alessandra giura longo
strati
performance for flutes,
looper and wood-block
Patiently layering subtle elements that take on a life of their own;
fragile elements that, together, become strong;
airy elements that, together, become solid.
Layers of stone, layers of clouds, layers of soil, layers of skin.
Settling in forever or for a fleeting moment.
Strati is a performance where AGL uses a looper on stage to create a dense wall of sound where layers are tightly packed and blended together.
The creative process involves recording and layering sounds from the flute family, from the contrabass to the piccolo.
There are more than 170 notes, each one played in the space of a breath. The flutes are tuned within a few hertz to each other, producing audible beats between the same notes. The performance begins with a single note, then an interval, gradually filling in the gaps between ephemeral sounds, from the smallest and subtle arrangements to the most dense, until the full, saturated sound is reached: a dense, almost deafening, sound that will linger (or not) in the air or in listeners’ minds.