La Fabbrica Illuminata (The Illuminated Factory) (1964) for voice and tape / H

AMG Review of La Fabbrica Illuminata (The Illuminated Factory) (1964) for voice and tape / H

"Blue" Gene Tyranny
All Music Guide

"La Fabbrica Illuminata" (The Illuminated Factory) is for woman's voice and four-channel magnetic tape that uses noises and speech sounds recorded in a factory. These were combined with choral and electronic sounds and taken through multiple transformations. The woman sings a commentary on the situation represented by the fixed sound events on the tape: the trial of the work process in the factory and the social injustice and unfairness that are tied to the social forms of capitalism. Massive vocal tone clusters followed by declarative, fragmented political chants begin the work.

Steel-on-steel electronics accompany the voices. The live soprano's text is likewise punctuated and fragmentary ("...electronic...machinery...and..."). Imagery is created by deep rolling sounds, wind-like roars of empty landscapes, voices of muscle-exhausted workers and the sounds of their expended effort, cars rushing past, and the actual and electronically described sounds of turning gears.

Nono has created an empathetic, mysteriously toned and moving work, which is also compelling, convincing and original with "Ricorda cosa ti hanno fatto in Auschwitz" (Remember what they did to you in Auschwitz) (1965). Strangely modified children's voices in a nightmarish landscape are heard followed by a distorted national anthem (unrecognizable). Trumpets like sirens of war, sounds like bullets striking metal, and horrific bellowing creatures fill the soundscape. Odd echoes of a damp, dreary jail, moaning voices, screeching machinery, and deep unison gasps of a multitude of people complete the horrible picture. One of the most moving and effective depictions of this instance of inhumanity.