It seems that the Greek civilization abhorred the superimposition of two sounds with different pitches. It was considered dysechia: an unpleasant and disagreeable sound. Yet time and again things that have been considered foreign synchronically have diachronically proven to be decisive for the most important revolutions in artistic languages. This is the inspiration behind the Duo Disecheis, oriented towards dissonance viewed broadly as a contrast: convergence-divergence.
The Duo Disecheis was formed in November 2001 by the saxophonist David Brutti and the pianist Filippo Farinelli with the common goal of disseminating 20th-century and contemporary chamber music. They studied at the Conservatories of Pesaro and Bordeaux, and the Conservatory of Perugia, respectively, and both graduated with the highest marks cum laude.
They continued their studies with the Duo Pepicelli and then Pier Narciso Masi at the International “Incontri col Maestro” Piano Academy in Imola, earning a three-year master’s diploma, and took courses with Federico Mondelci at the Internationalen Oleg Kagan Musikfestes (Kreuth-Munich) and the Estate Musicale in Portogruaro (Venice).
They were the top winners at the 27th F. Celia National Music Performance Competition in Palmi, the 3rd F. Feroci National Music Performance Competition in San Giovanni Valdarno, and the 7th C. G. da Venosa National Music Performance Competition in Potenza, as well as other national competitions (MusicAtri in Atri, Nuovi Orizzonti in Arezzo, Città di Magliano Sabina, Dino Caravita in Fusignano, and Rospigliosi in Lamporecchio).
The duo also placed second in the 11th International Riviera del Conero Competition in Ancona and the 18th International Competition of the Province of Caltanissetta, and won a prestigious third place in the 21st International Competition in Trapani. In contemporary music, the duo recently won the 8th Città di Roma Prize, organized by SIAE and IMAIE, and garnered an important 2nd place at the Gaudeamus Interpreters Competition 2007 in Amsterdam, one of the most prestigious competitions for the performance of contemporary music.
Most recently, in October 2009 the duo won the Special Prize for Contemporary Music at the 13th Luigi Nono International Chamber Music Competition in Turin, where it also won 2nd prize for Chamber Music.
The Duo Disecheis has collaborated with a number of composers, such as Paolo Baioni, Stefano Bulfon, Fabio Cifariello-Ciardi, Marco Momi, Stefano Trevisi, Marco Marinoni, Dimitri Nicolau, Christina Athinodorou and Mauro Porro, some of whom have written works specifically for the duo. Guido Barbieri also invited the Duo Disecheis to perform a live concert during the RadioTreSuite broadcast on contemporary literature for the bass saxophone. The duo also made the world premiere recording of Jean Françaix’s Neuf Historiettes for baritone voice, tenor saxophone and piano (CD Maxresearch DL018).
The duo has performed at numerous venues, such as the Muziekgebouw (Amsterdam), the Sala dei Notari (Perugia), the European University Institute (Fiesole, Florence), the studios of RAI Radio 3 (Rome), the Teatro F. Stabile (Potenza), the Teatro Ariston (Trapani), the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale (Ancona), the L. Repaci Casa della Cultura (Palmi, Reggio Calabria), the International Saxophone Master Class (Fermo), the 2006 World Saxophone Congress (Ljubljana, Slovenia), the Amici della Musica Associations of Modena and Catanzaro, the Ateneo Musica Basilicata (Potenza), the 2004 “Compositori a Confronto” (Reggio Emilia), Yamaha Musica Italia (Milan), the 6th Chamber Music Festival (Lucca) and the 2007 Festival Automne Musical (Châtellerault, France).
In addition to an interest in contemporary music, the Duo Disecheis explores an extensive repertoire, ranging from composers tied to the French musical aesthetics of the late 19th century, such as Debussy, D’Indy, Koechlin and Schmitt, to composers from the second half of the 20th century – notably Denisov, Denhoff and Nodaira – as well as German Expressionism, represented by Dessau, Jacobi and Schulhoff, and American Expressionism, with Carter, Creston, Hartley and Babbitt.
The Duo Disecheis has recorded with Materiali Sonori (“Con-Di-Vergenze”), RaiRadioTre and MaxResearch (“Cracks”). As a trio with the clarinettist Guido Arbonelli, it also recorded a CD for the Domanimusica label (“Gaudeamus … in Perugia”).