Giulia Genini is fascinated by Ancient Music and Classical Baroque, which due to the rigor and numerological structure of the musical message of the period (just think of Bach) obliges the performer to conform to interpretations free from overly personal emotions, hence with the respect to the genius and the score, the great interpretation is born. Even a few centuries later, in a time full of Renaissance passions and emotions, Verdi himself advised “not to give in to interpretation, because it is a road that leads to the abyss”.
Giulia Genini, now an established musician, in symbiosis with this rigorous musical path of the Ancient World and the Barroco, lives our time as an icon that has its roots in the "Greek classicism" of a golden age, which from Guido d'Arezzo to a “Nuovo Orfeo” with Monteverdi, then Vivaldi, Bach, Haendel… travels the journey into great music with the very sweet inner song of his instruments. Starting from this classic image, I ask Giulia Genini to tell about herself.
«A great fortune I had after my high school studies here in Lugano was that of being admitted to the Schola Cantorum in Basel, a conservatory dedicated solely to Early Music. From that moment on, a straight line path was outlined, let's say until today. The very particular environment of Basel has allowed me to come into contact with very important personalities and with teachers and artists of a certain caliber. Parallel to the Sweet Flute I started the study of the Historical Bassoons (dulciana, Baroque bassoon and classical bassoon) for my almost physical need to also switch to "low frequencies".
The study of these additional instruments has considerably broadened my range of action, allowing me, among other things, to work in an orchestra. The Bassoon derives from the Dulciana, a Renaissance instrument of enormous sonic charm, also with a double reed, born "in consort" or in "families" of different sizes, such as the Flutes. There are in fact Dulciane from bass to soprano.
Do you have an agency that takes care of your business?
“No, I have no agent and I am always called directly. After the years of study in Basel, I began to move in this musical environment, sometimes I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and this, in addition to my competence, of course, led me to collaborate with Swiss and European ensembles " .
What emotions and what images tell you about the numerous Dances and Ancient Arias of the Baroque period, the Florentine Duets of the 600th century, the Roman Duets of the 16th century, the immense Vivaldi production with the 38 concertos for flute, the 15 for bassoon, Georg Friedrich Haendel with the XNUMX Sonatas, Gabrieli Corelli, Praetorius, Schutz, Telemann with the compositions for transverse flute?
«More than emotions regarding a particular piece, I would speak of a state of mind that this repertoire gives me every time I listen to it and play it. In Ancient Music there is an immediate contact with the naturalness of emotions, which are expressed in a very clean, defined, direct way. Truly a joy for the listener and for the player.
And more than particular images on a song, I would evoke this great energy that this music transmits, the natural purity of the emotions it arouses, which for me has always been a point of reference. There is a lot of rhetoric in this music, but not an affected rhetoric, but something linear, natural, simple and effective ».
The Recorder, the Bassoon and the Dulciana are among the most expressive instruments in the history of music. The beauty of the sound and the great possibilities of virtuosity allow admirably to accompany the human voice and even to replace it.
"In this regard, in the treatise" La Fontegara "(1535) the theorist, flutist and violist (viola da gamba) Silvestro Ganassi dal Fontego writes:" just as the worthy is perfect, the painter imitates everything created by nature with the variation of colors , so with this instrument of breath you will be able to imitate the utterance made by the human voice ”. The link between instruments / human voice is indispensable in the ancient repertoire. Even if in the course of the Baroque the instruments have developed an impressive repertoire totally independent from vocal music, the voice as an example to follow, and not only in the melodic line but also in the promptness of the articulation of the words, remains a fundamental point of the ancient performance practice. . Ganassi also wrote that a good performer must be able to literally “speak” with his own instrument, making the listener understand real words ».
The first types of Bassoon date back to the end of the 500th century, however very different from the modern Bassoon. What are the technical and expressive differences, compared to today, when orchestras play with a tuning fork around 444 Hertz?
«Bassoons, unlike string instruments that change the tension in the strings and therefore the intonation with a turn of the peg, have been built with different tuning forks. For example, a dulciana playing at 466 Hertz is smaller than a dulciana playing at 440. A Bassoon at 392, a tuning fork often in vogue in the French Baroque repertoire, has an even wider and longer bore.
The great fascination and also the difficulty of these instruments lies in the fact that for each tuning fork there is a sensibly different reaction. This leads to very different colors in the voices and winds. It is necessary to know how to adapt to these ancient "imperfect" instruments which, compared to a modern Bassoon, have very little mechanics: this causes an irregularity in the chromatisms that we performers must be able to compensate for. Imperfection creates a very special beauty, each of these instruments really has its own personality ».
Today, globalization with the internet, it is assumed, can facilitate artistic careers, or, as I believe, water them down in the chaos of an exasperated commercial mythization of questionable merits, not to say at times sensationally non-existent.
«The Internet is part of our reality and unfortunately you can find everything there, even from a musical point of view; in this sense it is truly a little selective and little selected cauldron. But there is also a positive side, if we want: it makes everything much more usable, accessible and immediate. When there is quality, it can also be identified electronically.
As for us young musicians, I believe it is our real mission not to bow only to the laws of the market, today extremely linked to the image, but to continue to have ideals, letting ourselves be inspired by those who have done this profession before us, in a more differentiated and calmer moment. Fortunately, there are still some very valid models of beauty and goodness in the field of music ».
In 2009, you founded the Ensemble Concerto Scirocco. An entrepreneurial vocation alongside your artistic personality already successfully active in Switzerland and abroad.
«Yes, with Scirocco we deal above all with music from the 600th century, therefore with the first instrumental Baroque, alongside the instruments, some singers, working a lot on vocality and on the link between voice and instrument. I deal with the promotion of the group and the search for concerts with direct contact with festivals and musical institutions ».
Today, the discography can be an effective advertising medium for an artistic-entrepreneurial activity in particular for the much requested Baroque repertoire. However, beyond the merits, the publication of a CD in the catalog is primarily subject to a financial investment. Difficult times, also because on the net, "everything is sold" to the detriment of high quality niche productions "Making a record today is really a business both from the financial point of view and from the point of view of the release on the market of the product. It is true, everything is sold online, but it must also be said that the record companies that deal with early music tend to be very selective and prefer rediscovering works of unpublished repertoire, in a certain sense helping niche productions. Unfortunately, this rule also often applies: as long as it is unpublished and is published, no matter in what quality. All this perhaps at the expense of excellent performances from an already well-known repertoire… I think few record companies are willing to take the risk of thinking a little outside the box of market laws ».
LAC, Lugano, Arte e Cultura is an institution that promotes a prestigious cultural and musical offer. The presence of international guests is preeminent in the programming of events. Well, even if it is nevertheless likely that from this important institution of ours, a Tradition, a regional identity, should be able to be born and consolidated over time, as happens in other Confederate cities, Lucerne, Basel, Lausanne, or in the vast German-speaking area with the Institution of Stadttheater, temples and repertoire forges, veritable gyms for young musicians.
A repertoire theater would also give young talents the opportunity for musical training and career entry. Our territory has counted in the past and still includes musical excellence. Giulia Genini, a young Ticino performer has already delighted other audiences, among which it is enough to point out above all, the prestigious Berliner Philharmoniker. So why not, also next to the glorious Palace?
«At the LAC I will participate next September in the review that will be dedicated to the Ticino composer Francesco Hoch. I will perform “Piume di Senso”, a piece for solo recorder that Hoch composed especially for me a few years ago. I am happy to be part of the LAC program in the near future, even if in this case it will be with contemporary music which I rarely deal with. It would be nice to encourage attendance in the field of Ancient Music ».
