Alessandro Esseno
Pictures

A solo piano record is a challenge, for both the performer and the listener. Just three or four pieces are enough to immediately understand not only the depth of the album but also the artist.

This must not have worried Alessandro Esseno in the slightest, assuming he even thought about it. And it's a good thing for us, because his new album "Pictures" is a unique record in its genre; let's say right away that the peculiarity of Alessandro Esseno's pianism is originality, in this, for those who know how to listen, one perceives not only a remarkable mastery of the instrument but also the search for a very personal language not easily comparable to piano giants like Bill Evans, Jarrett, or the pianist Zawinul. The foundation of Esseno's pianism is to be sought perhaps in some pages of Ravel or Debussy if not even Chopin, but not as an expressive or linguistic influence, rather as an approach to the instrument, now crystalline and crepuscular, now torrential with outbursts of adrenaline as if it were electric sound.

The album produced by Rai Trade is the confirmation of the decades-long career of a composer and pianist who has reached an uncommon expressive maturity. Alessandro Esseno has chosen in his artistic and professional journey the longest and most tormented path, compared to other colleagues who are decidedly more "accessible" from the standpoint of enjoyment, but time is proving him right. After repeated listening, one always discovers something new that Esseno had skillfully hidden; thus, the tracks of the album flow like water, sometimes they are the splashes of a mountain spring, as in "Aquiloni" other times the depths of oceanic or perhaps inner abysses where Esseno leads us as in "Onde" or "Dove gli aerei lasciano la scia", to the fantastic dream of "Cristali sognanti" or the metaphysical lyricism of "Estensioni" worthy of a Jorge Luis Borges story. As if that weren't enough, Esseno closes beautifully with a tribute in the form of a medley from a seasoned professional, "Piano improvisations," which amazes us with its virtuosity and pianistic acrobatics, giving us an almost childlike joy along with the awareness of having just listened to the record of a pianist who is truly unique in his genre.

Franco De Biase