music

festive (3-minute song #2)

ensemble (3 players), 2019

A jolly one for the tenth anniversary of Ensemble Imaginaire, and the second instalment of an intended cycle of, most likely, 12 pieces whose duration and overarching concept you may infer from the subtitle (no vocals involved, though). This one is in C major. Hopefully, a recording will come at some point.


core / flow / surface / scatter

ensemble (7 players overall) and electronics, 2018-19

The result of an intricate collaboration with Francisco Huguet, Francisco Meirino and Laurent Estoppey (so I can’t genuinely call these pieces mine, except perhaps the first one), within Laurent’s Quadrilatère cd series for Thödöl and under the loving care of Ensemble Vortex. No recording yet.


i mille fuochi dell’universo

ensemble (7 players) and electronics, 2017

First and most important: once again, this piece is not mine. It was written collectively by the /nu/thing group I’m honoured to be a member of—the others, at the time, were Daniele Ghisi, Raffaele Grimaldi, Eric Maestri and Andrea Sarto. I still don’t know what it is: cosmic music, perhaps? Ensemble mdi plays in the video.


two songs, a room, 21 ephemeral illuminations (not all distinct)

ensemble (3 players) and electronics, 2016

More or less what the title says. “Illuminations” are thought more as enluminures than intuitions, embrasements or lueurs, but you might as well not care. In spite of its flaws, one of my favorites. Ensemble Imaginaire plays in the recording.


3-minute song #1

ensemble (5 players), 2016

The first instalment of this 36-minute cycle I might complete someday. I always wanted to write a piece in 3/8, so here it is. Icarus Ensemble plays, Franco Fusi conducts.


belle rose du printemps

string quartet, 2015

Some sort of reimagining of an ancient song of unrequited love and lust. Alas, no recording. It’s in C major and lasts one minute.


rome: a tone poem of sorts

amplified jazz ensemble (11 players), 2015

An emotional and cognitive portrait of the city of Rome, written — with little consideration for what contemporary music is supposed to be — as a part of the Europa program of the Orchestre National de Jazz Olivier Benoit.


in forma di canzone d’amore

ensemble (9 players) and live electronics, 2015

About tenderness, passion, utopia, and many other things I will not name. Not all of them are nice, not all of them are love. Ensemble FontanaMix plays in the recording, Francesco La Licata conducts.

www://https:andreaagostini.eu/muzak/in_forma_di_canzone_d_amore.mp3


three electric creatures

electric guitar, 2014

I love rock’n’roll. Giacomo Baldelli plays in the recording, taken from his amazing “Electric creatures” album.


start making sense

“i’ll send an sos to the world.”
“it ain’t me, it ain’t me, I am no fortunate son.”
“we dreamed of the way that we were and the way that we wanted to be.”
“and a rock feels no pain, and an island never cries.”
“do you realize we’re floating in space?”
“neptune, titan, stars can frighten.”
“love is a burning thing.”
“no one here gets out alive.”
“and after all this, won’t you give me a smile?”

cello, piano and lo-fi electronics, 2013

From the program notes:
Nine tiny, shameless songs, each trying in its own way to stutter a thought, an emotion, even if this means stripping out structures, figures, language, technique and aesthetics. Each thought and emotion has a panel attached, which — shamelessly again — I stole from those who are used to shout instead of murmuring. Words torn away from other, much more famous songs, meant to allude, suggest, instigate: never describe, though.
Francesco Dillon and Emanuele Torquati play in the recording.


eppur si muove

interactive electroacoustic installation, 2013

A virtual, sonic, retro-sci-fi planetarium for large public spaces — and a sort of spinoff of Wunder der Schöpfung. Wear your headphones, stroll around and cross the paths of planets, each irradiating its favorite wavelengths and, if you listen closely, singing its own little algorithmic song. The custom hardware/software system was developed in cooperation with Collectif Mu. Here is a promo video — but believe me, the audio was much better:


cose

viola and piano, 2012

Cose. Things. More about the static qualities of music than the dynamic ones. Which does not mean that the music itself is motionless. No recording, but feel free to have a look at the score.


in circles

percussions (one player), 2011

Written for the instrument set of “Golfi d’Ombra” by Fausto Romitelli, as reconstructed by Simone Beneventi. Things happen, then other things happen, then other things happen, but you’re not really going anywhere. The correct title is the one above, not that on Spotify.


wunder der schöpfung

film music for multichannel fixed-media electronics, 2011

New, modernist music (produced at IRCAM) for the hyper-modernist 1925 film Wunder der Schöpfung, which can be easily viewed on YouTube — but only with the new, passatist soundtrack that accompanies it on the DVD. I am not allowed to make “my” version publicly available, but here are some sound excerpts. (Geeky note: I wrote an article for IRCAM about how all these otherworldly sounds were made, as well as those for Legno sabbia vetro cenere. Also, some papers about bach show how the actual electronic score was written: namely this one for the JIM2012 conference, this one for the Computer Music Review in 2013 and this one for the Computer Music Journal in 2015.)


cinque movimenti

ensemble (4 players), 2011

In which I embrace nostalgia for the time when you could meet fellows like Beethoven or Schumann if you just walked the streets of the right city at the right time. But did that time ever really exist? Divertimento Ensemble plays in the video, Sandro Gorli conducts.


legno sabbia vetro cenere

string quartet and multichannel fixed-media electronics, 2010

A quintet, indeed. Loud and proud, except when it’s not. The electronics were produced at IRCAM. Quartetto Maurice plays in the recording. (Geeky note: I wrote an article for IRCAM about how all these glassy ashy sounds were made, as well as those for Wunder der Schöpfung.)


moth

piano, 2009

A nocturne, somehow. It was planned to be one third of a cycle, which someday might as well see the light. Franco Venturini plays in the recording.


gli atomi che s’accendevano e radiavano

baritone saxophone and multichannel live electronics, 2008

Exuberant sax and exuberant electronics. I borrowed the title from Italo Calvino. Produced at IRCAM. A version with fixed-media electronics also exists. Florent Monfort plays in the recording.


shiny metal shiny glass

stereo fixed-media electronics, 2008

A little electro-acoustic study, produced at IRCAM. Shiny, would you guess?


bad times lullabies

electric ensemble (4 players) and multichannel live electronics, 2008

A very very passionate one – not without some irony, though. The ghosts of Johannes Brahms and Jimi Hendrix loom around. RepertorioZero plays in the recording (great performance, which is why I chose to upload it, but terrible sound: you are advised).


musica per il chiostro di royaumont

multichannel fixed-media electronics, 2006

Halfway between a piece and a sound installation. The references to Cardiacs, Giotto, Mahler and much more are numerous and blatant.


spin

ensemble (5 players), 2004, rev. 2008

Post-spectral post-punk. Ensemble Alter Ego plays in the audio excerpt.


the speed at which things change

cymbalom, 2005, rev. 2007

Speed and density, sometimes bordering on the impossible. Françoise Rivalland plays in the audio excerpt.


o-zone

cello or electric cello, 2003

Extroverted, theatrical, all in all optimistic. OK, I was younger back then. Giorgio Casati plays electric cello in the recording.


microscopes

soprano and ensemble (4 players), 2001

So dramatic, so old-fashioned. Not my cup of tea anymore, to be honest, but it’s out there anyway. The texts, which indeed are great, are by Emily Dickinson. Ensemble Accroche Note plays in the recording, Françoise Kubler sings.


funus

fixed-media electronics, 2001, rev. 2004

Questions big, answers none.


thurston moore

fixed-media electronics, 2000

—and the Pixies too. To my surprise, it looks like someone still likes it. Rock’n’roll it is, for sure.