Il grande larice rosso

Never before have I felt the urgency within myself to communicate with my instrument something which goes beyond just the notes, a desire to embrace with music parts of the world which I see as being so neglected and abandoned, as if man were no longer able to see beyond the narrow confines of his home and work spaces.

The environment which surrounds us, free and pure, seems to bow more and more to the base instincts of abuse which man brings into play... the destruction of centuries-old forests and glaciers, the construction of harmful and disturbing, useless and polluting elements... and I wonder what we can do, what I, as a musician, can do, at least to show my disapproval of these situations. I have no straight answer but I know that writing the music I love to play, often born in natural and wild environments can help to “dream of”, or imagine a present time which is more on a human scale, thanks to the strong evocative power which music possesses and emanates.

This is the meaning of these compositions, dedicated to a tree, a 700-year-old specimen of the Stura Valley, “Lu Merze Gros” (The Big Larch), to the small beings which inhabit it, in the bark, among its foliage, in the surrounding soil and to my sense of frustration at seeing a forest of fir trees razed to the ground to allow the construction of a bobsleigh run. This action of mine has been useless and nostalgic perhaps, but it has given me intense moments of emotion in the writing and moves me enormously during its performance. (Giorgio Signorile)