150 Decibel

This piece was inspired by a series of photographs, just rediscovered, taken by the radio operator and photographer Amedeo Verri during the First World War.

What struck me most was the positive energy radiating from the young men sent to the front. An energy that was at times serene, at others brash, but always proudly on display – far removed from the trench warfare stereotype through which we are accustomed to imagining the soldiers of the Great War.

Of course, the images show uniformed soldiers, surrounded by rifles, mud, and mortar shells. Yet, before the photographer’s lens, they also appear as proud members of a military band, drying off in the sun with smiles on their faces after a swim in the river, posing cheerfully with local peasant women, or holding a guitar in hand … I therefore felt that my score – an homage to the protagonists of the First World War – should try to capture this youthful vitality and reflect it through a contemporary sonic landscape: where there was once a brass band, today there might be a DJ or a pop/rock group at the front; each soldier would hold a smartphone and think in terms of hyperlinks; every gesture would be marked by speed – and so on.

I also reflected on the sheer sonic power of battle, and on the sound of gunfire, which, at close range with modern weapons, can reach around 150 decibels. Using that figure as the title struck me as an apt reference for performers, as this piece, in its most intense dynamic passages, asks them to play truly loud.

(Nicola Campogrande, May 2015)