Opus Avantra :
is a unique Italian progressive music group which blends various kinds of classical influences including contemporary classical music, with some tape collage, all made very attractive by the lyrical singing and sometimes operatic voice, combined with progressive music.
The first album "Introspezione", also referred to as "Donella Del Monaco" is the most accessible album. The integral first track of "Introspezione" (-unfortunately the uninterrupted complete score was not used on the original vinyl and later cd-) is an incredible good mixture of tape collage/free contemporary music. Very unusual but beautiful in its surrealism. The first time I heard "Les plaisirs sont doux" just after this introduction track I was overwhelmed by emotions and wanted to search for this item at any price. Unless the first track (with its surreal nature, a brooding alive piece of music-) contains mostly accessible music forms within very accessible structures and rhythms.
The second album, "Lord Cromwell Plays The Suite for Seven Vices" is a less easy starter. It uses more contemporary composition. This is done in an interesting, skilled and extraordinary way.
The much later third album "Strata" has beautiful vocal passages, some difficult piano pieces but is also very interesting.
Again ten years later, the fourth album "Lyrics" is somewhat overshadowed being less difficult, less intense, with more minimal of ideas, but still coming forth from the first aproach.
Donella Del Monaco
made some solo work after that, mostly classically inspired. On "Fragments" it's very interesting to hear how many music forms Donella succeeded in transforming with very attractive interpretations.
"Venexia De Oro" is an interesting compilation of old classical music Venetian songs. "Berio Folk Songs" and "Schönberg Kabarett 1 & 2" are of course contemporary classic. "Chansons Satie" combines the atmosphere of the early century with a few contemporary touches. "Merica Merica" (like Berio as well) combine accessible contemporary music and old folk songs.
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Webpages for Opus Avantra :
Webpages for Donella Del Monaco :
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INTERVIEW WITH DONELLA DEL MONACO
At the time when I heard the full official oeuvre from Donella I realised her voice has not changed that much over a period of more than 20 years. It transformed a bit showing different colour ranges of the same blossoming nature. She told me she exercises all the time through the concerts and during the time she's not touring she regularly studies.
After and beside having finished a degree in architecture she also did studies in singing, which finally became her heart chosen career. In the interview done with the Japanese music magazine "Marquee" we can read already how Donella became involved in music :
Donella : .."I grew up surrounded by music: my uncle was the famous tenor Mario Del Monaco and my father Marcello was a great teacher of operatic singing. Right from my youth I knew very many operas and sang myself. I founded a choir to perform J.S. Bach, a composer whom I loved very much. This did not prevent me from singing wonderful songs by the Beatles and Fabrizio De André for friends. However, I didn't dream of becoming a singer; I loved art and planned to become an architect. I graduated in Venice in 1973 and I was immediately offered a position as University assistant. I had obtained my goal, but instead of being satisfied I began to feel very uncomfortable inside: gradually I began to realise that I was sad because I didn't want to leave music in order to become an architect! Only then did I realise that I was born to be a musician and that music was the most important thing in my life. I began to study singing secretly without my parents' knowledge because I didn't have the courage to tell them that I didn't want to be an architect any more. I studied songs and jazz singing at Milan and my first experience was in the field of songs. I later also studied operatic singing with Mrs Rognoni at the Padua Conservatory before adding the finishing touches to opera under my father and uncle. I have, however, always been attentive to the kind of voice used in folk singing and I often sing using both methods."
In the same magazine there was also the answer to my wondering about how much influence Donella had in the music of the avant progressive music group Opus Avantra and how much her studies in architecture were another influence :
"In Introspezione you can clearly hear these two different styles of singing* because I very much enjoy mixing them up according to the expressive effect I wish to create. It would not be true to say that I have not used these two styles since; maybe they are less noticeable than in Introspezione, but I often change vocal style like, for example, in "Canto incompiuto" and "Canto prima dell'alba" (STRATA) or also in "E mi me ne so'ndao" (VENEXIA DE ORO), and in "No sta piandar Catineta" and "Merica , Merica " (MERICA MERICA). In any case, my architectural studies were very useful: one of my professors made me prepare a piece of work on the "Compositional relationship between music and architecture". I studied the harmonic relationship from Pythagoras to contemporary art, and this comparative study on the foundations of the various artistic expressions formed the base of my creative work with Opus Avantra."
* the jazz voice and the lyrical voice
In our interview she continued :
Donella : "Also significant was the chance of having worked before with several authors of avantgarde and in several theatres and festivals.
The fact of employing differentiated techniques of song is functional compared to the philosophy of "Opus Avantra" which required an extreme knowledge of the styles and a capacity to create a continuous flow between them. Like this the styles became like functional colours filled with artistic inspiration."
PVHF : "How did Opus Avantra come into existence and how much came forth from your meeting with A.Tisocco ?
Donella : "The first idea of Opus Avantra was born already before meeting Alfredo Tisocco. It was created during a voyage by car which I had made in 1973 with Giorgio Bisotto and the journalist - producer Renato Marengo, somewhere between Trevise and Dortmund. During this night trip and snowstorm, we discussed much on the destinies the music which has the time was very rigidly and tightly sectored in several categories of listening: "the classical music", "the song", "jazz", "contemporary music". It reflected a rigid cultural division ; we wanted to create a music of communication between the cultural kinds and cleavages. A music with the knowledge of classical music, with the freedom of jazz, the audacity and research of the contemporary music and the emotive of song. After that we sought a composer who would follow us in this idea. It was the editor of rockmusic Tony Tasinato who indicated Alfredo Tisocco to us. We met him, and he declared perfect agreement with our ideas. We immediately started to work together on the idea of Opus Avantra which means AVAN(guarde) and TRA(dition). With the assistance of Tisocco we formed the group of musicians and Marengo introduced us the label of Trident Records."
PVHF : How much personal influence did you have on the group ?
DONELLA : "It was fundamental because I had carried the idea of this new music open to much of influences: jazz,à classical music, with the contemporary music. In more I had put the idea and the texts.
Here a piece of the interview for Marquee or I explain all that :"
"No sooner had I decided that I wanted to sing than I met Giorgio Bisotto. His slightly mysterious role needs to be clarified: he is not a musician in the strict sense of the term (although he has written pieces of music) but an intellectual and a person of great culture, particularly in the fields of philosophy and history. Giorgio knew all contemporary music very well because he had followed many Venice Biennali and was a friend of the composer and conductor Giuseppe Sinipoli with whom he discussed music and philosophy. I spoke a lot with him of the kind of music I wanted to make, a new kind of music: neither classical music nor songs. I wanted a "different" kind of music, one which had the preparation of classical music but also the vitality and emotion of song, the capacity for improvisation of jazz and the novelty and research of contemporary music. At that time there was no communication between these different musical genres and it was unthinkable to put them together. After much discussion we created the idea for "Opus Avantra" which, rather than being just the name of a group, is the name for a musical idea, a different way of making music, without boundaries or labels, but with great freedom and continuous research. The name Opus Avan(t-garde) Tra(dition) was invented by Giorgio Bisotto himself.
Together we met Alfredo Tisocco who was introduced to us by the editor Tony Tasinato.
With Alfredo we spoke about the new music which we wanted to create and we understood one another immediately. He was enthusiastic about the idea and helped us to put together all the rest of the group apart from Tony Esposito who joined us for the recording. Opus Avantra was my first real musical experience - apart from a few songs that I had sung in public, I had never worked with anybody else. In truth, we realise today that the idea of Avant-garde-Tradition that we had in music in '74 is close to the movements of other artistic forms of expression which established themselves in the eighties and nineties, like the Post-modern in Architecture (a style which draws freely on classical and innovative models) or like the Transavant-garde in the figurative arts. The reason I preferred to work in the field of rock rather than in the classical field is that I needed a record label which was open and courageous like Trident, whereas the world of classical music is very rigid. I have many happy memories of the Introspezione time: we worked a lot at Tisocco's house and also in a little theatre which a priest had lent us. Many people came to hear our music; some liked it, others thought we were slightly crazy. Renato Marengo, a journalist who was a friend of Giorgio Bisotto's, was a great help to us in our search for a record label, which was anything but easy: many record labels rejected us because our music was too "difficult". I think that our group is very different from the other progressive groups. My favourite composers include Franco Battiato, Saint Just, Perigeo and Area."
During the preparations of the radioprogram I planned at first to combine Opus Avantra and Donella Del Monaco with two other extraordinary progressive music projects with female Italian voices : this was the Saint Just and Pierrot Lunaire. I also wondered how much their projects came into existence independently or how much similarly sourced material was communicated between them. Therefore I asked how much Donella knew these groups at that time. For me Saint Just was created as if from a Satie thematic reference that had been exploded and transformed into a open structured progressive music, enriched with a highly emotional element in the singing, while Pierrot Lunaire compared with Opus Avantra used contemporary and avant garde ideas combined with female lyric voice :
Donella : "Yes, I know both Saint Just and Pierrot Lunaire. I personally met Alan and Jenny Sorrenti in Rome in 1974 during a concert. Alan was befriended with our producer Renato Marengo and he was present at the premiere of Opus Avantra in Rome. But after that period I did not have contacts any more. They live far from me in the town of Naples while I live in Trevise, close to Venice. Unfortunately I do not know anything of their activities after the discs which they made at the time. Pierrot Lunaire and Jacqueline Darby I know them only through the discs. Also me would like to have information on their current activities : that would interest me very much."
-PS. (Of course also another Italian progressive group, Jacula used emotional female vocals, but that's a complete other story).-
After three projects with the avant progressive group Opus Avantra Donella published a few of her own solo productions.
Donella's project "Venexia de Oro" has also the kind of architecturally structure of some Venetian songs chosen with thematical and musical interest from various centuries of Venetian music. Some compositions are from Donella herself. Even some Venetian poetry is integrated. I asked her about the clearly deep study that precluded the existence of this particular collection.
Donella : "I like the Venetian cultural tradition and I sought to reintroduce some XVIII century songs which had been forgotten. Even more I made a spectacle around it with dancers and Venetian masks all based on the music of these songs. In my CD "Venexia of oro" I also wrote texts with old Venetian languages of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. I like the sound of these languages which defers us at the origin of our culture. "Merica Merica" is a collection of songs which have as an argument the emigration, an imposing phenomenon which took place in the second half of the nineteenth century and at the first half of the twentieth century.
These extremely popular songs were re-examined and arranged in a personal way"
Donella did have interest for contemporary classical composers too (like Schoenberg and Berio, from whom she made compilation CD's of songs). On another compilation by Donella, "Chansons Satie" songs by Satie, these songs did not just recall some early 20st century music atmosphere but a few of them had also a contemporary feel. Odd but renewing at the same time. Donella admitted she forced a bit, the interpretation of "Les oiseaux" et "Sylvie" into that direction. Worth hearing.
In the near future Donella will bring out a compilation of the music of Nietzsche. I was particularly curious about that. I used to like reading his books when I was younger, and even enjoyed his poetry at that time.
Donella : "I studied and sang the Lieder of Friedrich Nietzsche for a play on the life of Nietzsche which took place in Paris à l'Espace Cardin in 1995. These were interesting songs for piano and voice. In this music the poetic heart of the philosopher can be found."
I look forward to the release of those.
Use of fragments of this interview permited with reference to the source
"Psyche van het Folk" (Radio Centraal, Antwerp),
and only with link to the webpage, Gerald.
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