Grasshopper

P.S. "Donna ti voglio cantare" is a blatant theft from a Renaissance dance, which I happened to hear on a Radio Tre program, practically identical! So I'm taking off another half point from the album.

The review is beautiful and touching; the album, in my opinion, is one where Branduardi gives more space to his childish side, with fairy tales that are often inconsistent, but also with lovely lyrical moments ("La raccolta", with its almost Mozartian beginning) or medieval-like (the beautiful "Ninna nanna" with a Celtic flavor, which, if done by Enya, would have been hailed as a miracle, and the grim and evocative "Il signore di Baux"). A nice album, but I believe Branduardi's masterpieces are others (two of which I have reviewed).

It's true that there has been an overload of reviews for this album, but it was far from bad. Instead, I see that it has been met with a backlash, albeit from the usual anonymous critics, who nonetheless do add to the numbers.

For me, Morningstar is right: it’s classical music. It incorporates jazz elements, just as Bartok incorporated folk elements (Hungarian), but it’s classical music with all the trimmings. The problem is getting certain purists to understand this; as soon as they hear the "blue notes," they get alarmed. Anyway, the boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred, and it’s now not uncommon for some classical concert programs to include not only Gershwin but sometimes even Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, or Astor Piazzolla. This is a sign that the concept of "classical music" is evolving.

As primiballi says, even in his grayer albums (Miramare and Canzoni d'amore, in my opinion, and I would add Prendere e lasciare), De Gregori always manages to slip in one or two tracks (sometimes three or four) that justify the listening and even the purchase. I have extensively discussed the Dylanization in my review of "Amore nel pomeriggio." Some see it as smoke in the eyes; I, as much as I am fond of the old brilliant and cryptic De Gregori of the '70s, consider it an interesting evolution that has not completely stifled the more poetic side: songs like those mentioned by Nathan have very little in common with Dylan, as I also said regarding "Il Cuoco di Salò": it’s authentic De Gregori, and quite inspired too. So I would be cautious with definitive sentences like "it's over," "he's finished," etc. As long as they're found in a silly review like this one, it's tolerable, but even some authoritative figures have conformed to the trend of shooting down old singer-songwriters (not just De Gregori) with each release, without taking into account that their slow but decent decline is still infinitely more significant than the explosion of "new phenomena" (like, those from Sanremo?).

I bow (with an apostrophe, I wouldn’t want to be misunderstood) to this essay of culture and sensitivity. This great composer, who blurred the lines between jazz and classical music, deserved such treatment. To think that some purists I know are scandalized because I keep my Gershwin CDs on the classical music shelf... I would be tempted to include Duke Ellington as well! P.S. An unmissable recommendation: the historical version with Benny Goodman and the New York Philharmonic conducted by Toscanini. The sound quality is what it is, but the content is phenomenal.

Great album, although in my opinion it doesn't quite reach the level of certain masterpieces from just a few years earlier. Adequate review.

I am part of that hardcore group of fools who continue to listen to Francesco De Gregori. The Dylan-esque turn of recent years has never captivated me much: the De Gregori of the '70s was much deeper and more poetic. However, it seems to me to be more than decent, in any case. This can't be said of this pseudo-review, which is really nothing more than a series of insults and third-grade wordplay. I wasn't dying to get to know this latest work, but the sheer idiocy of what I've just read piques my curiosity...

I take this "you're like Juve" as a compliment in good faith. I will try to honor it by arching my back a bit and encouraging Toni to dive into the box sometimes, instead of taking kick after kick and protesting. But I don’t have high hopes for the Italian referees. Anyway, back then (12/08/2004) I had only been in this magical world for three days, and I was more focused on filling the site with reviews than on their quality. And here it shows.

It’s true that in Italy we had a desperate need for a female rocker (or rockeuse, as some refined folks say), a figure that never existed. But why take the first loud-mouthed screamer and elevate her to this rank? Anyway, this is one of the less ugly albums (along with "California") and the review isn’t bad.