Sylvano Bussotti - Phrase à Trois

Phrase à Trois, for viola, violin and cello (1960) Società Cameristica Italiana This string trio composed in 1959/60 bears a quotation from Marcel Proust as a motto: ... “il reconnut, secrete, bruissante et divisee, la phrase aérienne et odorante qu’il aimait...“. Here, it is a matter of employing a literary device which the French writer in question particularly likes - that of the extremely long sentence, which stretches for several pages, and defines the intricate course of a subtly articulated statement with light, almost unnoticeable, punctuation. In contrast to all his other works - with the possible exception of “Pour clavier“ - the piece is for the most part linear, taken from the first to last note “at one go“. The looseness of construction, the outbursts, the episodic unravelling of the texture of sound do not by any means impair its density or continuity, so that the music seems to be free of the breaks which are usually produced by an abrupt technique or by the contrasting nature of the three instruments. In his notes the composer states categorically that “the audience should not be allowed to become aware of any pause, interruption or break in the course of the performance, or in any of the three parts“. Without renouncing the precise mechanism which governs all his constructions, Bussotti breaks with post-Webern pointillism which had resolved logical and expressive sequence. The reference to Proust would also seem to be justified by the elaborated, almost unrecognisable quotation from “petite phrase secrete“ which originates from an earlier work of Bussotti (“Tre canti“ for voice and piano, based on texts by Gide and Arienta, 1951/52). This quotation is played by the violin, like a magical sign in the course of a long movement, and recurs later, more clearly, in the falsetto and piano solos of the “RARA Requiem“. The arrangement of the instruments is not that of a traditional string trio, for the viola and cello are positioned to the right and left of the violin respectively. This peculiarity is reflected in the score except where the three instruments combine and the violin reassumes its natural leading role. The score itself is presented in large format with the lines of notes running parallel, fusing, separating or dividing, depending on how the instruments relate one to another. When it was published in 1962 this was one of the first scores to be produced as a roll in the Universal Edition. The abundance, even superabundance of groups of appoggiatura, dashes and new specialised punctuation are by no means detrimental to the legibility of the musical development. On the contrary: the plasticity of the graphic symbols and the originality of the typography add to the meaning on reading the score. Nevertheless, the difficulties of interpretation were so great that “Phrase à Trois“ had to wait for several years before it was performed by the trio of the Società Cameristica Italiana after six months’ rehearsal. The title “Phrase à Trois“ refers not only to the three instruments, but also to the three persons to whom the piece was dedicated, Eduard Steuermann, Rudolf Kolisch and Theodor W. Adorno, who first established criteria for the interpretation of new music. In addition, the title suggests the involvement of three people in an erotic activity, with music expressing a rare, tense moment of union and harmony. In view of the pronounced sensitivity of the work, this is doubtless the most important symbol. [Wergo ‎– WER 60048] Art by Aristide Maillol