The Symphonies of Cesare Fertonani

By Roberto Sironi

Who is Cesare Fertonani?

A music historian and critic. I have a diploma in violin and composition and a degree in modern literature; I teach music history and musicology at the University of Milan. When I was young, I wrote as a music critic for Il Corriere della sera. I continued to write for thirty years on Amadeus, and now I collaborate with the online magazine MusicPaper. In addition to classical music, I have always been interested in jazz.

What does the violin represent for you?

The violin is a youthful dream. I played it professionally for about ten years in orchestras and chamber groups. Then, when I started studying composition, I gradually abandoned it to devote myself to the piano even though it was a great pain. When I realized I would become an excellent orchestral player at best, I didn’t feel like dedicating my whole life to the violin. If I had had the talent to play chamber music at a high level, perhaps things would have gone differently; who knows… But the violin will always remain my instrument, Music with a capital m.

What do you think of current music?

The impression is that there have been no extraordinary innovations in the field of so-called classical music and jazz and pop since the beginning of the new millennium. On the other hand, it must be said that from a perspective so crushed in the present as ours, it is not easy to notice musicians or phenomena of particular relevance in a musical offer as rich and by now incredibly varied as today.

What do you think of classical music?

Despite many difficulties, not least those caused by the pandemic, classical music continues to play a vital and proactive role. Of course, some problems, such as the renewal of the public and the approach of young people to a world that appears to them mostly old and dusty, are increasingly pressing. Still, the lessons of humanity, tolerance, integration, solidarity, beauty, sensuality, and incredible charm that classical music offers continue to be more current than ever.

Are there any differences between a classical musician and other

musicians? If yes, what are they?

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the classical musician has been essentially a performer, an interpreter of a written text, which is the score; generally, he is the performer of music written by others, and only in some particular cases the interpreter coincides with the author of the music. The interpreter uses his technique, intelligence, and sensitivity to serve the thought that the composer has fixed in a sort of project on paper, trying to determine every aspect while leaving a certain amount of freedom to the interpreter. The greatness of an interpreter is measured precisely by his ability to realize rigorously and at the same time with imagination what the composer’s writing prescribes and, at the same time, what it instead leaves in some way indeterminate. Jazz or pop musicians move in a very different field, which does not involve a binding relationship with writing and instead values creativity such as improvisation, arrangement, and photography