Eugenio Finardi
Il Silenzio & Lo Spirito

LA RECENSIONE

Two years have passed since the album on Portuguese Fado, and Eugenio Finardi dives into the second "unconventional" adventure of the four consecutive ones. This time the genre is spiritual, and the album is called Il silenzio e lo spirito. Few titles have been more representative, and you'll soon understand why. This time, the "extraterrestrial" singer-songwriter is accompanied by Vittorio Cosma on piano, Francesco Saverio Porciello on guitars, and Giancarlo Parisi on the winds. The setlist consists of thirteen pieces, one by Finardi himself and three original instrumentals composed by the respective musicians.
It opens with "L'oceano di silenzio," the track that instead closed Fisiognomica in 1988. Eugenio's interpretation elevates the melody with his final "in calma". It continues with a very recent song by Leonard Cohen, the only artist represented with two tracks, which is "The land of plenty," well rendered by Eugenio. In the traditional "Orléans," there is very little singing, but it's intense. Then comes "Il ritorno di Giuseppe" from Faber’s La buona novella, nothing to add here, a professional interpretation. There's also an incursion into classical music with the genius of Johann Sebastian Bach and his "chorale from cantata 147" (bwv is the German acronym for the cataloging of the composer’s works). Eugenio had never sung in German before, but he recorded the live Strade in Germany in 1984. Then comes the first original piece, "Arenal," for Francesco Porciello's guitar but with contributions from Vittorio Cosma. Very acoustic, it’s appreciable. "Una scala per la luna" is shorter but equally valid, where the piano shines. Eugenio returns; the album title alludes to the spirit for the theme evidently binding all the tracks, but also to silence, and not just because of the opening track, but because there's also singing in silence. This is what happens in the traditional "Motherless Child," where Finardi’s voice masterfully sings without a base in the most total silence, maintaining tempo and vocal timbre. The longest original track, named "Danza di Eolo," is a lengthy bagpipe solo at such a high frequency, it’s almost irritating to the ears, even quoting "Tu scendi dalle stelle," and is performed obviously by Giancarlo Parisi. Track 10 is a Leonard Cohen classic, "Hallelujah," and it's the only song from the project that survived in Eugenio’s concerts. A heartfelt interpretation, he's made it his own. There’s room for a piece by the author, "Come in uno specchio," from 1989, very long and divided into three parts. The penultimate test is the traditional "Adeste fideles," in the norm, while the concluding "Ave Maria fadista" is clearly an "outtake" from the previous album finding space here. The main version is by Amalia Rodrigues.
Il silenzio e lo spirito is a sufficient work, sung and played with professionalism and some remarkable glimpses. However, it does not go beyond three stars, unlike Anima blues, an album nurtured by Eugenio for 40 years!