•
Rating: And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Danny Boodman T. D. Lemon Novecento!
Close your eyes, open your heart wide... Ennio Morricone once again gives his best with this (yet another) masterpiece, the soundtrack of the film "The Legend of the Pianist on the Ocean." Although he cannot create an O.S.T. without the need to pair it with the images of the film in question, it can nevertheless be defined as a real album, where everyone can escape for a moment from everything and travel, travel wherever they want...
The album is composed of twenty-six tracks, almost all short, but (almost!) all with their own intensity... So I'll try to be as concise as possible, even leaving out some pieces not worthy of note. The CD begins with "Playing Love": the strings fill the atmosphere, interrupted both abruptly and magnificently by trumpet, flute, and panpipes playing very melancholically. In my opinion, not the right choice as an opening (in fact, the second track "The Legend Of The Pianist On The Ocean" would have been more fitting as the CD's opening, also noteworthy interrupted by momentary chilling blues-jazz breaks). Let's move on to the first true masterpiece, The Crisis: just four piano notes, driven vehemently by a whirlwind of strings, are enough to make you cry, to shake your soul, to let you touch emotions with your hands... So simple yet so wonderful... And more chills...
But not all pieces are that simple, quite the opposite... So much so that, during the listening, you get to "Study For Three Hands," a small cheerful piece in Mozart style, "Tarantella In 3rd Class," a classical style version, but very elaborate of the classic tarantella... and finally "Enduring Movement," a four-hand piece that stirs agitation inside, breath is stolen by notes so rapid that they are hardly perceived. Passing through "Police" (a piece that could have easily been omitted) and "Trailer," a classic and almost banal soundtrack, you reach "Thanks Danny," very, very poor in sounds, but quite touching, at least for those who have seen the film, and to the second masterpiece "A Mozart Reincarnated," also heartbreaking, touching, wonderful... And we're only halfway through the album... "Magic Waltz" is another of Mr. Morricone's gems, a piece that truly instills a great desire to live every time it is heard, a piece to be framed. The following two tracks, "The Goodbye Between 900 & Max" and "Goodbye Duet" both narrate the farewell between the protagonist Novecento and his friend Max, the first in an orchestral version, the second in a delightful duet of the two saying goodbye by playing together for the last time. Then we have "Nineteen Hundred's Madness 1 & 2," two pieces in rag-time style, where "Novecento" goes mad and gifts pearls of joy to listeners, "Second Crisis," an orchestral version of "The Crisis" (almost more effective than the first in my opinion), "The Crave," another beautiful piano piece leaning heavily on tango, but more melancholic than sensual and "Playing Love," the last noteworthy piece along with "Portraits"... In these two pieces, the notes suffice, lyrics would be superfluous... Things that only a master like Ennio Morricone could do.
I believe it's one of those CDs everyone should own. Although many tracks serve only to lengthen the broth, other tracks alone are worth the Maestro's fame and the title of "archive-worthy CD."
...to be able to travel, travel wherever one wants...
Loading comments slowly
