Thoughts

The structure of an imaginative musical work is my way of interacting with the world. The most inner way to stay in touch with reality: to react to moments of the here-and-now by giving them form and content in music. This was the case with Afterthought where I translated the London bombings into sounds. In this tale led by sound, all is fair. Including the use of technology that nevertheless carries out a dramatic function when permeated within the structure of an opera. It is not just a decorative device but rather an important supporting role; it extends the work into the future, like a prosthesis, where instruments from the past cannot reach. Video technology, the manipulation of sound in real time, is a means that meets the demands posed by today’s ear that is in continuous evolution. The ear in present times changes with each passing moment. Even in the case of this seemingly unrestrained mutation, I do not approach writing without visualizing where my music will end up. With I Cenci, for example, I conceived the possibility of deforming Artaud through a gradual and unrelenting transformation of the existent: electronics give voice to Artaud’s imagination, to his impossible desire to hear the sounds of human organs. The technological aid works and it works well when the metamorphosis is mysterious, arcane, not revealed. When the device is not identifiable. When the unnatural effect is indistinguishable from the natural element.