Isolario is a cycle of 9 duets, which can be performed, or just imagined, by any instrument or voice. The inspiration of these compositions comes from a compilation of texts by medieval writers from the “Arabic” world, describing a special and wonder-full island.
Beyond the fact that these islands really exist, what interests me is the description of the extraordinary, and how the “magical thinking” has shaped the imagination of the medieval navigators, creating recurrent spaces which survived until our contemporary culture. I chose texts that described a behaviour, or a sociological attitude, that could be transposed into a musical context. The scores consist in a textual part and in a visual part; the music resides in the clash between these 2 sorts of material.
The visual part of the scores consist of my versions of pre-existing maps from the medieval Arab and Persian tradition of KMMS. The use of these non-mimetic maps, was certainly not for navigation, as in the case of the modern ones, but they had an iconographic use: they could be defined as carto-ideographs. Therefore, these pictures can be seen not as descriptions of territories but rather as spaces, in a very similar way as graphic scores do not necessarily describe the final auditive result. My versions of these maps insert in the tradition of inexact copies of copies; nevertheless, they have been bonded to my musical necessities, and therefore transformed into musical graphic scores.
For more information, and to see the full score, please visit dariocalderone.com/compositions
Dario Calderone is a double bass player, improviser, and composer based in Amsterdam. His music personality has developed over more than 20 years by working in strict collaborations with Stefano Scodanibbio, Roberth Ashley, Christian Marclay, Salvatore Sciarrino, Yannis Kyriakides, Peter Ablinger, Berhard Lang, Giorgio Netti and Beat Furrer.
From 2009 to 2019 he has been the bass player of the Nieuw Ensemble (NL). He is currently member of Nieuw Amsterdam Peil (NL), Trio Feedback (ES), and MAZE (NL).
An internationally acclaimed performer, he has played a crucial role in developing new repertoire for solo double bass: several pieces have been composed for him.
His compositions have been supported by the Fonds Podiumkunsten, the Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunsten, and SENA.
credits
released July 28, 2023
Dario Calderone: double bass, composition
Tomas Järmir: drums (on track 1)
Neva Özgen: kemençe (on track 2)
Barbara Ellison: electronics (on track 3)
Andy Moor: electric guitar (on track 4)
Kiya Tabassian: setar (on track 5)
Gareth Davis: bass clarinet and electronics (on track 6)
Deborah Walker: cello (on track 7)
Batir Dosimbetov: nay and electronics (on track 8)
Recorded at Amsterdam (Studio Z and Zaal 100),
Tröndheim, Istanbul, Dublin, Cologne (Funkhaus Köln), Berlin and Tashkent in winter/spring 2022.
Produced and Mastered by Dario Calderone.
Mastered by Jos Smolders at EARLabs
Sleeve by Rutger Zuyderelt based on graphic scores by Dario Calderone.
The compositions of Isolario have been supported by the Dutch Fonds voor Podiumkunsten and SENA Performers.
Special thanks to Domenico Mangano, who helped me in the process of learning how to draw.
All the maps and scores of Isolario are made by Dario Calderone and are under copyrights law.