Sonus / lumen

The idea behind the piece can be found in its title, Sonus = sound, lumen = light, and refers to the physical phenomenon of sonoluminescence. This phenomenon consists in the possibility of generating light from sound by exerting increasing pressure on an air bubble enclosed in a vial of sterilised water using sound waves which, by increasingly “stressing” the air bubble in the water, eventually cause it to burst, generating a small dispersion of energy, which manifests itself in a short beam of light.

I was extremely fascinated by this synaesthetic-like possibility of transforming something audible and invisible (sound) into something inaudbile and visible (light), so this image served as the main inspiration for the entire piece, which is divided – as the title itself suggests – into two sections: “sound” and “light”. In the first section, the instruments – led by the piano on an irregular but systematic rhythmic ostinato – manifest this insistent and growing sonic pressure, whose mass, accumulating, ends up imploding on itself, generating a ‘mortal wound’ (the explosion of the air bubble) from which then pours out, gushing, the entire second section, in which the image of light is translated into music through processes of rarefaction, suspension and general formal abstraction. The different timbres become empty and fade, the instrumental interventions become less frequent and less intense, giving way to a large, suspended, airy halo.

Sala Puccini, Conservatorio di Milano (Premio Nazionale delle Arti 2025, finalists' concert), November 22nd 2025