Corpi Celesti (Celestial Bodies) for 5 voices, by Lorenzo Pagliei, makes its world premiere at the BBC’s Open Ear concert series in London this April 14. The piece will be performed by the vocal group Exaudi. 

The composer comments on the work: The composition is part of a vocal cycle of madrigals entitled Il libro dei Margini (The Book of Margins), dedicated to the various states of consciousness that people pass through during sleep. The focus is on the different phases of sleep: loss of consciousness, perceptions, dreams, reawakening, aspects of time, vocal behavior, language and the sounds produced and perceived in this particular situation. […] The explicit reference to madrigals suggests the intention of immersing listeners in an intimate invisible theater, rife with sounds that are symbolic and allusive, that may be interpreted and connected in different ways, allowing listeners to imagine any number of stories behind the sounds. […] There are no words to Corpi Celesti. It’s a representation of the nightmare of someone that has thrown himself from the burning Twin Towers. It’s an extreme dilation of the 11-second drop, with aerial sounds, disturbances in audio communications, various interruptions, and a postmortem chant at the end. […]  

Corpi Celesti marks the second of the cycle’s “madrigals”. The first composition of the cycle is entitled Lontano interiore (Distant Interior) for two voices and live electronics. It premiered in Rome, in October 2017.