Quinta Colonna
Tracks
- Prima Colonna
- Seconda Colonna
- Terza Colonna
- Quarta Colonna
- Quinta Colonna
- Sesta Colonna
"Quinta Colonna" is Italian for the phrase "Fifth Column", usually describing a group of people undermining through acts of sabotage a more powerful one with the eventual goal of constraining or removing it from power. In a wider sense, this would be the enemy from within, the clandestine and seemingly invisible force: Paralysing, poisoning, spreading doubt and fear. The cognitive dissonance is the chord to be struck in order to subtly modify the objectives, to make the longest bar appear the shortest if it's only repeated often enough.
"Quinta Colonna" could be best assigned to the electroacoustic, acousmatic or somewhat experimental and avant-garde nature drawer near you. It mixes natural sources originating from true instruments with sounds not associated with music (feedback, field recordings or otherwise undesired sound), but in a way where one may be entirely unrecognisable or the other taking the shape of something familiar when in fact it is not. There is even a main theme that sees some mutations during the course of "Quinta Colonna" until it finally settles for a fixed formula, thus no longer causing a counter reaction and bringing closure to the work.
With all those explanations given in the previous two paragraphs, one may arrive at the conclusion this could be a concept album. In fact, it is not: The title was assigned last, as shorthand for the impression the music made on its composer (more precisely, the one adjusting algorithms, pitches, sound sources and generators). Why five columns have to be represented by six parts is one of the oddities of nature the composer cannot explain. But perhaps, you, the listener may be able to find out why?