Chieffo and Horowitz in concert

By WALTER MUTO

The audience was like you see at big events: people of every age streamed into the Auditorium of the Rimini Fairgrounds, filling it quickly. Io suonavo il violino ad Auschwitz (I played the violin at Auschwitz) opened the first part of the concert, devoted almost exclusively to the warm voice of Claudio Chieffo, accompanied by two guitars. The audience listened intently to the songs, which presented passages of a shared history, and between one selection and the next, Chieffo entertained his listeners in his own way, telling stories and getting several things off his chest. Without interruption, the program moved into its second part with the arrival on stage of David Horowitz and a good-sized band. Some were familiar faces (in particular Marcello Colò, who has been accompanying Chieffo for many years), while others were new friends: Horowitz, of course, but also Jack Cavari, an Italian-American guitarist who also appears on Chieffo’s latest CD, which has just been released. A number of new songs were presented (with a very moving Come la rosa, Like the Rose, the title song of the CD, which is a mature dedication to Chieffo’s wife, Marta), along with some songs from the past that were rearranged by Horowitz for the CD. The spare, meticulously done arrangements reinforced the communicative power of Chieffo’s texts and melodic inventions, as he amalgamated everything with his rich voice, which has not been touched by the passing of time, a process that he often makes the center of his jokes.

June 28, 2001
Dear Fr Giussani,
You are often in my thoughts and, since I’m in daily in contact with various members of the CL community here in New York, I feel always the impact of your intellect and your spirit. There are times when I find myself having a conversation with you in my mind, as if we were talking face to face, and I always emerge from the experience of these “dialogues” with an unexpected (and therefore doubly-precious) sense of contentment and hopefulness. Although some people might consider the hearing of disembodied voices in one’s head to be a sign of mental instability (not to say incipient madness), I myself view this phenomenon (at least in its present form) as a sign of something infinitely more positive!
I have just completed work on Claudio Chieffo’s new CD, and am enclosing a pre-release copy for you to hear. Once again, I have received a great gift through my on-going relationship with the Movement, this time in the form of my friendship with Claudio, which has quite quickly become one of the deepest of my life. In March, I spent a week in Forlì, meeting his delightful family and many friends; I got to know at first hand the people, and the land, which nurture and give rise to his marvelous songs. There were splendid encounters as well in Faenza, Ferrara Bologna and, perhaps most memorably, at Cascinazza, where I was able to see for the first time some paintings of William Congdon. I was simply overwhelmed by the power and truthfulness of this great artist’s work, its combination of spiritual depth and sheer sensuality. His pictures vibrate with life, with light and darkness, the images still in a state of becoming, the pigment still unset and fluid, alive with echoes of effort and motion left by the brush and the palette-knife. He shows us the physical world we all must inhabit as a reality that both attracts and repels, a place where utter despair and complete faith can exist side by side, and then, if we are truly attentive and open to the meaning of his vision, leads us to another Reality where all paradox is finally resolved. At least, this is how it appears to me.
There is much else I wish to tell you, especially concerning my friendship with Chieffo and of our work together, but I shall save the rest for another letter. In the meantime, the CD will convey to you all that I could never put into words: I’m certain that you will understand what is going on there, probably much better than I myself understand.
A mystery indeed!
Affectionately,David