AC/DC

Sentieri Selvaggi - AC/DC

Milan is home to the feisty young ensemble Sentieri Selvaggi, a band of intrepid composers and performers who have taken southern Europe by storm. Led by composers Carlo Boccadoro and Filippo del Corno, the group is dedicated to breaking down barriers between pop and high art, music and theater, the concert hall and the street.

AC/DC is a collection of Sentieri Selvaggi's most defining work, including premiere recordings of new works by Louis Andriessen, Laurie Anderson, David Lang, Michael Gordon, and Decca International recording sensation Ludovico Einaudi.


AC/DC
acdc or ac:dc or ac/dc? electrical currents found in Europe and America. alternating particles of energy and states of being, alternating states of material and spiritual. – Michael Gordon

L'uomo armato
The words "l'uomo armato" ("the armed man"), are simply the Italian translation of the French title of a famous French song "l'homme arme." This song was the inspiration for many great authors of the polyphonic tradition across the centuries, for an infinite amount of compositions. Although the title "L'homme arme" gives the unmistakable feeling of medieval times, "l'uomo armato" brings us into a more contemporary dimension. Therefore I tried to weave the original melody in the rhythmic fabric of our times, using incessant percussive beats and funky accents. – Filippo Del Corno

The Apple Tree
I wrote The Apple Tree in 1995 for a very classical instrumentation. I was interested to offer a composition written in a today's language to a classical ensemble - one that could have been maybe curious to go out from the usual repertoire and longing for some changes. The piece takes place in only one set and it develops like a song, with verses and refrains. – Ludovico Einaudi

Passeggiata in tram in America e ritorno
When I heard (and saw) Cristina Zavalloni perform Bussotti's "La Passion selon Sade" in The Hague, I immediately wanted to compose for her. It was she who then made me know the "Canti Orfici" of Dino Campana, and I did write "Passeggiata in tram in America e ritorno" for her, accompagned by a kind of small big band plus concertante violin. Later I made the definite orchestration for Orchestra De Volharding. 

Dino Campana's evocative, surrealist poetic prose writing I found ideal for Cristina's multi-layered vocal talents. It was a pleasure to arrange the song for my friends of Sentieri selvaggi who are so committed to play a lot of the new music I like so much. You hear that in the way they play. – Louis Andriessen

I Fought the Law
"I Fought the Law" was commissioned as a companion piece to the chamber version of "The unanswered question" of Charles Ives. I know this piece has many revolutionary features; I have always felt, however, that it is one of Ives' least courageous works. I guess I have never really believed that a few spooky flutes could represent me and my problems in the depiction of the struggle of human existence. What bothers me the most is the passivity of Ives' conception of human struggle in general - Ives watches the strings who watch the flutes who watch the trumpet. The piece has an already-defeated feeling to it. 

Where is it shown that this struggle means anything, that life is a never-ending fight to find an answer, even if that answer can never be found? Then I remembered a line from a rock and roll classic - "I fought the law and law won." It is just as futile as an unanswered question but not nearly so pathetic. – David Lang

Glamorama Spies
In Glamorama by Bret Easton Ellis, the main character is constantly spied on and, even before his consciousness becomes aware of it, he is constantly in an anxious state. Anxiety pills and some romantic intervals are not enough to stop the sensation that he's always late for something and that he's progressively losing his sense of reality. I was reading the book when Sentieri Selvaggi asked me for this piece and going from reading to writing seemed almost inevitable. Therefore if at times you feel some hints at emotion, think about the second to last sentence of the book: "Le stelle sono reali" ("the stars are real"). – Lorenzo Ferrero

Hiawatha
Hiawatha is one of the most beautiful songs written by Laurie Anderson, and it appeared for the first time in the album Strange Angels. The version of the song that Filippo Del Corno realized for Sentieri Selvaggi uses only acoustic instruments and it is very different from the original, entirely played with keyboards, synthesizers and electronic percussions. The instrumentation, approved by Laurie Anderson, does not confine to orchestrate the original melody, but adds new instrumental profiles and creates a very classical sonority.

Bad Blood
The title refers to a non-existing illness, invented by torturers disguised as scientists during atrocious experiments carried out on Afro-American men, women, and children in a town in Alabama for over thirty years. The music does not describe the events, but it serves to keep the memory and anger alive and most of all to ascertain that these events were not invented by some imaginative writer, but are a horrific reality, which, despite human "evolution" over the centuries, remain unchanged and immutable. – Carlo Boccadoro

Artists

Sentieri Selvaggi
AC/DC
CA21030
Formats: 
CD / Digital
Release Date: 
01/09/2006