by Gaia Sokoli
A violinist from Emilia, born in 1964, Luca Fanfoni has successfully performed in theaters all over the world, flanking his concert activity with numerous recording projects born from a peculiar attention to historical-musical interweavings. His passion, nurtured assiduously over the years, leads him to rediscover and enhance forgotten works and composers. We met him ahead of the presentation at Cremona Musica International Exhibitions and Festival of his latest album, Paganini: European Unpublished Works, recorded on the Aulicus Classics label.
He has played in some of the most prestigious halls in the world. What particular experience would you like to share?
Among the moments to remember is undoubtedly the tour a few years ago in Japan, in which dear friends who are unfortunately no longer with us, such as cellist Luca Simoncini and my teacher Gigino Maestri, also took part. The organization of each event was impeccable and we were welcomed with respect and warmth, playing in wonderful halls. On those occasions I included works by Pietro Antonio Locatelli in the program, which aroused great curiosity in the audience being an almost totally unknown composer. At the end of the concerts I was amazed by the amount of records sold and the gratitude of the Japanese audience.
His recording activity is very intense and oriented toward particular choices in terms of repertoire. How does your research unfold?
I have always loved to direct myself toward an unusual type of repertoire that is not overly performed. As luck would have it, with research one comes across interesting discoveries, as in the case of the six unpublished pieces I offer on my latest disc. Sometimes it happens that one comes across the manuscripts by chance, poking around in some libraries-such as those in London and Paris-or in the mansions of noblemen. In the case of Paganini, to whom I devote an important part of my studies, there is an incredible wealth of works scattered all over Europe. Another composer who deserves great attention is Mauro d’Alay (an esteemed violinist at the court of Elisabetta Farnese) whose 12 Concertos I recorded, managing to find the scores between Venice and Dresden.
How did your passion come about?
As a young man I realized that music history taught in a conventional way was not very exciting to me. For this reason I began to study on my own, and discovered how fascinating it was to go deeper than pure notionism. In Cremona I had the good fortune to meet the musicologist Albert Dunning, a man of great learning who gave a decisive impetus to my in-depth study of Pietro Antonio Locatelli’s repertoire. Another enlightening meeting was with violinist Enzo Porta, who spurred me on to find the right sonority for this composer. Often the road is arduous: much study and a great desire to experiment is necessary in order to approach the composer’s idea. But, from my point of view, this is precisely the most challenging and fun side of being a musician!
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