The world premiere of Marco Momi’s Umami  for ensemble and electronics took place in Paris on September 3rd at Festival ManiFeste. The performers were the Ensemble intercontemporain, commissioner of the work, Marco Momi and Marco Liuni, electronics. The work has been presented at the ManiFeste Festival, Philharmonie de Paris,  conducted by Matthias Pintscher.

Here’s what Marco Momi had to say about his composition:

“The formation of one’s taste is no longer on the agenda of priorities for the postmodern subject, and, in any event, being shrewd counts more when it comes to acquiring one.”   
(Pierluigi Basso Fossali, 2008)

Umami is a taste. It joined the others – sweet, sour, salty, and bitter – only in 1985. It’s young, and is likely the taste most difficult to pinpoint. It adds intensity to what we swallow and jars sentiments recalled from long ago. Electronics as portrayed by 17 musicians on stage, tying together acoustic sounds and ushering in a journey all for the savoring, an intimate, fleeting act, one that is also strong and undisputed. A search that involves the perceptive multiplicity of our senses, a discovery journey within unfolds as we get our bearings in a world that is not visible. 

The culture of taste (as practiced in “feeling beyond”) conceals a subversive potential, and teaches an ecology of judgment that endures despite the daily marketing of identities. 

Photo: © Maurizio Rellini