“Il nous faut des exclamations, des interjections, des suspensions, des interruptions, des affirmations, des négations ; nous appelons, nous invoquons, nous crions, nous gémissons, nous pleurons, nous rions franchement.”

Denis Diderot, Le Neveu de Rameau (1761)

The name we have chosen for our group, Ensemble Dialoghi, would like to be the driving force of our message: to encourage profound communication with our audience, to penetrate together into the intricacies of the musical styles of the past, identifying characters and emotions.
Highlighting the expressive instruments of our ancestors (through the performance of fragments of the concert program, with some comments) can help a more aware and emotional listening, as our audience has confirmed to us over the years.

Duo

Opera Seria and Opera Buffa in Contention

Clarinet and Fortepiano

How much has the opera, in its two main versions, “seria” and “buffa” , influenced the evolution of instrumental music? In a society where culture particularly revolves around the opera house, can we assume mutual influences? In this program we propose to explore the contrasting feelings and characters of theatrical music that instrumental music had integrated.

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Romanticism Looking Back to Classicism

Clarinet and Piano

Brahms often speaks of past composers with immense admiration, acknowledging his debt to them. “The articulations I write are the same than those of Haydn and Mozart!”, writes Brahms, for example, in a letter to Joachim. In this program we would like to highlight some of the expressive tools developed by Classicist composers that still form the backbone of Brahms’ delivery.

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Stories of Real Storms and Inner Ones

Clarinet and Piano

The myth of Hero and Leander, told in music by Liszt in his Ballade for piano, is the setting for this very particular program, which explores the topos of the storm: nature unleashes itself without limits, and the human soul struggles in pain and madness.

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Trio

BRAHMS: A FOOT IN GERMAN ROMANTICISM

Clarinet, Cello and Piano

A trip into the magical sonorities of original Romantic instruments and their colorful sound: every register of each instrument has its specific sound, allowing great flexibility regarding nuances in sonority and speaking potential. Instruments as actors/singers, imaginary dialogues and extreme feelings.

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Music and Theatre:
How Opera Inspired Composers

Clarinet, Cello and Piano

In the past the cultural life in our cities largely revolved around the opera house. Theater and music combined unleashed passions and heated debates. The singers mesmerised the audience with their voice, their gestures and their ability to convey strong emotions, from laughter to tears. Here is a program that explores these extremes, from Beethoven’s “commedia dell’arte”, to the sad songs of Schubert and Schumann, ending with Chopin, for whom opera was the primary source of inspiration, and who used to encourage his students to imitate the declamation and expressiveness of the greatest singers of his era.

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Opera Buffa Without Words

Clarinet, Cello and Piano

Another journey into the world of theater, “commedia dell’arte” and opera, but without singers, and with three instruments instead!
The young Beethoven, passionate about Mozart, student of Haydn, tries to charm his Viennese audience, crazy about opera …

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Declamation and Expression of Feelings: Instruments Versus Voice

Voice, Clarinet and Fortepiano
with Berit Norbakken, Soprano

In this program voice and instruments compete, revealing different approaches to declamation. The human voice offers inspiration to the fortepiano and clarinet, which at the same time broaden the expressive possibilities, thanks to the dynamic and articulation potential, allowing nuances that complement the vocal palette.

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Quintet

Mozart and Beethoven:
Quintets for Fortepiano and Winds

Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, Bassoon and Fortepiano

In a letter addressed to his father Leopold, Mozart wrote on April 10th, 1784: “I have written two grand concertos, and also a quintet […] which was received with extraordinary applause. I consider it myself to be the best thing I ever wrote in my life. How I wish you could have heard it; and how beautifully it was executed!” The quintets of Mozart and Beethoven are true little jewels of the chamber music repertoire, engaging the audience with a variety of emotions: opera-like dialogues and improvisation, drama and humor … An experience made of contrasts!

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The Operatic Background of Instrumental Music

Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, Bassoon and Fortepiano

All pieces of this program are linked to a particular phase of opera development. 
From Rameau influences on Mozart early style, through Sturm und Drang, opera buffa, opera semiseria, belcanto…
The wonderful Danzi quintet, for example, moves constantly between tragic Sturm und Drang and Rossini buffo style.
The Trio of Michaïl Glinka (who wrote in the score :  “I have only known love through the misfortune it causes”)  is a tribute to Italian opera seria, with references to the world of Bellini.
Every piece highly contrasts with the next, creating a continuous stimulus for the audience. 

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Sextet

A Taste of the Twentieth Century: Poulenc’s Poetic Music

Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, Bassoon and Piano
with Georges Barthel, Flute

The wind instruments of the beginning of the twentieth century, despite their similarity to today’s equivalents, have some surprising characteristics that help us understand part of the expressive message. A large color palette, a relative lack of homogeneity in sound, both of which help to broaden the declamation of the phrase. These sounds combine in an astonishing way with the timbre of the piano of those years, revealing and underlining unexpected nuances and details in Poulenc’s poetic music.