Copland, Gershwin
Urban Cluster, Danelon, Torri

Urban Cluster

Francesco Esposito, clarinet
Emanuela Ferrari, piano
Rino Trasi, electric bass
Paolo Ragni, percussion and electronics

With the participation of

Francesca Torri, flute
Valentina Danelon, violin

A. Copland (1900–1990)

Concerto for clarinet and string orchestra, piano and harp (transcription for sextet by R. Trasi)

G. Gershwin (1898–1937)

An American in Paris for orchestra (transcription for sextet by R. Trasi)

40’ | Admission €8

In the solemn setting of the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, the new venue hosting Trame Sonore, music arrives from across the Atlantic through two masterpieces of twentieth-century American repertoire, reinterpreted by the sextet formation in a chamber dimension that enhances their transparency, contrasts, and timbral nuances.

Aaron Copland’s Clarinet Concerto unfolds in two movements joined by a central solo cadenza, which plays a decisive structural and narrative role. The contemplative opening is gradually disrupted by the emergence of the soloist, who through a virtuosic crescendo leads the ensemble towards a finale of increasing energy, animated by syncopated rhythms, jazz-inflected suggestions, and references to South American folk tradition. With George Gershwin’s An American in Paris, we encounter a true miniature symphonic poem, depicting the journey of an American visitor in 1920s Paris: walking pace, urban motion, the traffic of taxis evoked through famous imitative effects, up to the eruption of the jazz dimension.

Rino Trasi’s transcription reduces the original orchestral forces to a highly flexible sextet, in which each instrument assumes a soloistic role. The result is an intimate and brilliant version, where the orchestral dimension is refracted into a chamber dialogue of extraordinary vividness.

Text curated by Martina Sangermano