SCROCCARO, Claudia: Affirming the Consequent | for fl, sax, perc, pno, bass (2018) by ensemble Suono Giallo

Claudia Jane Scroccaro: Affirming the Consequent (2018)
for flute, saxophone, percussion, piano, double-bass

World Premiere
Video: https://youtu.be/5rqgMvzKJv0

Ensemble Suono Giallo
Andrea Biagini, flute
Michele Bianchini, saxophone
Laura Mancini, percussion
Simone Nocchi, piano
Giacomo Piermatti, double-bass
www.ensemblesuonogiallo.net
ensemblesuonogiallo@gmail.com

3rd ilSUONO Contemporary Music Week
July 22, 2018
Teatro Comunale degli Illuminati
Città di Castello, Italy
www.ilsuonoacademy.com
ilsuono.academy@gmail.com

Program Notes:
“Affirming the Consequent” is a new work composed for the Ensemble Suono Giallo, for 2018 edition of the International Il Suono Music Academy. It holds a deep connection with another work I have been composing at the same time, “Gradual Abruptness”, based on texts by Amelia Rosselli. Both pieces share deep reflections upon the relationship between words and music, or more generally, between the communicative nature of linguistics and the one of “organized sounds”, following Edgard Varèse’s definition of music.
In the structure of philosophical logic, “Affirming the Consequent” is usually referred to as a formal fallacy, an invalid pattern of reasoning because of a flaw in its line of thought, where the argument itself could have true premises, but still have false conclusions. In this sense, in a formal fallacy the deduction goes wrong and no longer follows the conventional rules of a logical process. Since this type of fallacy is connected more to the form, rather than to the content, the argumentation hides behind non-truths or under different meanings of a same word.
All this translated into music becomes a world of highly demanding rhythmical structures, where pre-determined structures allow an intricate counterpoint between the parts. It is a world or solitary statements, where the synchronic events reveal the casual nature of communication. These “tuttisolo” sections lead to more intimate dimensions, where duets and monologues project towards shared but yet ‘unspoken’ spaces. This formal structure is held together by a underground force, struggling to expand and stretch the parameters in time and space, against its compressed form of being.