Mauro Lanza
Born in Venice in 1975, Mauro Lanza studied piano and composition at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory, where he earned a degree in 1997. While enrolled in harmony and musicology classes at the Université Ca’Foscari, Lanza participated in various composition workshops with composers such as Brian Ferneyhough (Asolo, 1992), Salvatore Sciarrino (Città di Castello, 1995; 1996), Gérard Grisey (Reggio Emilia, 1996) and Alessandro Solbiati (Milan, 1998). He won first prizes at the 1996 Premio Valentino Bucchi and 1998 Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa competitions. Following the adjudication of his work by the Ensemble Intercontemporain and IRCAM, he was invited to participate in the 1998-99 Cursus de Composition.
Mauro Lanza was amongst the finalists to compete for the staging of an opera, as part of the Aix-en-Provence festival and the Frankfurt Klangfiguren project. His works have been premiered at international festivals, including the Ensemble Intercontemporain’s season, Radio-France’s Présence festival, and the Venetian biennial festival. Recent works include a chamber music piece for Court-Circuit (a state commission), and a composition for solo instrumentalist with electronic media (commissioned by the 2001 Europaïsche Musikmonat festival). Lanza currently works at IRCAM as a research composer.
Mauro Lanza was amongst the finalists to compete for the staging of an opera, as part of the Aix-en-Provence festival and the Frankfurt Klangfiguren project. His works have been premiered at international festivals, including the Ensemble Intercontemporain’s season, Radio-France’s Présence festival, and the Venetian biennial festival. Recent works include a chamber music piece for Court-Circuit (a state commission), and a composition for solo instrumentalist with electronic media (commissioned by the 2001 Europaïsche Musikmonat festival). Lanza currently works at IRCAM as a research composer.
Number nine
for ensemble
for ensemble
On a cheap turntable, I moved the speed switch midway between 331/3
and 45 to disengage the motor drive, then manually turned the record
backward and listened in wide-eared wonder. The eeriest is "Revolution 9"
from the White Album, in which an ominously deep voice endlessly
repeats: number nine ... number nine ... number nine.... Played backward
you hear: turn me on, dead man ... turn me on, dead man ... turn me on,
dead man....
In time, thousands of clues emerged as the rumor mill cranked up despite
John Lennon's 1970 statement to Rolling Stone that "the whole thing was
made up." But made up by whom? Not the Beatles. Instead this was a fine
example of the brain as a pattern-recognition machine that all too often
finds nonexistent signals in the background noise of life. (Michael Shermer on the “Paul is dead” hoax, May 2005 Scientific American Magazine)
This is also the place to speak of the miraculous contributions of our
subconscious. I was at this time able to write a theme which I thought not
to be related to the main theme, but nevertheless it seemed so logical to
me that I didn't cross it out. And, as I said, years later I found the solution
in that I saw the relation. I speak about this more thoroughly in my lecture
on "Composition with Twelve Tones". And I say, if there is a composer
capable of inventing themes on the basis of such a remote relationship, I
am not one of them. However, a mind thoroughly trained in musical logic
might function logically under any circumstances. (Arnold Schoenberg on his Kammersymphonie op 9/ Lecture delivered at UCLA, 1949 November 29)
