ThirdEye

I will look for it.

Berlin is the history of the electric bass by now, a great musician who at just six years old played the violin before moving on to other shores. In harmony's way and taking notes are my favorites.

I have to listen to it, you’ve sparked my curiosity immensely for both these sonatas and for the orchestral works. What a fascinating subject this Scriabin is ;)

In response to your latest post Contemplazione, I’ll keep it brief (and I apologize for that): the three categories you’ve identified, in my opinion, are subjective to each individual's sphere and therefore cannot be taken as terms of comparison. We are talking about emotions here, the most subjective things that exist: the intensity, the nuances of emotions, and their infinite duration (allow me this expression ;)) change every time...it is each of us, in short, who decides the degrees of these three classes, depending on whether I listen to Mozart, Jeff Buckley, or Metallica, for example. With every new listen, they are renewed, determining this or that sensation. Amen.

In the end, I believe that truly none of us can absolutely give an objective judgment on the figure of Allevi; you might be right, Contemplazione, or I might be... or maybe we both have made a mistake! What is genuine and what is constructed around him is, I think, very difficult to assert with certainty, since we are "on this side" of the artist, simple consumers and listeners (but who can nonetheless express their judgment freely). What I reiterate, however, is, in my opinion, the importance of discerning the musical proposal from the buzz and the mass media noise generated by the Allevi phenomenon (this time it’s him, but the discussion can be applied to anyone else).

STAYPOWER for president!

Ah, for universal: the character of universality in music, in my opinion, is given by the fact that it essentially speaks to everyone and addresses all of humanity. Yes, it can also be understood as a temporal characteristic (longevity indeed), but what matters is its objective: to communicate something. And primarily, music communicates emotions, and we all experience emotions... in this, music serves as a mediator, a common denominator for all our individual experiences. Um... sorry anyway for the long and boring posts ;)

I completely understand what you mean by Contemplation, and from a certain point of view, I agree with you. However, it doesn’t seem to me that Allevi has the intent to revolutionize the entire musical knowledge, nor do I attribute this goal to him, just to be clear. Allevi's music is, for a small percentage, "cultured" music (in the sense that it draws from the classical heritage) and for the rest, it is entertainment, light music, pop, as Jake rightly says; I don’t find anything wrong with this latter characteristic at all. Music, in my opinion, is also entertainment, lightheartedness, easy and catchy melodies: Allevi manages to create all of this (and it’s not easy at all) and, if you allow me, I consider it much more sincere than many contemporary intellectuals who STRUGGLE to be original... then we can add that the media have exaggerated as usual, and there’s no doubt about that! But beyond this, what remains is only the music, essentially what an author wants to convey. Let’s not force purposes that a certain type of music does not have and does not wish to have because it doesn’t make sense.

Frankly, I believe that Allevi is not a fake idiot; on the contrary, I consider him a very intelligent person (not a genius, mind you!) who has a particular sensitivity of his own. I don't see him as being tied to certain attitudes or a specific image... I think real clowns are much different and far worse. I see his music as very well thought out and it somehow reflects his personality; of course, if we want something more sophisticated, it's only logical that we should look elsewhere... but he appeals to a bit of everyone (without pretentiousness and various hang-ups), and I find this a remarkable characteristic of universal appeal.

Reading all these comments (plus other opinions from friends, etc.), I find the viewpoints of galakordi and 47 interesting. Correct me if I'm wrong or if I've misinterpreted: one is disappointed with Obzen because it doesn't continue the sonic experimentation path traced by Nothing and Catch 33, with tracks that lack bite and are weak (you were basically expecting something more ;)); 47, on the other hand, approves of the now well-established style of Meshuggah, calling Obzen a tasty album and nonetheless an ass-kicker, devoid of various experiments because we already know how Our guys sound (and they probably know better than we do...). One common point: the horrendous cover! The truth probably lies in between, and with that, we conclude the session ;))