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THE ACTOR MAURILIO MENZINGER BIASIOR INTERVIEWS
SILVIO CAPECCIA
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Is it too obvious
if I start this interview by asking you about how and
when you started playing music?
Not at all. Every musician has a personal approach to music, but in the
end every way leads inevitably to the same point that is to consider
music the central aspect of their life.
My personal spark started when I was 10 years old when I happened to
put my hands on a small Farfisa organ at my cousin Cristina’s home.
Naturally I did not know how to play but I was fascinated by the magical
atmosphere that the sounds, generated by the casual movements of my fingers
on the keyboard, were able to create.
It was my grandfather Giuseppe who, trusting his grandson completely,
gave me an Ibach piano (which I still own) where I started my classical
music studies. To have “my” own piano and not a rented one
I could give back as soon as I was bored of music was like a deal with
destiny, the bond of a love that would have been with me for the years
to come.
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Which musical studies did you do?
I always studied music privately; I was not interested
in the possibility to enter the Conservatoire or to start
a soloist career. The plain truth is that I was never interested
in playing music I am not passionate for. Certainly over
the years I had to study the foundations that make you
a good musician (and this has been useful and interesting)
but as soon as I could I devoted myself to analyse in depth
those aspects I was more interested in. Just to make some
examples, I could not believe it when my teacher suggested
to study the Mikrokosmos by Bartok considered the little
enthusiasm I showed towards Clementi’s sonatas…as
well as I pleasantly remember my studies with Maestro Mantegazza
and then with Maestro Messina about composition, for me
still today such an esoteric and alchemistic subject.
Which kind of music do you listen to, and how much music
do you listen? Don’t you think there is too much
music around?
I do not listen to only one kind of music. I
like Sidney Bechet and Teddy Wilson’s jazz, King
Crimson and Gentle Giant’s ‘70s progressive
rock, Sparks’’80s decadent rock, Brian Eno’s
ambient music (“Neroli” is the album I prefer)
and the one of the American minimalist pianist Harold Budd.
As far as classical music is concerned my favourite is
Prokofiev with his dissonant (but not too much) harmonies
and those melodies that seem never to come to an end, as
well as I adore Erik Satie’s piano pieces.
I
would like to say something more about this end of the 1800’s,
French composer precursor of the modern minimalism…
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Moscow 1990, tribute to Sergej Prokofiev’s grave.
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…Go on…
It happened many years
ago and it gives me the opportunity to
reconnect to your question about how
much music there is around. Well I just
had in my hands an LP that probably came
with an encyclopaedia or a set of pans:
it had in it all those very famous piano
pieces that have become banal, like “To
Elise” and “Au clair de lune”,
but amongst those there was also Erik
Satie’s “Gymnopedie no.1”,
a real gem, one of those pieces that
change your understanding of music and
the way you live it. This is what happened
to me, listening to that piece has opened
the doors on a new world where the music
is
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“I love deserts” |
breathing
in symbiosis with our own breath, where a
piece creates a protective cloud, within
which we can live a unique experience.
It is true that there is too much music around:
in restaurants, in supermarkets, even in
lifts, but it is up to us and to our musical
sensitivity to let all this useless music
run at the surface without leaving any trace,
making space only for that music that can
enrich our emotional experience.
Can I ask you about your instruments or
would you rather not talk about it?
The current
set-up of my Cap Studio includes four elements:
a Kawai MP9500 piano, with a wonderful
mechanics and a soft and mellow sonority,
a Korg Triton keyboard, flexible and reliable,
a Yamaha Motif 6 keyboard with its crystalline
sounds and a Clavia Nord Lead 2 synthesizer
that I use as vintage oscillator. The keyboards
work via Midi with an obsolete software
Cakewalk version 6 and it all finishes
in a Roland VS 2480, where I digitally
record generally one shot without any further
overdubbing. If I need a rhythmic support
I utilize some grooves with the help of
an Akai Z8 sampler.
Bear in mind that I reached this set of
instruments through numerous keyboards
(I began with a Minimoog followed by Arp
Quadra, Ensoniq Mirage, Korg Wavestation,
Supernova…) which I have always sold
to buy different ones. The current set-up
is really a final point because with these
instruments I have built and modified over
a certain period a set of sounds, really
about twelve, that today represent exactly
what I want to express with my music. Actually
the keyboards I have mentioned offer hundreds
of different sonorities and also preset
arrangements (bleah!) but I do not really
need them. My twelve or so personal sounds
are more than enough to realize what I
know and can do.
I would like to end this interview
by asking what is your main interest after
music, arts wise.
Painting.
I like to go to art galleries and not only
because of my job. On the other hand it
is proven that there are many similarities
between music and painting, both as creative
processes and in terms of historical evolution.
My favourite period is the beginning of
the1900’s, particularly Mondrian’s
geometries and Malevic’s suprematist
paintings; lately I am starting to go back
in time and I am discovering to be very
interested in artists like Guercino and
Vermeer.. What could this mean?
Silvio,
we will talk about this when we review
this site…
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