# Why is Donatoni not considered a genius?



## Alonso (Feb 1, 2019)

I have come to think of Franco Donatoni as the greatest italian composer of the 20th century. Yes, I know, Berio and Nono are much more prestigious. And I do like their music quite a bit. But I wouldn't say it is immediately recognizable the way Donatoni's music is.

The thing is, Donatoni is one of the very few post serial composers whose music is mostly humorous, sunny, full of joie de vivre. There are certainly dark moments, angst, drama and edgy stuff in his output, but mostly it is music that is kind of light despite it's occasional complexity. Generous and poetic, very italian. His chamber works of the 80s and 90s sometimes make me laugh out loud. There's also in Donatoni a tenderness that I find irresistible. I look at his picture and I want to hug him, serious.

Oh and he is formally inventive. I like Donatoni's use of repetition very much. Or, should I say, his use of very subtle variations of simple material, which reminds me a bit of Feldman or Aldo Clementi, another Italian composer I have come to enjoy very much. I'd say these three composers managed to create music that is both repetitive and truly of an avant-garde nature, unlike, say, the american minimalists, who I like as well, but whose interest in repetition seems to be linked to a completely different mindset, to a certain interest in pop music and accesibility.

Anyway, does anybody else like Donatoni or what?


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

I wouldn't say his music makes me laugh, but he's a genius nonetheless.

A few favorites:

_Spiri_ (1977)





_Tema_ (1981)





_Arpège_ (1986)





Donatoni had an absolutely astonishing late career, mirroring Ligeti in that regard.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I know a couple of his pieces and do like them. But there have been so many good composers over the last 60 years! It is useful seeing him getting his own thread - even though hardly anyone is responding to it.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Enthusiast said:


> It is useful seeing him getting his own thread - even though hardly anyone is responding to it.


Well, it's only been two days.  But personally, I've never heard of him until just now.


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Manxfeeder said:


> Well, it's only been two days.  But personally, I've never heard of him until just now.


Hi, Manxfeeder.

It's curious (to me, anyway) when a TC member such as yourself has been completely unfamiliar with a composer whose name & works have been in my music collection for 20 to 25 years. 

I feel as though I might have been one of the few human beings in the 1990s blind-buying CDs (like the ones below) from Tower Records.
Isn't there anybody within the TC membership who knows/remembers labels such as Accord or Adda or Stradivarius?


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Alonso said:


> The thing is, Donatoni is one of the very few post serial composers whose music is mostly humorous, sunny, full of joie de vivre. There are certainly dark moments, angst, drama and edgy stuff in his output, but mostly it is music that is kind of light despite it's occasional complexity...
> Anyway, does anybody else like Donatoni or what?


I consider G. Scelsi's music to be immediately recognizable, too, but for the past quarter century I have never gotten into Donatoni, because, honestly that warm & humorous aesthetic is the opposite of what I as a listener expect from 20th century compositions.

I prefer Dallapiccola & Pettrasi & Maderna over Donatoni.


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## Andolink (Oct 29, 2012)

Prodromides said:


> Isn't there anybody within the TC membership who knows/remembers labels such as Accord or Adda or Stradivarius?


I've had the first two of these discs in my collection since the 90's. I've also got a couple of other Donatoni discs on the Stradivarius label from 15 years ago or so. I like Donatoni a lot.


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