Hermetic Definition, for ensemble (2013)
Hermetic Definition is the title of a set of poems by the American poet H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) written in 1960-61, shortly before her death. In these, she combines elements of Greek mythology with daily events in her life, creating a vast reflection on life across times. On a more technical level, the peculiar technique of repetition of poetic images used by H.D. in her poems is mirrored in my musical construction: the work is largely based on a series of four cycles in which a number of musical gestures come back in varied presentations, sometimes almost unchanged and simply absorbed in new environments, sometimes subjected to prolonged reflection and transformations. The four cycles are of different lengths: the second is a compression of the first, and the third a compression of the second, while the last one is longer than the previous one. A natural process of densification therefore occurs in the first three parts, but the compression doesn’t affect all the elements in the same way: some of them are also simply repeated without compression, others are compressed or superimposed, while others still don’t come back.
The sparseness of sound that characterizes large spans of the work is a reflection of the only expressive indication offered in the score: Hieratic, sacred. The slowness and quietness of the musical flow, perhaps its most obvious characteristics, are essential elements in conveying the sense of mystery and reflection that constituted my original impetus for the work. My vision for this work was not to represent the incommensurable or to express the sacred, but rather to impress in the listener an environment, to open an aural space where that dimension might be experienced. Are these really two different intentions, one might ask? In the final analysis, perhaps not, but my approach dictated a certain type of atmosphere—and indeed certain types of musical techniques—in which I deliberately avoided the use of clear rhetorical figures, as well as any obvious dramatic progression. The work is to be performed throughout in a very quiet dynamic, as if the music was uttered sotto voce, in the most intimate manner. There is no resolution to a final discovery, to a revelation of the “incomprehensible,” there is only a journey to be undertaken: it requires to hear the silence as if it were louder than the sound, to hear the sounds simply flowing against the empty backdrop.
