (or within a traditional harmonic framework). The relationship with memory—historical and personal, conscious or unconscious—is crucial for Cavallone (Memory is the title of one of his poems).
Au réveil il était midi (Upon waking, it was noon) alludes to the dawn described by Rimbaud, exploring the transition from one state to another. The classical personification of the goddess, the cyclical sonority generating a free rondo form, and the fragmented melody seeking to recompose itself, emerge in the macrostructure of the piece. The fragmented melody even invades the micro-dynamics, becoming something else entirely. These constitute the salient aspects of the work’s finely articulated structure. The melody (intended as poetic resonance) fractures and proliferates into new configurations, allowing diverse interpretations. The two performers, Fabbriciani and D’Augello, profoundly evoke the dreamlike atmosphere of the piece, in a state of grace.
This yearning to find new boundaries—whether by moving toward the primitivism of the archetype or the futuristic geography of a world aspiring to the infinity of the universe—is a vital breath—a spark—that animates Cavallone’s poetry and music.
Donato Angelosante reads the original poem, Hóros, as an introduction to the homonymous concerto for flute and ensemble. This concerto was conceived for Fabbriciani, to highlight his extraordinary interpretative abilities—though all performers are outstanding. The figurations, phrasing, sonic gestures, colors, and variety of expressive situations form a complex, articulate work with strong expressive impact. In ancient Greek, hóros means boundary or limit, while in modern Greek it means space. In Cavallone’s preface to the score, we read: “In the case of this piece, the term refers to the shifting perception of space and the distance between us and the inner/musical object.” From sound to sound, through possible configurations of musical gesture, the composer redraws boundaries each time, opening up new sonic and existential frontiers in a dialogue with the reality of our time.
In the double concerto for flute, cello, and orchestra, Metamorfosi d’amore, before the musical development between the two soloists begins, there is a symbolic sonic dialogue between the masculine and feminine components of the psyche. In the text that Cavallone places at the beginning of the score, we read:
“At the heart of the work lies a reflection on the necessity of love, in the balance between the fundamental components of the human psyche. However, many suggestions and stimuli contributed to the creation of “Metamorfosi d’amore”: on one hand, the two-thousandth anniversary of the death of the Latin poet Ovid […]; on the other, the contemporary concept of mutation as an inner and bodily metamorphosis, as well as of the masculine and feminine dimensions of the human psyche.”
Symbolically, the flute represents, from an anthropological perspective, the man-god, and the woman is symbolized by the cello. The soloists, Fabbriciani and Merici, fully embrace their roles, embodying Cavallone’s inspiration and conveying all the aspects that make his music vibrant and complete, under the refined direction of Marco Guidarini.
Cavallone’s music is meaningful, not confined by formal perfection, but rich in expressive passages, shifting colors, figures in perpetual transformation, moments of mystery or radiance, flights toward the heavens and dramatic clashes on earth, never forgetting the art of cantabile.
A music full of thought and culture, deeply expressive because it is inherently human. Such music requires living interpreters, capable of making it their own to convey its profound meaning, its wisdom, and its fullness of life. This CD pays tribute to the astonishing work of Cavallone, as well as to the magnificent interpreters of his music.
http://www.paolocavallone.com