for amplified string trio and electromechanical devices

Repertorio Zero
Milano, Piccolo Teatro
04/11/2013

Two references are at the base of Regnum animale. The first is the Medieval tradition of bestiaria, intended as multi-faceted catalogues of miscellaneous beings, among which different relations can be defined. The variety and heterogeneity of the bestiaria i strikingly evident in early examples, that are topsy turvy lists of fantastic creatures, existing animals, stones and plants. A second reference for the work is taxonomy, that is, the systematic description of living organisms that dates back to Linnaeus’ Systema Naturae as the Rationalistic possibility of ordering the polymorphous (and many times teratomorphic) appearance of nature. One of the foundational aspects of taxonomy in the so-called “binomial nomenclature”, that provides for each organism a name specifying its place in relation to other organisms by means of the couple genus et species.
The heterogeneity of bestiaria is at the origin of both the setup and the organization devised for Regnum animale. Th former includes traditional acoustic instruments (string trio, but played with a variety of special techniques), surrounded by an amass of computer-driven, electro-mechanical devices built from discarded and scavenged every- day objects. For what concerns the organisation, indeed the general model is the catalog: Regnum animale is thus a sequence of 28 short pieces, each one dedicated to an imaginary animal. Here the sec- ond model –taxonomy– enters into play: all the pieces have the same duration, and each one has received a name following the binomial nomenclature. Hence, Regnum animale is also a systematic report about the creatures found in a terra incognita.


Substance(2013)string quartet N°2 (excerpt). Quatuor Tana

Raphaël Cendo

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