The Hypnotic Garden: Repetition and Trance in Salvatore Sciarrino’s Works for Flute

Abstract

"Salvatore Sciarrino creates what could be described as an isolated, mysterious “sonic garden”: a ghostly world of sounds where the archetypal corporal processes, such as breathing or heartbeat, are transformed into music. His conceptual thinking – refreshing the musical perception, the ecological hearing, the persistence of repetition, the figures of music (formal archetypes that can be adapted to any kind of art) – as well as his very particular, non-traditional sound make Sciarrino’s music an incredibly rich world to explore. The flute seems to be his favourite instrument, due to its ability to incorporate so many corporeal noises of the performer (from voice to fingertips), becoming almost an extension of his body. The many and ingenious ways of applying repetition in his work, as well as the play with time length – taken to almost unbearable boundaries – make Salvatore Sciarrino one of the true explorers of musical trance today. Keywords: Sciarrino, flute, contemporary music, repetition, persistence, musical figures "