Fontana reMix

Premiered at Mexico City’s Musica y Escena Festival in 2006, Verlingieri’s Fontana reMix multichannel tape has been revised in 2008-9 for a for Wave Field Synthesis projection on 189 loudspeakers at the Casa del Suono in Parma, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Cage’s original Fontana Mix tape. Verlingieri’s work has then been performed worldwide in several speakers configurations, both as tape alone or simultaneously with a live performance of Cage’s Aria by the American bass-baritone Nicholas Isherwood, also issued on CD by the Swedish label BIS-Records.

The idea of reMix is not related to any elaboration of Cage’s original tapes, but rather lies in the attempt to metaphorically “mix-up” two aspects: first, a composition process fully adherent to the set of tools and rules provided by Cage himself with the 1960 Peters score, and, second, the effort to go beyond the first process, giving back to the composer some decision-making responsibilities, mainly in terms of macro-form structure and kind and density of events, but also with regard to the categories of the sonic materials or the techniques to process them. The resultant kaleidoscope is, once again, a (re)mix between the acoustic properties of sound objects and their cultural meanings in the present society. This version has been appositely conceived for the 24.2 loudspeaker setup of the KMH Vertical Acousmonium at the Between2019 EASTN-DC Festival.