Due Poesie di Tonino Guerra

Due Poesie di Tonino Guerra features of settings of two of the Romagnolo poet's most beloved poems. L’ARIA is an atmospheric tone poem for voice and piano on words by the Italian poet ToninoGuerra (1920-2012). The piece fuses contemporary extended vocal techniques with elementsof traditional bel canto singing. Both performers should strive to create a variety of colorsindicated by verbal cues between brackets to evoke an ethereal sound world in which the textcan vividly come to life. The singer and pianist should coexist on two separate temporalplanes, and a sense of regular meter should be completely abandoned. The rhythmic values inthe voice part are indicative of proportions rather than definite values. Clarity of text andexpressiveness of lyric diction are of utmost importance.

‍L’angelo coi baffi recounts the heartwarming taleof a moustached angel who miraculously brings a flock of stuffed birds to life. The storyreminds us to stay true to ourselves and that wonderful things can happen through simpleacts of kindness. The present musical setting brings this timeless parable to life with colourfulharmonies, vivid text-painting, and fidelity to the prosody of Guerra’s words. Inspiration forthe piece came from the charming hilltop village of Pennabilli where a mural by Luigi Poiaghiin which depicts this story.

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