After putting together a program with over two hundred performances in two cities, I try to imagine how hypothetical concert-goers might react to it. The first that comes to mind is a woman, the stylish type in love with Baroque music. She knows what she wants and clicks onto the Cecilia Bartoli recital at Torino’s Lingotto, and then onto Bach’s Mass in B minor, performed in the Church of San Marco in Milano by the Akademie für alte Musik of Berlin.

 

Lovers of grand symphonic music run a serious risk of succumbing to the Stendhal syndrome. After all, how is one to choose from among the Gewandhaus Orchestra playing Schumann and conducted by Riccardo Chailly, the Orchestre de Paris conducted by Lorin Maazel, which proposes Ravel and Debussy, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Philharmonia, Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and La Scala Philharmonic with Semyon Bychkov and Lang Lang? To avoid the pain of the choice - as the German saying goes! - I’d go for them all!

 

While still grappling with the choice problem, I take note of the somewhat casual outline of the contemporary music fan as he approaches - an old friend who makes no bones about his desires. This year he’s enticed by the double portrait dedicated to Helmut Lachenmann and Wolfgang Rihm, whom he recognizes as representatives of the two faces of music in Germany today. I remind him of still more: a Donatoni concert, a Castiglioni concert, a Nono concert, plus premieres featuring Vacchi, Battistelli and Dall’Ongaro. In the name of old-time complicity, yet another provocation: “What would you say to considering Josquin Des Près a contemporary composer? When it comes down to it, he’s the greatest of the old guard and the first among the moderns. Which is why we’ve dedicated the festival within a Festival to him.” With a pat on the back, we’re off, until we meet again at the Church of Sant’Ambrogio for the L’Homme armé mass.

 

Not much later on I’m haunting the districts of the many crowded world-music scenes in Milano and Torino. The focus on Turkish music excites, world-music fans delight, their enthusiasm is voiced, and how. “Will there be whirling dervishes? Muezzin choirs? The Giannizzeri players?” “Of course! And much more! Even Turkish music as seen by Western composers like Lully, Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven.”

 

Absorbed in tales of Turkish musical escapades, I announce the arrival of the prodigious Kudsi Erguner! But look – somewhat off to one side I spot music lovers with hands on hearts and index fingers pointing at the program, asking, “What about Chopin and Schumann?” With all due haste I reply that the composers’ bicentennials shall be justly celebrated. An hour a day with Chopin and Schumann - daily recitals by a line-up of young, talented pianists interpreting the most beloved of works by these two masters. And to further stoke the fires of musical passion, I add, “Don’t forget the two Pollini recitals to be held in each host city!” The number of my imaginary concert-goers has swelled, I’m bombarded with questions.

 

Those who consider the musical experience a “movable feast” to be enjoyed with exuberant nonchalance ask the most pressing questions. I unflinchingly pull out the names Billy Cobham, John Cale, Phill Niblock and Nicole Mitchell. They’ll be appearing thanks to the hard work and determination of Francesca Colombo. I also very coolly bring up the evenings at Alcatraz and the Bicocca Hangar, as my younger friends exchange winks and snap their fingers. “That calls for a celebration,” cry the most euphoric. In the corner bar Francesca awaits us with a dazzling array of happy hour selections, and as we stroll slowly in that direction, I say to myself, “Between a Break in Jazz and a rock concert, I just might take you to hear Couperin’s Les leçons de ténèbres. The contrast in ages and styles could very well cause a short circuit - which is one of MITO SettembreMusica’s greatest hallmarks.”

 

Sure, this dialogue with MITO Settembre Musica concert-goers is imaginary - but in truth, it has been inspired by the many conversations I’ve had over the years with music lovers in piazzas, church forecourts, and concert hall lobbies during the festival. On those late summer days and nights, music makes Torino and Milano shine brighter than ever. And this year will be no different. I wish our dear audiences the very best in musical enjoyment and thrills!

Enzo Restagno

Artistic Committee Director