88
A Sonic Cosmogony: Diary of an astral exploration through the keyboard
for pianoforte, with toy piano
88: A Cosmogony for Keyboard
Born during the suspended silence of 2020, 88 is a monumental suite that casts the piano as the interpreter of the firmament.
The title refers to a double numerical coincidence: the 88 keys of the keyboard and the 88 constellations of the modern sky. This project is not a mere collection of pieces, but a "world-work" that translates sidereal distance into sonic architecture, transforming the instrument into a sextant for navigating the infinite.
Between Abstraction and Matter: The Toy Piano
Within the suite, the twelve constellations of the Zodiac mark a fundamental timbral shift.
For these movements, the piano is joined by the toy piano, whose crystalline, almost childlike sonority evokes a magical and primordial dimension. The contrast between the majesty of the grand piano and the essentiality of the toy instrument creates a unique aesthetic spark, emphasizing the symbolic nature of zodiac signs in our collective imagination.
In this system of correspondences, the Ophiuchus constellation represents a deliberate anomaly. Since it does not belong to the historical canon of the twelve zodiacal constellations, its uniqueness is made explicit through timbre: it is the only moment in the entire suite where the toy piano appears in total solitude, without the support of the piano, highlighting its nature as an isolated element outside classical tradition.
The Method: The Algorithm of the Sky
The compositional process followed a nearly scientific rigor.
Each constellation was investigated through its astronomical data: stellar magnitude, distance, and relative positions were translated into musical pitches, durations, and sonic densities.
In this way, the score does not just describe the sky; it embodies it through a process of transfiguration where numerical data becomes auditory emotion and polyphonic structure.
Diary of an Astral Drift
Developed over the course of an entire year, day by day without interruption, the work bears the marks of a solitary and persistent — yet deeply engaging — research.
From "circumpolar" to "southern" constellations, the suite is a sonic logbook documenting the attempt to find order in chaos — a resonance between the infinitely large cosmos and the infinitely small human experience confined within the walls of a studio.
