VA - The Noise of Art (2019)

This album contains seven compositions, created by the Opening Performance Orchestra, Blixa Bargeld, Luciano Chessa and Fred Möpert. All the pieces relate to the theme of Futurism and employ intonarumori, instruments invented and used more than a century ago by the Italian Futurists in their noise compositions.

"In antiquity, life was nothing but silence." "Today noise reigns supreme over human sensibility."

The Art of Noises, pertained to the entire 20th century. Published in 1913, in response to Francesco Balilla Pratella's Manifesto of Futurist Musicians, Russolo's text encompassed the fundamental ideas for the new music of the modern age. Radical ideas required original compositional approaches, as well as new types of instruments - hence the Futurists opted for the intonarumori. The two quotations prompted us to give thought to creating compositions in which we would return to the early 20th century, when noises as means of musical expression emerged for the very first time. The typical instruments used by our ensemble, the Opening Performance Orchestra, are laptops, by means of which we conceive our fraction music, which can be briefly characterised by the slogan no melody no rhythm no harmony. Constructing three intonarumori, writing our own pieces for these instruments and performing works by other contemporary composers - Blixa Bargeld, Luciano Chessa and Fred Möpert, represented for us getting into close contact with the beginnings of the musical avant-garde, as well as returning to the historical roots of the music that had served as the basis of noise in art.