reviews / 2011

OKAPI & ALDO KAPI ORCHESTRA - Opera Rotta (e riparata)

Name: OKAPI & ALDO KAPI ORCHESTRA – Opera Rotta (e riparata)
Item: Opera Rotta (e riparata)
Rating: 7
Author: Leonardo Di Maio

2011 (Plunderphonics)

avant-garde, classical plagiarism

by Leonardo Di Maio

A review recovered almost "in the corner" at year's end for the latest effort from Filippo Paolini, aka Okapi, by now a veteran of the Italian electronic and experimental scene, active since the Nineties and boasting collaborations with musicians of real standing, such as free-jazz saxophonist Peter Brotzmann, Elio Martusciello, Zu, Ossatura, Mike Patton and several others from the Ipecac entourage.

Paolini has thus carved out his own rightful and well-deserved place in the field of so-called "plunderphonics", that is, a "cut-and-paste" art of sonic plagiarism whose masters include Christian Marclay, John Oswald and Negativland. It's precisely the "creative DJ" Marclay (whom we remember at the service of John Zorn on masterpieces such as "Locus Solus" and "Cobra") who seems to be Paolini's main point of reference, as he often employs the same "modus operandi", sampling and mixing records from the past to recreate avant-garde pieces.

"Opera Rotta (e riparata)" takes its inspiration from an essay written in 1989 by two original graphic artists and designers, Bruno Munari and Davide Mosconi (the latter also an abstract musician), and comes out hot on the heels of the excellent album, released as a double vinyl LP, "Love Him" (Kml Recordings), again credited to Okapi and the elusive Aldo Kapi.

This time, Filippo Paolini dissects and stitches together, forming a single fluid suite, as many as 40 fragments drawn from classical opera works, all of them rigorously 1'11" long. The experiment comes off fairly well in the glitch-music treatment applied to Mozart, in a sped-up Verdi, as if played at 78 rpm, in a "poppified" Bizet and Rossini, in a Rameau turned "nu-electronica", in an "industrialized" Wagner, in a Beethoven reduced to minimal techno, in the "cut-ups" inflicted on poor Mussorgsky, in the refrains looming over a Meyerbeer composition.

In short, there's plenty here to satisfy any of our auditory curiosity, and it will also delight the most demanding (and perhaps snobbish) listeners of the most extreme and advanced avant-garde music. Illegal Art should soon release both this album and the two volumes of "Love Him" on CD for the international market. One thing's for sure: our tireless Okapi won't be sitting idle in the meantime.

Ride the wave of great music

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02/01/2012

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This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Leonardo Di Maio, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

Read the original in Italian · About the English edition

Tracklist

Act 1 - The Preludes
1. Mozart - Così fan tutte - Act 1 Overture - 1'11"
2. Beethoven - Fidelio Overture and Eroica Symphony - Overture - 1'11"
3. Wagner - Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - Prelude Act 3 - 1'11"
4. Rossini - Guglielmo Tell - Overture - 1'11"
5. Verdi - I Vespri Siciliani - Overture - 1'11"
6. Mikhail Glinka - Ruslan and Ludmila - Overture - 1'11"
7. Weber - Oberon - Overture - 1'11"
8. Bellini - Norma - Prelude - 1'11"
9. Bedrich Smetana - The Bartered Bride - Overture - 1'11"
10. Bizet - Carmen - Overture - 1'11"
11. Strauss - Zwischenspiel aus "Capriccio" - Interlude - 1'11"
12. Puccini - Manon Lescaut - Act 1 Prelude - 1'11"
Act 2 - The Duels
1. A. Lombard - Faust - Faust vs Valentin - 1'11"
2. Bellini - I Capuleti e i Montecchi - Romeo vs Tebaldo - 1'11"
3. Wagner - Lohengrin - Lohengrin vs Telramund - 1'11"
4. Strauss - Der Rosenkavalier - Octavian v/s Von Ochs - 1'11"
5. Monteverdi - Combattimento - Tancredi v/s Clorinda - 1'11"
6. Verdi - La forza del destino - Don Alvaro v/s Don Carlo - 1'11"
7. Verdi - Il Trovatore - Conte di Luna v/s Manrico - 1'11"
Act 3 - The Dances
1. Mussorgsky - Boris Godunov - I Do Not Believe In Your Passion - 1'11"
2. Offenbach - Orphee aux Enfers - N° 25 - Galop - 1'11"
3. Wagner - Tannhauser - Naht euch dem Strande - 1'11"
4. Ponchielli - Gioconda - Act 3 - Scene 2 - Prodigio! Incanto! La danza delle ore - 1'11"
5. Gluck - Alceste - Act Two - Splendido Sorge Il Di - 1'11"
6. Gluck - Orfeo & euridice - Dance of the Furies - 1'11"
7. Meyerbeer - Hughenots - Act Two - Egli Vien, Egli Vien! - 1'11"
8. Purcell - Dido and Aeneas - Act 2 - Echo Dance of the Furies - 1'11"
9. Verdi - Traviata - Di Madride noi siam mattadori - 1'11"
10. Strauss - Salome - Tanz Der Sieben Schleier - 1'11"
11. Verdi - Aida - Act 2, scene 1, Chi mai fra gl'inni e i plausi - 1'11"
12. Borodin - Prince Igor - Polovtsian Dances - 1'11"
Act 4 - The Storms
1. Rossini - Il Barbiere di Siviglia - Act 2 - Storm - 1'11"
2. Wagner - Walkirie - Vorspiel - 1'11"
3. Glinka - A Life for the Tsar - Act 4 - Entr'acte - 1'11"
4. Verdi - Otello - Verdi, Otello Act I - Una vela! Una vela! - 1'11"
5. Rameau - Les Indes Galantes - Les Fleurs - Air pour Borée et la Rose - 1'11"
6. Berlioz - Les Troyens - Acte V - Vallon sonore - 1'11"
7. Verdi - Rigoletto - V'ho ingannato, colpevole fui - 1'11"
8. Wagner - The Flying Dutchman - Johohoe! Johohoe! Hoe! Hoe! - 1'11"
9. Cherubini - Medea - Taci, Giason - 1'11"