Then Silence, and Stillness, and Night

The title is a quotation from Edgar Allan Poe’s tale The Pit and the Pendulum, which is set in a dungeon of the Spanish Inquisition. The main character explores his dark prison, searching for a way out. In absence of the sense of sight, his perception of time and space is guided by hearing. Every single sound becomes an instrument of knowledge, which brings more definition to his mental map of the place… but perception can be illusory. Then Silence, and Stillness, and Night is a nocturne, to be considered as “a piece set at night”: a dark space inhabited by sounds that shape different possible plots.