Perpetuum

Perpetuum is a sound installation conceived to engage with the historic space of the Rocca di Sant’Apollinare. The piece is based on Palestrina’s motet Sicut Cervus, recorded in the basilica and performed entirely by Sergio Briziarelli, who interprets all four SATB voices (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass).

The recording is then rendered in quadriphony: each SATB voice is assigned to a separate speaker, creating a dynamic spatialization in which the voices move throughout the cloister. This immersive setup establishes a dialogue between sound and architecture, between the ancient and the contemporary.

The installation explores the relationship between space and human presence: intervals of time and space are perceived as suspension, pause, and emptiness. This emptiness is not to be filled but accepted as open, never entirely defined, always observable yet never fully visible.

The choice of this motet is deliberate. Palestrina’s music, while rooted in Gregorian chant, gives new vitality and expressive force to the words, transforming them into pure music. The voices are independent yet simultaneously connected within a higher order, creating a sense of harmony that transcends words.

Sicut Cervus
desiderat ad fontes aquarum,
ita desiderat anima mea ad te,
Deus.

(As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for You, O God.)