COMPOSER’S PERSONAL COMMENTS

Fruitti d’Amore (1988) was composed at a time when I felt I needed to expand my compositional activity to include critical observations of human life – but always satirically. Whereas fantasia quasi una sonata con «mantra» di stockhausen (1973) takes deteriorating creativity in “new music” ironically to task, Orchideæ Ordinariæ (1989) metaphorically decries the merchandising of creativity. Farting Quietly in Church (1994) is my late reckoning with the draconian Catholic catechism. This piece and Fruitti d’Amore both extensively use language – German and English, respectively – as well as digital and video technology to achieve their goals.

Of the four pieces mentioned, Fruitti d’Amore is the most extreme. Its objective is to point, devoid of entertainment, to the widespread ignorance, cruelty and carnal greed rampant on the planet. It constantly refers to the consumer society and to animals and food, the production of which often involves cruelty. The subtitle Con fuoco alla Giordano (fiery in Giordano’s style) relates to Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), burned at the stake for his freedom of thought. The Recipe uses merciless imagery based on actual documents. The final film Uccelli Ungheresi continues to paint this bleak picture of the world with harsh visual images.

Clarence Barlow, July 2020