Franco Battiato Shadow, Light

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Franco Battiato

Label: Hemisphere

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 55

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: CDEMC3743

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
L'Ombra della Luce Franco Battiato, Composer
Anthony Pleeth, Cello
Antonio Ballista, Piano
Astarte Orchestra
Filippo Destrieri, Computer
Filippo Destrieri, Keyboards
Franco Battiato, Composer
Franco Battiato, Singer
Gavin Wright, Violin
Giusto Pio, Conductor
Roger Chase, Viola
Messa Arcaica Franco Battiato, Composer
(I) Virtuosi Italiani
Akemi Sakamoto, Mezzo soprano
Angelo Privitera, Computer
Angelo Privitera, Keyboards
Antonio Ballista, Conductor
Athestis Chorus
Carlo Guaitoli, Piano
Filippo Destrieri, Keyboards
Filippo Destrieri, Computer
Franco Battiato, Composer
Franco Battiato, Singer
Haiku Franco Battiato, Composer
Angelo Privitera, Computer
Angelo Privitera, Keyboards
Antonio Ballista, Piano
Fabrizio Merlini, Viola
Filippo Destrieri, Computer
Filippo Destrieri, Keyboards
Franco Battiato, Singer
Franco Battiato, Composer
Gavin Harrison, Drums
Gavin Harrison, Percussion
Jakko Jakszyk, Guitar
Marco Boni, Cello
Milan Chamber Music Choir
Mino Bordignon, Conductor
Pouran Ghaffarpour, Singer
Roberto Mazza, Oboe
Povera Patria Franco Battiato, Composer
Anthony Pleeth, Cello
Antonio Ballista, Piano
Astarte Orchestra
Filippo Destrieri, Computer
Filippo Destrieri, Keyboards
Franco Battiato, Composer
Franco Battiato, Singer
Gavin Wright, Violin
Giusto Pio, Conductor
Roger Chase, Viola
Ricerca sul Terzo Franco Battiato, Composer
Angelo Privitera, Keyboards
Angelo Privitera, Computer
Antonio Ballista, Piano
Fabrizio Merlini, Viola
Filippo Destrieri, Computer
Filippo Destrieri, Keyboards
Franco Battiato, Singer
Franco Battiato, Composer
Gavin Harrison, Drums
Gavin Harrison, Percussion
Jakko Jakszyk, Guitar
Marco Boni, Cello
Milan Chamber Music Choir
Mino Bordignon, Conductor
Roberto Mazza, Oboe
(Le) Sacre Sinfonie del Tiempo Franco Battiato, Composer
Anthony Pleeth, Cello
Antonio Ballista, Piano
Astarte Orchestra
Filippo Destrieri, Computer
Filippo Destrieri, Keyboards
Franco Battiato, Singer
Franco Battiato, Composer
Gavin Wright, Violin
Giusto Pio, Conductor
Roger Chase, Viola
An easy listen that toys with a comfortable mysticism. Franco Battiato’s music is warmly harmonized, hazily atmospheric and utterly synthetic. The voice is that of a gentle balladeer, close-miked in the ‘pop’ sense and thrown into occasional echo; the style of writing, a surface reflection of Part, or Glass, or the Gorecki of the Third Symphony. Battiato’s strategy takes note of all three, cancels any intellectual demands and floats the balance in a sea of ambience. The first song, L’ombra della luce (“The shadow of the light”) is both the simplest and most attractive and could easily take flight in the charts. The Messa Arcaica features a 14'29'' Kyrie where what sounds like a one-finger piano commentary (the sort that habitually crops up on the soundtracks to soap operas) keeps company with a synthesized drone and curvaceous waves of choral tone. The Haiku (where the prescribed 17 syllables is at least quadrupled) sports a contrasting female voice and the Ricerca sul terzo a tabla and what sounds like a sitar.
EMI’s booklet features an evangelical note and an interview where the composer affects a Zen-like inscrutability. Here I quote: “Your music often includes Middle Eastern and Indian references, two cultures with strong links to the spiritual. Is this the reason or is there another?” And the answer? “This is the reason.” Clearly not a fruitful line of questioning or, as Gerald Seligman himself aptly puts it, “when the questions are longer than the answers, it is time for another approach for the liner-notes. Or is this just Battiato’s roundabout way of saying, Let the music speak for itself.” Wise words indeed.'

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