Rethinking childhood

Ex Novo Ensemble

Daniele Ruggieri flute
Davide Teodoro clarinet
Carlo Lazari violin and viola
Carlo Teodoro cello
Aldo Orvieto piano

Jean-Jacques Rousseau famous for his interest in child education, imposes on adults respect for the spontaneous nature, untouchable and capable of constructing the best of ways of living in that “completeness of instincts” that preserve the true nature of man; nature that the progress of society has concealed and contaminated. Famous is the metaphor of the fence that the educator must draw around the child to prevent anyone from entering trying to impose behaviors to imitate such as the repetition of social forms considered necessary for education.
In the history of music there have been many composers who have referred to the purity of the child’s world, in many different declinations. In this evening’s program alone we find at least three such modes. In Kurtág’s pieces (a small collection of the vast production from the composer) we look at the discovery of playing, as a game – without neglecting its powerful physicality; a game aimed at the most intimate value of research and discovery. Unveiling therefore of new sounds, but also focusing of emotions, strengthening of sensitivity. These are strongly gestural pieces almost an invitation of the composer to reflect himself in the nature of the child who, while singing and dancing, suggests to us the world of his desires.