Performance and Indeterminacy in Post-War Music
18-19 November 2022 — Rimini, Italy
Crystallisation: Sonic Objects in Sciarrino's Piano and Vocal Works
Paper presentation at the GATM Study Days and Research Days, organised by the Società Italiana di Analisi e Teoria Musicale (GATM), the journals RATM and Analitica. Rivista online di Studi Musicali, in collaboration with the Istituto di Alta Formazione Artistica e Musicale "G. Lettimi", Associazione RAMI, the Sagra Musicale Malatestiana, and the Comune di Rimini.
Abstract
This sonic-graphic study examines Sciarrino's compositional practice through the concept of crystallisation — the process by which a sonic object solidifies into a fixed, recognisable form. Drawing on graphic transcriptions of the piano scores and comparison with Ravel's works, the paper investigates both the origins of Sciarrino's sonic language and its subsequent development across the five Piano Sonatas (1971–1994).
Given the limited existing literature and the resistance of Sciarrino's scores to conventional analytical methods, the study approaches the material directly — with what the author calls "clean hands and clean ears" — using colour-based graphic notation to perceive the structural essence of each sonic object and to guide the listener through the score without foreclosing interpretive openness.
Conference Details
Event - GATM Study Days: Performance and Indeterminacy in Post-War Music
Date - 18-19 November 2022
Venue - Istituto di Alta Formazione Artistica e Musicale "G. Lettimi", Rimini, Italy
Format - Paper presentation
Bibliography
S. Sciarrino, Carte dal Suono, CIDIM, 2002
S. Sciarrino, Le figure della musica, Ricordi, 1998
P. Misuraca, Itinerario di un alchimusico, Unda Maris, 2008
M. Angius, Come avvicinare il silenzio, Il Poligrafo, 2020
G. Fronzi, Percorsi musicali del novecento, Carocci Editore, 2021
I Sonata
II Sonata
III Sonata
IV Sonata
V Sonata
