Eugenio Finardi
Il cantante al microfono

After traversing fado, spiritual, and blues, Eugenio Finardi does not cease to amaze by taking on, with the ensemble Sentieri selvaggi directed by Carlo Boccadoro, the reinterpretation of 11 classics by the Russian poet and dissident Vladimir Vysotsky (1938-1980). The microphone singer, the title of the CD, is not the first time the Milanese singer-songwriter has sung of the man who recorded in secret and with luck. In fact, the artists of the Club Tenco in 1993 published a tribute titled The Flight of Volodja, where Eugenio sang "From the Front He Never Returned" and "The Song of the Earth," which are proposed again even 15 years later. Only two tracks sung by Finardi were not present on the previous record, namely "The Horizon" and the title track. It starts with the first of these two, a declaration of intent, where the expression "shift the horizon" would also become the title in 2011 of the first book written by Eugenio together with Antonio G. D'Errico. "From the Front He Never Returned" is introduced by the piano and in the end, the non-return is likened to a bonfire extinguished by the wind. "Gymnastics" is instead introduced by the clarinet and proves more ironic, as physical activity is a race in which "there is never a first, and no one ever loses." "The Interrupted Flight," set in the snow, is steeped in poetry. "The Wolf Hunt," a metaphor for the struggle for freedom, features both piano and vibraphone. "The Song of the Earth" personifies the earth, humanizes it, rendering the track among the best in the tracklist. The title track is a singer's struggle with "the snake's head" of the microphone, but in the end, Vladimir wins, having managed to sing and record despite the regime. "Wild Horses," supported by the piano for almost the entire track, until the clarinet's coda, speaks of the passage to the Afterlife, and "you are never late if God is there to receive you." "The Sentimental Boxer" is interpreted in a truly heartfelt manner, playing with the words "ok" and "ko," having inverted letters. The penultimate "The White Bath" is characterized by a piano and strings that seem to "speak," expressing the feeling of despair during deportation: "the details send shivers down your spine." In general, more than one track is set in the snow, a clearly frequent atmospheric phenomenon in Russia. The set closes with "Variations on Gypsy Themes," with an instrumental combination of piano, flute, and vibraphone, where, as the title suggests, danceability and sadness alternate.
The translations of the lyrics are by Sergio Secondiano Sacchi, while the orchestration is by Filippo Del Corno. We give the album 3.5 stars, highlighting the theatricality with which Eugenio Finardi interprets all the tracks, sometimes in an ironic sense, sometimes in a serious sense. Speaking of theater, three years later Eugenio would debut at La Scala, fulfilling both his dream and his mother's, with the show I cavoli a merenda, also directed by Boccadoro.