
NIHIL – Memory Without a Centre is a generative score for speaking voice, acoustic piano and live electronics composed by Sergio Maltagliati in Florence in 2026, after Marco Mazzi’s book NIHIL – First Cycle (1997–2022). The approximately fourteen-minute work unfolds through five states — N, 00, 35, 119 and 144. Its pitch field, D–A–A-flat–A2–C, derives from the letters of NIHIL through chromatic reduction modulo twelve. Spoken fragments, piano resonances and three independent stereo memory buffers circulate through recording, delay, loop, reverse, freeze, filtering and spatialisation. The score does not represent the text: it makes its operation audible. Each fragment enters memory, loses its centre and returns as a trace. The eight A3 pages include bilingual performance instructions and a complete scheme for the electronic realisation. An online generative performance entrusts the interpretation to the computer and produces a different version at every start, in dialogue with the experimental legacy of Pietro Grossi. Text fragments from Marco Mazzi’s NIHIL – First Cycle (1997–2022) are used by kind permission of the author. Project: https://sergiomaltagliati.it/nihil-memoria-senza-centro/ Generative performance: https://sergiomaltagliati.it/nihil-memoria-senza-centro/nihil-esecuzione-generativa/index.html Italiano NIHIL – Memoria senza centro è una partitura generativa per voce recitante, pianoforte acustico ed elettronica dal vivo, composta da Sergio Maltagliati a Firenze nel 2026 a partire dal libro di Marco Mazzi NIHIL – First Cycle (1997–2022). L’opera, della durata di circa quattordici minuti, si articola in cinque stati: N, 00, 35, 119 e 144. Il campo di altezze Re–La–Lab–La2–Do deriva dalle lettere di NIHIL, ridotte cromaticamente modulo dodici. Frammenti vocali, risonanze pianistiche e tre memorie stereo indipendenti circolano attraverso registrazione, ritardo, loop, reverse, freeze, filtraggio e spazializzazione. La partitura non rappresenta il testo: ne rende udibile il funzionamento. Ogni frammento entra nella memoria, perde il proprio centro e ritorna come traccia. Le otto pagine in formato A3 comprendono indicazioni esecutive bilingui e lo schema completo per la realizzazione elettronica. Un’esecuzione generativa online affida l’interpretazione al calcolatore, producendo una versione differente a ogni avvio, in dialogo con l’eredità sperimentale di Pietro Grossi. I frammenti testuali tratti da NIHIL – First Cycle (1997–2022) di Marco Mazzi sono utilizzati per gentile concessione dell’autore. Progetto: https://sergiomaltagliati.it/nihil-memoria-senza-centro/ Esecuzione generativa: https://sergiomaltagliati.it/nihil-memoria-senza-centro/nihil-esecuzione-generativa/index.html
open-form score, voice and piano, Pietro Grossi, contemporary music, computer music, generative music, live electronics, Marco Mazzi
open-form score, voice and piano, Pietro Grossi, contemporary music, computer music, generative music, live electronics, Marco Mazzi
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