Giulio Aldinucci – Mary and the Ladder

Santa Maria della Scala (Siena), now a museum, during the Middle age, was an important civic hospital dedicated to caring for abandoned children, the poor, the sick, and pilgrims. The building started at the turn of the 12th century and it was virtually completed by the mid-15th century. It is a huge 350.000 cubic meters complex: a city inside the city.

When I was a child, during the 80s, the structure was still working as a hospital. My mother used to work there and every time I went to meet her, the reverberations of the sounds in these enormous spaces always fascinated me: it was possible to hear steps from one room to another, creating a labyrinth of multiple echoes. Later, I had the chance to spend some time at Santa Maria della Scala when it was converted into a museum: the reverb of sounds seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time, as if the steps were coming from different times.

How Many Steps was created using field recordings taken inside the Santa Maria della Scala, both in the museum area and in the basement.
Tagli sul Tempo is a composition inspired by the place and its history.
The live improvisation was made using a modular synthesizer and field recordings take at Santa Maria della Scala. It was recorded by Radio Papesse on the occasion of the presentation of the book “Nuove geografie del suono: spazi e territori nell'epoca postdigitale" by Leandro Pisano.

Written and produced by Giulio Aldinucci