Bruno Sanfilippo
Unity

THE REVIEW

The music of Bruno Sanfilippo, a composer and pianist born in 1965, has a pronounced mystical component and, by drawing on a well-established tradition in the world of classical and neo-classical music, references dark arts such as spiritual esotericism and magic and what was once called alchemy and today we recognize as chemistry. A graduate of the Galvani Conservatory of Buenos Aires in music composition (piano), Sanfilippo now resides in Barcelona. Approached to artists like Arvo Pärt, Max Richter, and Jóhann Jóhannsson, over time, he has increasingly broadened the spectrum of his compositions with the use of electronic instrumentation and by exploring minimalism and experimentation in the field of electroacoustic music.

His latest album, titled "Unity" and released by Dmitry Taldykin's Dronarivm (a very interesting entity which since 2012 has specialized in ambient and contemporary classical), perhaps represents the summa of his work in recent years. In the eight compositions of the album, Sanfilippo shows abilities that go far beyond the canons of traditional classical music by combining piano features with the right dose of synthetic instrumentation, shaping the musical matter as if it were the philosopher's stone, transforming it into dense spirituality and harmony. "Spiral" immediately introduces us to a sacred dimension of imperial depth that conveys a state of universal calm that insinuates yet forcefully penetrates our souls, as do more fluid and lively compositions like "Entity" or "Cyclical"; "One," "Lux," "Simple," "Simple," "Oneness" have a more minimalist character and direct the listener towards visions of a cinematic nature where emotional suggestions are accompanied by a visual aspect that connects to our subconscious. The concluding "Unity" combines both aspects and in this sense crystallizes the interaction between man and environment both on the visual and historical plane.

Moving from a classical education and inspired by various figures like Erik Satie and Maurice Ravel, and even Claude Debussy, Bruno Sanfilippo over time approached musical and compositional dimensions whose experiments use music as a true instrument, instead placing man at the center according to a classical and allegorical conception derived from Renaissance humanism. Approachable to both classical and experimental authors and even composers like Steve Roach, he is also recognized for those same characteristics present in some works of John Foxx and his project dedicated to "Oceanic Cathedrals" in a musical and ideal sharing represented on astronomical charts by the old but still current (who knows for how long) Vitruvian Man.