Improvvisare per comporre o comporre per improvvisare? La scrittura di Giancarlo Schiaffini per Nuove Forme Sonore

Abstract

Giancarlo Schiaffini is one of the most important protagonists of the New Music in Italy, continuously active and curious in exploring different styles and performative practices, at the intersection of improvisation, composition, and performance. In particular, his work as a composer for Nuove Forme Sonore – a group of composers, improvisers and performers he founded in 1970 together with Jesús Villa-Rojo, a Catalan clarinetist and composer – serves as a prime example of how the musician succeeded in combining the three practices, creating a system of notation that is open, both in the writing phase and in performance, to the actions and gestures of the musicians-improvisers for whom he writes. This paper discusses the main characteristics of Schiaffini music-making and writing, and examines the relationship between improvisation and composition by analyzing some of his scores, both published and unpublished, composed for Nuove Forme Sonore: (Aux) Champignon (1970-1971) and Gospel (1971; 1973-1974). Through the still unexplored experience of the trombonist and his group, the paper explores possible relationships between improvisation, composition and performance, with the aim of contributing more generally to overcoming dichotomous and hierarchical views of practices that reveal complex balances and multiple nuances, both in theory and in action.