ATEM for Solo Piano (1976) 1'34
CANTO XVII for Flute and Piano (1987) 6'1

Atem for Solo Piano (1976)

Although the composer conceived all his works on the piano, he only wrote one solo piece for this instrument. Atem for Solo Piano is a precious little piece of music, lasting one and a half minutes and written in 1976. A facsimile of the handwritten score was used for this first edition. The composition is based on a fragmental text by the painter and poet Evi Kliemand. Ermano Maggini also set some of her early poetry to music.
At the premiere of Torso VII for Clarinet, Violoncello and Piano (written in 1990 and dedicated to the Trio Zemlinsky) the piano piece Atem was part of the concert in March 1991 in Zürich (Kleiner Tonhallesaal, Patricia Thomas at the piano), and it was recorded 1995 on CD.

Canto XVII for Flute and Piano (1987)

In 2008, works by Ermano Maggini were edited for the first time; the first three editions by the publisher Müller & Schade, Bern, include the Trilogy for C and G Flute (Der bemalte Vogel (The Painted Bird) for C flute, 1971; Ikarus for G flute, 1972; Der schwarze Vogel (The Black Bird) for G flute, 1974), followed by Canto V for Solo Flute, 1978/1979, Intragna/Lavadina, and the seminal work Cinque disegni for Flute and Guitar, 1969. According to the composer these works made him discover his musical language, a language that guided him through his chamber music, from the solo pieces to the complex works for organ or orchestra.
As in Canto XVII for Flute and Piano, composed in 1987, subsequently the flute continues to take a part in his work. In 1990/1991, Urakami for shakuhachi and double bass brought this cycle to a conclusion. The two compositions in this fourth edition of works by Ermano Maggini are of a similarly high meditative musical quality and through their tonal concentration they may provide a germinal opening to the works of the composer. In 1972 Ermano Maggini had begun his twenty-one Canti (in parallel with the XXI chapters of St John's Gospel), and in 1990, one year before his death, he concluded the project with Canto XXI, his last string quartet. The Torsi I-X extend over almost the same period of time.
The composition Canto XVII for Flute and Piano (1987) was premiered on 1 November 1989 at the Helferei in Zürich by Werner Zumsteg the dedicatee, flute, and Elisabeth Bachmann, piano. In October 1991, two months before his death, Ermano Maggini took up these compositions once again and transposed the flute part of Canto XVII for A and B-flat clarinet (clarinetto in Si-b). This work has been somehow forgotten, but is planned to be premiered and edited soon. On the other hand, Torso X for A and B-flat clarinet, which was likewise completed in October 1991, was premiered during the course of the recording by the Trio Zemlinsky in 1993. All the above-mentioned works are recorded on CD: Cf. inter alia Jecklin Szene Schweiz JS 295-2 (CD) 1993 and Jecklin Edition Szene Schweiz JS 311-2 (CD) 1995, a co-production by Fondazione Ermano Maggini Intragna with Radio Svizzera di lingua italiana Rete2. Cf. also list of works and discography.

Texte: Evi Kliemand 2009
Fondazione Ermano Maggini Intragna



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