NUCLEAR WARRIOR

Nuclear Warrior describes a fictional nuclear apocalypse, which the humans created and will take the world into its final abyss. The composition intends to condemn nuclear power and, explicitly, its exploitation to produce atomic weapons that can only lead to disasters beyond measure (let’s not forget Hiroshima and Nagasaki). The Nuclear Warrior, which represents the atomic bomb, will make its appearance only for a few seconds at the end the composition where it causes the definitive destruction of life on earth; yet, it is the focal center of the whole piece. On a large scale, the composition can be divided into six sections, each characterized by a title and a theme. The first section, “Ricordando il Disastro: Hiroshima e Nagasaki” (Remembering the Disaster: Hiroshima and Nagasaki), opens with the sorrowful memories of the two cities flattened by the atomic bomb. The grief and terror caused by a disaster of such unimaginable proportions are almost tangible feelings here. This opening section, evoking the human drama that has really happened, serves as introduction to the next five parts, which represent, instead, the composer’s imagination: a description of what the atomic war could generate. “Una Nuova Era: la corsa all’armamento nucleare” (A New Era: The Nuclear Arms Race) is the title of the second section of the composition. It describes a nuclear arms race involving all the nations of the world and, as such, it is a prelude to a global conflict. The music generates a tense climate, as persistent ostinato echoes saturate the ambience by representing the atoms that combine to create nuclear weapons. The continuous crescendo of this section produces an almost disturbing anxiety, which leads into the following part, “La guerra atomica esplode!” (The Nuclear War Explodes). An aggressive and catastrophic war starts. Its brutal violence now foreshadows the terrible risk of a global annihilation, and all of a sudden it is silence and everything is immersed in “Scenari di morte e distruzione” (Scenes of Death and Devastation). Everything is destroyed and ravaged: where once there was a city full of life now there are but ruins; where there was a green forest now there is a desert of ashes. In the distance, some cries and screams can still be heard: it is the desperation of the survivors (depicted by an oboe solo). The melody is sad and thin, almost in a whisper, as if it were the voices of the victims’ souls that wander above this scenery of devastation. The sorrowful melody develops in a musical ambience which becomes more and more agonizing: turbulent sonorous gestures seem to develop into a storm; instead, nothing more than the dreariest silence populates the world. The moment of truce does not last long! Here is “L’attacco Finale” (The Final Attack), where once again the armies bring death. At the apogee of this moment of global terror arrives the “Guerriero Nucleare” (Nuclear Warrior). This section of the composition features the most violent and grotesque music; it lasts only a few seconds and it describes the explosion of an atomic bomb powerful enough to destroy the entire world. Total chaos! Thereafter, only silence out of which, in the distance, propagates the sound of a vibraphone giving the impression of a desolate and painful memory. This is the last section, “Radiazioni” (Radiations): it portrays the radiations produced by the nuclear explosion that spread over the entire globe, as a cancer that embraces it in a stranglehold. The world disappears, sucked into a black hole, and obscurity enshrouds everything …