Quaranta

Introductory remarks (2025)

Quaranta (2020) is a constellation of four sets of ten ‘non sequitur’ musical fragments, each of which evinces, and emphasises, the presence of a distinctive ‘pathological’ trait (e.g. the exclusive use of a particular technique, the excessive persistence of a particular emotive affect, or the uncontainable tendency to permutate indefinitely). The term 'quaranta’ - Italian for the number forty - refers concurrently to the total number of fragments that constitute the piece, as well as the medieval practice of quarantining incoming foreign maritime traffic for forty days before its boatmen are allowed to disembark, thus also reflecting the times of COVID pandemic self-isolation, during which the piece took shape.