Landscapes – Classic Piano Solo - Edoardo Brotto

Landscapes – Classic Piano Solo presents seven original compositions by Edoardo Brotto, performed by the composer. Images of nature and references to Ravel, Rachmaninov and Chopin run through the programme.

Formats and editions

• CD — CVLD298CD
• Hi-Res WAV file 88.2kHz · 24bit — CVLD298

Musicians

Edoardo Brotto — piano

Recording and production

Original 88.2 kHz · 24-bit recording at AreaMagister Studios, Preganziol, Italy, on 16 and 17 January 2018, using Ribera R12 and Sennheiser MKH8020 microphones. The edition documents a transformerless chain and a signal kept flat, without processing devices during production. The master was monitored and personally approved by Edoardo Brotto.

Steinway & Sons D274, provided by Zin Padova and tuned by Adriano Zin and Edoardo Brotto.

Production: Velut Luna
Executive producer: Marco Lincetto
Musical production: Edoardo Brotto
Recording, mix and mastering: Marco Lincetto
Cover photograph: Edoardo Brotto
Design and layout: Francesca Brotto

Mastering monitor systems

North Star Design Supremo; Norma SC-2 Reference; Genelec 1037c + 7070.

Wadia Digital 1000; Jeff Rowland Coherence One; Spectral DMA 90; Sonus Faber Extrema by Franco Serblin.

Track listing

• 01 Devil's Dance (May, 2017) 10:40
• 02 The Magical Wood, in the style of Ravel (October, 2017) 6:38
• 03 Fantasia Quasi Sonata, in the style of Rachmaninov and Chopin (December, 2017) 17:19
• 04 Prelude in C (September, 2017) 3:39
• 05 Valse Scherzo, in the style of Chopin (July, 2017) 11:47
• 06 Summer Rain, in the style of Ravel (January, 2018) 6:35
• 07 Game Of Thrones Variations (December, 2017) 13:06

Total Time: 69:45

Programme notes

Composer, pianist and photographer: three forms of artistic expression, listed in strictly alphabetical order, which come together in one person, at the highest quality levels. And these are three Arts that in Edoardo Brotto are inevitably interconnected: the musical compositions are directly linked to the images of nature that he first "perceives" and then captures with his photographic lens. They are a source of inspiration and his music describes their colors and forms. And finally, the pianist translates these images, articulating them into "sound". The Vicenza-based pianist creates his compositions by improvising directly at the keyboard in real-time, sometimes in the style of some great composers in music history (and this in itself is a significant virtue that in any case presupposes a deep knowledge of the subject) and much more often with an original and unique creative flair. The fact is that the compositions born from these "improvisations" are pages of the highest technical virtuosity, as well as musical depth, no more and no less than the music of past composers who sometimes inspired them in some way. Speaking of the music specifically, I can simply state with serenity that each piece is characterized by transcendental musical and technical difficulties. This is beautiful music where the difficulties are not ends in themselves or mere virtuosity, but exclusively functional to the pure musical structure of the contents and the actual images, "photographed and developed" by his creativity. Finally, it is tonal music, meaning it is understandable to everyone, but by no means trivial: it is music that draws from the great classics, metabolizes them, and derives a new light from them, of continuity, but directed towards the future. Neither manneristic, nor disrespectful, nor pompous or trivial.

Listen

Velut Luna