VV.AA.: Musica Futurista (Multhipla/Cramps, 1980)

This is the 100th post on this blog, and a few days ago was the 100th anniversary of the publication of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's "Manifesto del futurismo" on Le Figaro. So I thought I could leave my blog's usual pop-rock leanings for a moment and publish something about Futurist music. "Musica futurista" is often recognised as the best compilation in the field - a double-LP collecting many diverse works and giving a sketch of the different musical tendencies encompassed by the Futurist movement.

The music in the compilation can be divided in two classes: rather conventional (though anti-classical) compositions for piano and more experimental pieces in the direction of spoken word and musique concrète.
The piano executions, which are actually the more "musical" ones, are mainly based on easy-going, prance-gait melodies broken by percussive intermissions which give them a rather fragmentary and anti-linear mood. There are some hints at Debussy's post-tonal intuitions, but even when quite dissonant the pieces don't sound very radical or very elaborate. Some tracks (Daniele Napoletano's "Estratti musicali" over all) deliberately echo classical structures with a lightly irriverent impromptu attitude.
The other performances are perhaps the most renown examples of Futurist music, inspired by Luigi Russolo's "L'arte dei Rumori". Russolo's own "Esempi sonori" are sound events created by a custom-made device called "Intonarumori", a mechanical noise-generator portrayed on the album cover. Marinetti's "Cinque Sintesi Radiofoniche" sound like found sounds spaced out by long minutes of silence. "Risveglio di una città" is a 30-second symphony of engine-like clanks, very representative of the Futurist enthusiasm for machines and metropolis, but hardly pleasurable for the listener.

The compilation was originally printed by the Multhipla Records (a label by Gianni Sassi devoted to avantgarde music and performances) in collaboration with Gianni Sassi's own Cramps Records. It was later reprinted by Fonit Cetra in 1985, and finally by Salon Recordings in 2004 under the name "Musica Futurista - The Art of Noises".

Here are some documents, all translated to English:
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti: Manifesto futurista (1909)
Luigi Russolo: L'arte dei rumori (1913)
Francesco Balilla Pratella: Manifesto dei musicisti futuristi (1910)


Tracklist:
CD 1:

1. Francesco Balilla Pratella: La guerra - Three Dances for Orchestra, Op 32; 1. L'aspettazione 2. La battaglia 3. La vittoria (Piano transcription)
2. Francesco Balilla Pratella: Giorno di festa
3. Silvio Mix: Due preludi dagli stati d'animo - Assai calmo, molto largo e drammatico
4. Silvio Mix: Profilo sintetico-musicale di Marinetti
5. Franco Casavola: Preludio a "Prigionieri"
6. Franco Casavola: Danza delle scimmie
7. Filippo Tommaso Marinetti: Cinque sintesi radiofoniche
8. Daniele Napoletano: Estratti musicali; Marinetti I, II, III/Cangiullo II, III

CD 2:

1. Luigi Russolo: Risveglio di una città
2. Luigi Russolo: Esempi sonori di: A) Crepitatore B) Ululatore C) Gracidatore D) Gorgogliatore E) Ronzatore F) Arco Enarmonico
3. Antonio Russolo: Corale/Serenata
4. Virgilio Mortari: Fox trot del teatro della sorpresa
5. Luigi Grandi: Aereoduello/Cavalli + acciaio
6. Filippo Tommaso Marinetti e Aldo Giuntini: Sintesi musicali futuristiche
7. Aldo Giuntini: The India Rubber Man (Foxtrot)
8. Alfredo Casella: Pupazzetti
9. Filippo Tommaso Marinetti: La battaglia di Adrianopoli
10. Filippo Tommaso Marinetti: La definizione di futurismo

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