Höstsonaten - Summereve (2011)

Artista: Höstsonaten
Álbum: Summereve
Año: 2011
Género: Rock progresivo sinfónico italiano
Duración: 44:00
Nacionalidad: Italia

Lista de Temas:
1. Seasonss Overture
i. Rite Of Summer
ii. In The Rising Sun
iii. The Last Shades Of Winter
iv. A Church Beyond The Lake
v. La Route Pour Finist?re
vi. Springtheme
2. Glares Of Light
3. Evening Dance
4. On The Sea
5. Under Stars
6. Blackmountains
7. Prelude Of An Elegy
8. Edge Of Summer

Alineación:
- Fabio Zuffanti / bass, Moog Taurus bass pedals, acoustic guitar, tambourine and tubular bells
- Luca Scherani / teclados y piano
- Maurizio Di Tollo / drums, congas and tambourine
- Matteo Nahum / acoustic guitars, lead electric, 12 strings, classical & rythm guitars
- Fausto Sidri / didjeridoo and percussions (Zills, Darbouka, Dumdum, Kajon and Djembe)
- Joanne Roan / flute
- Luca Tarantino / oboe
- Sylvia Trabucco / violin
- Alessandra Dalla Barba / violin
- Ilaria Bruzzone / viola
- Chiara Alberti / cello

Luego de publicar el tremendo "The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, Chapter One", me pidieron que resubiera este hermoso disco anterior del grupo italiano, y aquí se los dejo para aquellos que no pudieron apreciarlo anteriormente. Para que disfruten este fin de semana les dejamos varias cosas para que no se aburran, estre ellas esta hermosura hecha sonidos.

Otro gran álbum sonde está presente el señor Fabio Zuffanti, en este caso haciendo un progresivo sinfónico italiano con una fuerte influencia del Genesis setentero. Este es el cierre de un ciclo de las 4 estaciones, cuatro álbums conceptuales, siendo un ensoñador viaje a los sueños de verano.

En la actual escena del progresivo sinfónico italiano, a diferencia de hace treinta años, hay muy pocos nombres, y son contadas con los dedos de la mano las propuestas que ofrecen algo de originalidad al tiempo que honran y respetan la tradición de sus antecesores. FINISTERRE, LA MASCHERA DI CERA y HÖSTSONATEN quizá son los grupos más destacados en este sentido; pero también hay otros proyectos, como laZONA, QUADRAPHONIC, SPAZIO, A.M.P. y KITCHEN, que también son interesantes. Lo notable es que en todas estas bandas siempre aparece un nombre: Fabio ZUFFANTI.
Al parecer, la actividad, creatividad e inquietudes de ZUFFANTI son incontrolables: no contento con ser co-fundador a principios de los 1990’s del exitoso FINISTERRE (junto con Stefano MARELLI), precursor del renacimiento del progresivo italiano, con tres álbumes en estudio y otros tantos en vivo, Fabio y otros "finisterros" desarrollaron el proyecto HOSTSONATEN, donde presentan un estilo musical más pastoral, menos agresivo que el de FINISTERRE, también con tres discos hasta la fecha. Al mismo tiempo, ZUFFANTI funda el grupo LA MASCHERA DI CERA (con un sonido más parecido al del clásico progresivo italiano de los 1970’s, en especial MUSEO ROSENBACH y BIGLIETTO PER L' INFERNO) y participa activamente en numerosos proyectos como laZONA (música electrónica experimental), QUADRAPHONIC (también electrónica pero en una vena más psicodélica), SPAZIO (pop), A.M.P. (Anti Mac Project, dúo formado por ZUFFANTI (zuffANTI) y Agostino MACOR (MACor), con música inspirada por la de BATTIATO, ENO, etc.) y otros, entre los que también se incluye la música para una ópera rock basada en la historia del mago Merlín.

Manticornio

De hecho, muchos ex miembros de Finisterre se involucraron en este proyecto.

Acá encontrarás un montón de teclados retro, buenas melodías, música cinematográfica y atmosférica, bastantes violines y cuerdas que hacen una labor exquisita, canciones suaves y clásicas que conviven con otras más duras y rockeadas (aunque siempre, en tomo momento, este disco es sumamente delicado), canciones que despliegan tranquilamente 45 minutos de felicidad natural, espiritual y melódica. Una sinfonía de guitarras de 12 cuerdas, mellotrones y moogs, saxos, flautas, violines, gaitas y percusión fluye suavemente por los parlantes.

Estos nueve canciones no necesitan títulos ya que se funden perfectamente una en la otra, creando un ambiente sonoro lleno de paz que parece un tesoro artístico de la época del Renacimiento pero traído a nuestros días.

En la estricta diferenciación que ZUFFANTI hace con cada nuevo proyecto, HÖSTSONATEN está dedicado a un estilo musical completamente enmarcado en el progresivo sinfónico, más melódico y menos experimental que FINISTERRE y definitivamente más gentil que LA MASCHERA DI CERA. Para este proyecto, ZUFFANTI se hace acompañar de todo un séquito de músicos de primera línea, destacando sus compañeros Stefano MARELLI (guitarras), Boris VALLE (piano), Francesca BIAGINI (flauta) y Marco CAVANI (batería), haciendo de los discos de HÖSTSONATEN verdaderos proyectos laterales de FINISTERRE.

Manticornio

El año pasado esta gente sacaron un maravilloso álbum llamado "Rime of The Ancient Mariner pt. 1", o sea, es la parte 1, así que ya viene al menos una segunda parte. Y si bien no tiene nada que ver con la canción de Iron Maiden, se trata de la primera parte de un trabajo conceptual basado en el grandioso poema de Samuel Taylor Coleridge "Balada del Viejo Marinero". El trabajo trae vocalistas diferentes en cada pista, y en dicho álbum se encargan de desplegar muchas de las características que tiene este álbum pero en un contexto mucho más rockeado y potente, hasta con momentos de hard rock. Dicho sea de paso, para mí es uno de los grandes álbums del 2012 (a pesar de lo que dice el Conejo en su maldito listado), y eso que fue un año especialmente prolífico en grandes álbums progresivos.

Ya se nos acaba el mes de marzo y hace una semana que el verano desapareció de los paisajes de la sección latinoamericana de nuestro planeta, pero HÖSTSONATEN se está encargando con su reciente disco “Summereve” de preservar el espíritu estival con un muestrario musical que seriamente amenaza con convertirse en un infaltable de las futuras listas de los mejores discos progresivos del año 2011. “Summereve” completa la serie de discos dedicados a las estaciones que anteriormente dio cabida a “Springsong”, “Autumn Symphony” y “Winterthrough” (amén de un disco recopilatorio de temas inéditos y desechados titulado “Springtides”). El incansable héroe polifacético del progresivo italiano actual Fabio Zuffanti vuelve a contar con la leal complicidad del teclista Luca Scherani (además de ARIES y los últimos tiempos de FINISTERRE) y el baterista-percusionista Maurizio Di Tollo (además de LA MACHERA DI CERA), aparte del recientemente incorporado guitarrista de LA MASCHERA DI CERA Matteo Nahum y varios colaboradores en cuerdas, oboe y percusiones orientales. Scherani ocupa un rol especialmente importante en el bloque sonoro que articula las composiciones de este disco, no solo por la prolija cantidad de teclados que pone a disposición del proyecto, sino además por el rol preferente que da al sintetizador Moog, el piano, el órgano Hammond y el mellotron. “Summereve” es un agasajo total para los sempiternos amantes de esa magia musical que solo puede proporcionar el progresivo sinfónico cuando está en su máxima sazón.

El disco abre con la extensa pieza ‘Season’s Overture’, la cual contiene seis secciones con títulos específicos [Rite Of Summer, In The Rising Sun, The Last Shades Of Winter, A Church Beyond The Lake, La Route Pour Finistére y Springtheme]. Los primeros momentos se concentran en plasmar una atmósfera flotante e irresistiblemente envolvente, para luego pasar a un ritual tribal percusivo que dinamiza la situación con aires abiertamente extrovertidos. Ya cuando la instrumentación global se acopla definitivamente, pasamos a un ejercicio sólido y bien focalizado de musicalidad típicamente sinfónica, leal a las viejas escuelas de CAMEL, GENESIS, PFM y LE ORME, y aún así, portadora de una frescura propia. La guitarra solista, el sintetizador y el mellotron se apoderan del núcleo central del pasaje exultante que viene a continuación, la cual a su vez termina dando paso a otro donde se abre ciertos espacios al órgano y a la flauta en algunos momentos de breve languidez. Los últimos dos minutos sirven para explorar matices bucólicos en medio del permanente imperio de los colores netamente sinfónicos. Tras este despliegue de estilizado esplendor y cautivante luminosidad, llega ‘Glares Of Light’ al modo de una calmada siesta musical, sobre un lento compás de 3/4: su espíritu suave establece un momento de serenidad relajante, del mismo modo que el sol veraniego emite sus primeras luces con delicadeza antes de ejercer su usual majestuosidad. ‘Evening Dance’ sigue a continuación para retomar en parte la colorida fastuosidad tan bien exhibida en el primer tema, aunque su espacio más reducido solo abre campo para un preludio pastoral y un motivo segundo que evoca una gracilidad mantenida en un nivel razonablemente sobrio. ‘On The Sea’, por su parte, regresa al espíritu introspectivo y contemplativo de ‘Glares Of Light’, siendo así que el nivel de serenidad es trabajado con mayor afinamiento. La compenetración entre el piano eléctrico y el oboe es conmovedora, logrando así crear el ambiente idóneo para que los arpegios de las guitarras acústicas que seguidamente abren ‘Under Stars’ exploren un ensueño de delicadeza bucólica que tiene mucho de ANTHONY PHILLIPS, y por qué no, también algo de THE ENID en su faceta más mística. Una vez más, el rol del piano eléctrico es crucial a la hora de dibujar gotas de rocío entre las elegantes líneas de la flauta y el oboe. El momento de ‘Blackmountain’ es uno de regreso hacia ambientes más extrovertidos, aunque esta vez no es el sinfonismo la idea guía sino una forma estilizada de fusión donde se alternan ritmos renacentistas, folclore mediterráneo y retazos cuasi-flamencos: los diálogos entre el violín y la guitarra clásica fluyen perfectamente sobre la base de percusiones y guitarras acústicas. De inmediato, ‘Prelude Of An Elegy’ pasa a un registro totalmente distinto con un compás rockero ágil y accesible: teniendo en cuenta el esquema de la dupla rítmica y la labor del teclista, esta pieza se puede describir como un ejercicio de space-rock sinfónico envuelto en un ropaje elaborado con telas de estilos colindantes con el neo-prog. El sonido de un trueno cierra esta pieza para anunciar el comienzo de ‘Edge Of Summer’, la pieza que culmina este disco. Sembrando un aura de conmovedora calidez en base a la armazón de arpegios de piano, líneas de oboe y texturas de la sección de cuerdas, ‘Edge Of Summer’ no tarda mucho en abrir camino a un fastuoso cuerpo central que se regodea elegantemente en su lenta ceremoniosidad. El guitarreo es totalmente cameliano mientras que las intervenciones de los teclados se sitúan en algún punto entre lo genesiano y lo floydiano. El juego de platillos final evoca el inicio de “Autumn Symphony”, o sea, el lugar del otoño dentro de este magno concepto de las cuatro estaciones.

“Summereve” es un disco hermoso en cuanto a la capacidad evocadora de las ideas melódicas y bien pensados arreglos en torno a éstas, y definitivamente, guarda una adecuada coherencia estilística interna a través de la calculada diversidad de registros que salen a colación a lo largo de sus casi 45 minutos de duración. HÖSTSONATEN parece ser una máquina inagotable de hacer música progresiva de brillante factura: de esta manera, conforma un estupendo complemento para la labor musical que también viene desarrollando LA MASCHERA DI CERA desde inicios del milenio. Pero ante todo, es legítimo concluir a partir de la majestad sonora plasmada en “Summereve” que HÖSTSONATEN es el genuino heredero de la magia progresiva que FINISTERRE había dibujado en el paisaje musical del revival noventero en sus primeros años de trayectoria. HÖSTSONATEN es la reactualización vitalista de los ideales atemporales del sinfonismo progresivo.

César Inca

There is a new Vivaldi in progland as the multi-talented and prolific Fabio Zuffanti has just completed a unique achievement in the progressive rock annals by finalizing a set of 4 mostly instrumental albums depicting the four seasons in the annual cycle. From stellar previous works such as the delicate Springsongs, onto the numbingly gorgeous Wintertrough and the febrile Autumnsymphony , the loop is now complete with the sizzling Summereve, even though the liner notes state that this is the first in the cycle (Fabio just did it backwards).

This is perhaps the best quartet of prog music ever, a dizzying accomplishment worthy of the great classical composers and underlines the freedom that artists now have, fully unchained from the shackles of corporate expectations and demands. Under Zuffanti's leadership and his vrooming bass, the musicians continuously display incredible creativity, vision and dexterity that espoused all the glorious traditions of classical compositions but within a firm progressive symphonic context. It is therefore fitting that as summer finally arrives, we are graced with a warm progressive soundtrack that is easily among the greatest releases ever! Yeah, I know, high praise for an all-instrumental work but the cherry here outbursts the cake.

"Season's Overture" is a 10 minute mellotron-packed romp of the very highest pedigree, a five part suite that sizzles along, reliving various previous themes found on the preceding albums, sort a recap if you will and a monster track with tremendous contributions from keyboardist Luca Scherani on elegant piano, swooshing synths and the wispy mellotron as well as guitarist Matteo Nahum on lead and acoustic strings. Drummer Maurizio di Tollo is easily the new percussion maestro in Italian prog, keeping tight time with some fascinating inserts. The achingly gorgeous string quartet work on "The Glares of Light" is to expire for, the passion and pain simply too haunting to adequately describe, even as the sweet flute and violin coalesce magically, in embraced spirals building a crescendo remake of "Kemper/Springtheme" on the earlier Springsongs album, with a focal melody already minted as a precious medallion of prog bliss. Music does not get anymore beautiful than this, possibly bringing one to tears, especially with the mellotron's gentle influence. "Evening Dance" involves more playful tonal adventurism, the flute again pied-pipering the way, a sensual bass groove set into motion, over which magical carpets of delicately woven synth, organ, piano and clavinet filaments intermingle . "On the Sea" starts with a soaring yet brief axe solo that scours the choir-tron cascades and some superb drum fills from Maurizio, a dab of windswept flute patiently ushering in another solo from Nahum that oozes a contained fury that leaves one in shambles. Some electric piano washes and an oboe intervention docks the pier. "Under Stars" is a short effects laden piece with recitative voice that serves as a welcome interlude, numbing the listener to the surprising riff of "Blackmountains", a stunning piece with a dreamy curtain of combined percussion, some swift acoustic guitar runs and synth sweeps, as the flute once again carves out the delicate melody, aided and abetted by the catty violin. "Prelude of an Elegy" gets even groovier with marshalling drums and burping bass, almost beyond space rock, as the synths wobble madly in orbit and the movement progressing forever forward. The lead solo combined with the choir mellotron is just plain silly-good. A thunderbolt seals the letter. The finale "Edge of Summer" does not release the pressure on the pedal at all, a sympho-folk rendition that relies on the strings and the keys to conjure grandiose imagery, providing the solid foundation on which Nahum's guitar can dance for the ages. Artwork, booklet and design all are typically exceptional, showing the care Zuffanti puts into these personal efforts. This is without any hesitation a 5 . Perhaps even one of the finest prog recordings ever from Italy.Yes, it's that good! Its perfect. Buona sera !

Thomas Szirmay

What a great symphonic piece of music. I really didn't want to say that, but I'm forced to, if I am going to be honest with myself. Listening to a lot of prog music across many genres, one can get into a rut of looking for something new, or searching for new uncharted musical territory, as a way of approaching a new album. The thing of it, is this; great music doesn't always need to break new ground. It just needs to be. And this is is exactly what the final movement of the the seasons quadrilogy by HOSTSONATEN does. A beautiful, symphonic 44 minutes, that washes over you much better as a whole entity, than a comprisal of 8 tunes. I am always pleasantly surprised when an album digs deeper into your emotions after the 4th or 5th listen. Having said all this, I would like to point to Season's Overture as a personal highlight with it's moody beginning and uplifting body. I can't wait for the next offering by Fabio et al.

Bryan McKinlay

Much like another well-known Italian artist composed a few centuries earlier, progressive rock act Hostsonaten has taken on writing a soundtrack to each of the seasons, as part of a fairly familiar, yet highly ambitious project of four albums. Capping off this album cycle is the band's 2011 offering, not surprisingly entitled 'Summereve'. An almost entirely instrumental journey, Hostsonaten creates a stunning soundtrack for the warmest of seasons; a beautifully fitting score to the coming months. Although the concept of this album may seem tacky at first glance, the brilliant way Hostsonaten executes it puts 'Summereve' among the freshest sounding symphonic prog rock albums in recent memory.

Best described as a soundtrack, the music on 'Summereve' is best identified with film score music. Some very subtle natural ambiance weaves its way into the background of some of the passages here, giving the listener enough of a auditory cue to imagine their own visual accompaniment here. Thinking of the music in this abstract sense, there are moments here where the music speaks of thunderous summer rain, bright sunrises, gardens in full bloom, and colourful orchards. For such a pastoral ideal, Hostsonaten uses lush harmonies, mellotrons, keyboards, and tastefully performed guitars of all shapes and sizes to bring forth the musical vision. The sound is fairly vintage; sounding like it could have been written and performed at any time over the past three or four decades. The production shows the modernity of 'Summereve' though; every instrument may be heard with beautiful clarity.

Besides a fleeting section of spoken word dialogue (which feels somewhat unnecessary in the overall scope of the album), Hostsonaten decides to make their musical vision clear without any sort of vocal accompaniment. This might tend to alienate the fans of Italian progressive rock who look out for great vocalists in music, but it does work to the music's favour. The soundtrack feel to 'Summereve' allows for the instrumental nature of the work to thrive. Although the symphonic instrumentation of symphonic prog rock has usually amounted to the work of a keyboardist, there are real classical instruments at work here, which only adds to the distinctly organic feel of the music. Instead, synths and mellotrons are only used when the band feels like they would sound best there, which makes Hostsonaten's sound quite a bit more sincere than the run-of-the-mill prog band.

'Summereve' came to my attention only through the widespread acclaim it was receiving across the board, and I have found myself incredibly impressed by this masterpiece. The 'mood music' vibe of 'Summereve' leads one to question whether it will truly become one of the classics of Italian progressive rock over time, but it is clear even from the year of its release that Hostsonaten has released an incredible piece of work with 'Summereve', and closed off what has been a surprisingly successful concept project.

Conor Fynes

Everyone who knows me and/or have read my reviews in the past might have been expecting a long and tedious rant about how unoriginal this album happens to be or how it's pretentious and down right ridiculous for a band called Höstsonaten (Autumn Sonata in Swedish) to release an album titled Summereve! Luckily, I've decided to skip going down that route today seeing that this is actually a nice little gem of an album. You probably won't hear me praising this material to skies since it's not really worth such a recognition, but that doesn't mean that I can't enjoy it for what it is.

Fabio Zuffanti and a massive lineup of talented musicians have crafted a beautiful symphonic album filled with gorgeous and melancholic melodies that will sit well with fans of the classic '70s instrumental music. Everyone who wants to hear a groundbreaking Symphonic Prog album should probably stay away from Summereve since it's far from a challenging record and at times it even boarders dangerously close to soft rock territory. Fortunately, I don't find that to be a bad thing since that band keep themselves far enough from treading over the more obvious prog clichés and deliver solid material all thoughout the album.

This is simply easy listening at its finest! If you're fine with that then definitely give this record a go. If not, simply stay and you won't get burned. Since I've never been one to shun great melodic compositions that don't try to be anything more than that, I can't find a reason for giving Summereve anything less than a solid rating of excellence. Nothing less and nothing more!

Alexander Peterson

Although summer is just beginning for us in the Northern hemisphere, Höstsonaten's Summereve brings the band's 4-album season cycle to a close. I was intrigued by the multi-album concept, and the few samples I heard sounded great, so I picked it up right away. I'm glad I did, because from the first listen I was hooked. I've been really enjoying Summereve, and although I haven't heard the other 3 seasons of the year yet, I'm looking forward to getting a bit chilly and watching the leaves fall.

The first thing that should be known about Summereve is the style of music the band employs. There are equal parts rock and classical music at work here, and you're just as likely to hear a guitar solo as you are a violin and flute duet in the same song. The wind and string pair are in fact a major part of the sound of Summereve, and they are heavily featured on each song. The other instruments get their fair play as well, such as acoustic and electric guitars, piano, synthesizers and Mellotron. The keyboards get the most time to shine, but every instrument is integral in creating the great atmosphere. The synthesizers sound great paired with the more pure sounding classical instruments, and the Mellotron's choirs create some incredibly powerful moments.

Of course, what good would a nice collection of instruments be without good songs to go along with? The overture acquaints the listener with the album's sound, though there is only one true theme that gets a reprise at the very end. The rest of the melodies of the overture evoke the feeling of the songs they relate to, but are never quite the same and can be difficult to recognize later on. Besides a short few spoken lines in a later song, Summereve is completely instrumental, and very melodic. The instruments help to paint the picture of summer, ranging from warm nights to rainy afternoons and calm waters. There is a good mix of fast and slow paced songs, and the drums really aid in making the difference in the atmosphere. The music never gets particularly complex, but what it lacks in technicality it makes up for in aesthetics.

Besides the 10 minute opener, each song hovers around 5 minutes, and are quite good on their own. The first half of the songs all have a different feel, though by the time the end had come I had grown a little tired of the flue and violin pair. Although the guitar solos are all very well done, I wouldn't have minded if another one had been substituted for a passage of one of those two instruments, simply for how cool the contrast in sound is. Other than this, the main issue with Summereve comes right at the end. The main theme from the overture comes back in a triumphant fashion and builds to what seems like a great climax. Rather than fulfilling that tension by brining it home, the guitar drops down in the mix on the last note, and some quick, solo drums, close it out. I have suspicions that this will match up with the intro to the fall album, Autumnsong, but I have no way of checking currently.

Even though this ends up being a pretty disappointing ending, it doesn't ruin anything that came before it. Regardless of a giant climax in the last few seconds, the previous 40 minutes of music are generally really beautiful and a joy to listen to. The album goes by fast, and besides my complaint with the overuse of the flue and violin, I really enjoy listening to it all the way through. If you're already a fan of Höstsonaten's work you're probably going to want to finish the season cycle, and even if you're new to the band, this is a good one to check out before the year comes to a close.

m2thek

Very unexpected occurrence of a remarkable, melodious, soft album in style of Prog-rock. Excellent soft arrangements of pleasant melodies, excellent party of wind Instruments, create unique harmonious atmosphere. Many thanks to musicians that in prevalence of heavy directions in Prog-rock they have kept softness and musicality. If is, with what to compare an album, only to recent albums Camel (1999-2002), but unlike Camel a spirit at this album lyrical and at the same time positive, light. I recommend this album for all lovers of beautiful music. He does not open new frontiers, but uses a great early development, and very pleasing to the ear.

Alexandr Tuskarilla

It's not unlikely I just found myself the album of the year with this latest release by Hostsonaten. I was just checking the site of my fellow countrymen (DPRP) merely out of curiosity and I detected a 10 out of 10 there. Now why doesn't that surprise me... ?

Compared to that our own 4,02 (so far) is a very modest score for such a jewel I would say. And another remarkable thing is: 134 ratings with just 7 (?) reviews at this point. It makes you wonder if this is a tough album to review. Well, actually it could be because I find it hard myself to say much about it. Let's give it a shot: it's enchanting instrumental music with high quality melodic tracks is the best I can do. I'm not really familiar with this band and RPI is not quite the subgenre I would expect listening to this. It's more like symphonic prog, a bit in the style (not sound !) of Clearlight. Best tracks are the opening (mini) epic and the marvellous closer (guitar !). The rest is way above par as well by the way.

In the end the rating is just about as tough to determine as the review. It's a very tough call between 4 and 5 stars but since I can't detect any flaws and it's an overall more than excellent effort by Hostsonaten I will round up this time. Album of the year ? To me it (probably) is !

Henk van der Hoff

Höstonaten is a project that dates back to 1991. It's mainly the brainchild of Fabio Zuffanti, a very prolific multi-instrumentalist and composer involved in many other bands and projects such as la Maschera di Cera, Finisterre, Aries and Rohmer just to name a few. The name of this project was inspired by a famous film directed by Ingmar Bergman, Autumn Sonata, and the love for cinema can be perceived also in the evocative atmospheres conjured by the music. After two interesting albums (Höstonaten, released in 1996, and Mirrorgames, released in 1998), Fabio Zuffanti started to work on a series of musical tableaux inspired by the cycle of the seasons that was completed in 2011 with "Summereve", the album inspired by Summer. The album was released on the independent label AMS/BTF and is the first part of cycle. Well, the first part of this cycle was also the last one to be released but I think that it's the right starting point to explore all the albums of the cycle if you haven't listened to them yet. The line up here features along with Fabio Zuffanti (bass, Moog, Taurus bass pedals, acoustic guitar, tambourine, tubular bells) also Luca Scherani (Mellotron, Hammond and Church Organ, Minimoog, Grand Piano, Fender Rhodes, clavinet, Roland & Yamaha synthesizers, RMI keyboard, Farfisa, Sequencers, piano), Maurizio Di Tollo (drums, congas, tambourine), Matteo Nahum (acoustic and electric guitars), Fausto Sidri (didgeridoo, percussion), Joanne Roan (flute), Luca Tarantino (oboe), Sylvia Trabucco (violin), Alessandra Dalla Barba (violin), Ilaria Bruzzone (viola) and Chiara Alberti (cello). The beautiful art cover by Davide Guidoni tries to capture the spirit and the colours of the music opening a door for your imagination...

The first track "Seasons's Ouverture" is a suite in six parts (Rite Of Summer, In The Rising Sun, The Last Shades Of Winter, A Church Beyond The Lake, La Route Pour Finistére and Springtheme). The mystery of the Summer solstice is celebrated at dawn with a rite featuring a crescendo of percussions, then the sun begins to shine and lights up the colours of the nature. Fabio Zuffanti had the idea of this cycle of the seasons during a journey in Brittany and you can try to follow him on his way to Finistère to visit a quiet, beautiful church beyond a lake... Acoustic guitar passages, swirling flutes notes, fiery keyboards surges: the music is complex with many changes in rhythm and mood but always warm and pleasant. There's no interruption between the different tracks of this work and piano and violin lead the way to the idyllic, romantic "Glares Of Light". "Evening Dance" follows bringing a touch of mystery and thoughtlessness while "On The Sea" is more reflective and dreamy. On the evocative "Under Stars" you can listen to some narrative vocals... "We celebrated every moment of our meetings as epiphanies / Just we two in all the world / Bolder, lighter than a bird's wing, you hurtled like vertigo / Down the stairs, leading through moist lilac to your realm / Beyond the mirror...". These are the first verses of a poem by Arseny Tarkovsky that you can hear in The Mirror, a 1975 film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, son of the poet... An electric guitar riff then introduces "Blackmountains" an amazing track full of colours and exotic touches where flamenco guitar and violin interact broidering delicate melodies. Next comes the tense "Prelude Of An Elegy" that drives you towards a storm and to the last track of this album, the melancholic "Edge Of Summer". Well, on the last notes you can feel that Autumn is coming soon...

Andrea Parentin

Convengamos que no es nada que no hayas oído antes si es que has escuchado progresivo sinfónico, pero igual no deja de ser un álbum que por momentos destila una gran belleza, en una conjunción de teclados memorables, flautas y violines mezclados con sonidos de guitarras eléctricas, grandes melodías, vivos colores y matices. Un gran álbum, si es que te va ese estilo.

www.myspace.com/hostsonaten