Broken Neon Arabesque

for soprano and ensemble

About

Broken neon arabesque is a piece inspired by the images from two books, Naked Lunch, by William Burroughs, and Altri libertini, by Pier Vittorio Tondelli, which has a lot in common despite being geographically far away.

for soprano and ensemble

8’30”

The sound setting to which reference is made is that of the “nocturne”. Nocturnal as a walk through the city through the eyes of the protagonists of the respective books, within which a series of visions, unexpected encounters and bizarre events without a clear connection between them, or an obvious narrative necessity, are placed.
The form that comes closest to this intention is that of radical improvisation, contaminated by events that are not stylistically related to each other or developed in a non-linear manner. The beating heart of the writing is, initially, the two drums, which become the bearers of a furious, impetuous and disorganised dialogue, manifesting a lack of interest in a real fruition (and understanding) of the content by the audience. This furious outburst is gradually enriched by collateral events and then spreads to all the other instruments, in a solipsistic delirium that ends up making the subjects lose their identity in a chaos that seems to collapse on itself without leaving any escape.

ask for the score

This dramatic scoring skillfully captures the composer’s intent of a “new Babel,” as stated in the forward. It is framed in a well-designed arch-like architecture of density and dynamics. The orchestration is effective and practical with diverse textures including multiple extended techniques clearly notated and executable. A beautiful piece with a strong social topical message using varying levels of chaotic effect intent; well deserving of many more performances.

Caneres Jury – 2022 International Music Competition Vienna

I commend the efforts to explore such a taboo part of the human experience, to be willing to lead performers and an audience to forbidden realms of the human psyche. […] The use of contrast is taken to the extreme. Like a picture that is both overexposed and underexposed, the instrumentation, use of conventional and unconventional instrumental techniques, and blatant unapologetic absurdities like the tongue snapping and use of balloons yank the audience without asking their permission into a world of primal chaos. It is clear that is the intention, and it has succeeded in this. The audience is left questioning what they should feel, wondering and pondering reality itself, which is the intention.

2022 International Youth Music Competition Jury, Atlanta (USA)