Marco Beasley, voice

Cecilia Radic, cello

‘An apparent distance’ is perhaps what best describes our new project which combines poetry, music and singing. The human voice and the instrument with a human voice together in an unconventional performance.

We have associated very different historical times to keep alive the connection that makes every form of art the highest expression of human passions and sufferings.

In Recitare Tasso, music underpins the spoken word, but traces an oblique path towards the verses not only from a timing perspective but, inevitably, at an interpretational level. Although the two means of expression appear distant from one another, they have a common denominator – the quest for re-creating the feelings and turmoils within each of us.

Reger, Britten, Gubaidulina, Weinberg and Morini are composers who use a modern language but convey eternal emotions. In our programme, the poet’s verses create an emotional tapestry for the cello’s voice, with surprising results. Centuries that are far apart blend into a contemporary dialogue.

Recitare Tasso combines twentieth century and contemporary cello solo repertoire, a relatively unfrequent choice in concert halls, with the poetry and prose of Torquato Tasso, a literary achievement that is too often relegated to schools and universities. A story of rediscovery whose aim is to draw the listener away from the noise of modernity, and closer to forgotten authors who cry out to the depths of who we are.