Luminescences

Luminescences represents, in my compositional path, a first attempt to integrate different tuning systems: 12-ET is employed together with the JI and Pythagorean tuning. The combination of the three tuning systems is realized through the scordaturas of the strings which make use only of open strings and natural harmonics whose frequencies cannot be altered and therefore result exact.

The piece presents a clear structure. The first section provides the harmonic colour and timbre on which the material will develop. The first entry of the clarinet presents technical similarities with the effects used by the strings: the clarinet employs the key-trills pedals which are the equivalent of the harmonic vibratos of the strings. In the next section through arabesque-figures the clarinet realizes a compacted version of the arpeggios previously realized by the percussion. These arabesques are an attempt for the instrument to find a melody. Once the clarinet has founded it the material dissolves into a new section which is characterized by the isochronous ostinato figures of the vibraphone and very high harmonics of the strings, these last being a harmonic projection of the melody played by the cello.

The ostinato condenses in few re-beaten dyads as a machine that has exhausted all the energies.

From this section there is a kind of reprise (with variations) of the first section that goes into a new ostinato part realized through the arpeggios of the open strings but this time the ostinato has no regular pulse. This last ostinato dissolves into very bright harmonics and into the resonance of the vibraphone sounds.

The piece was awarded the Honour Diploma by the Chigiana Academy of Music.