Hostsonaten
Winterthrough

Six years after the last collection of unreleased tracks ("Springsong", 2002) and ten years since its inception, one of the most symphonic and classical music projects returns, created by the prolific Genoese musician Fabio Zuffanti, Höstsonaten. A moniker that in Swedish means "Autumn Sonata", explicitly inspired by Ingmar Bergman's '78 film, Zuffanti continues with the new album the theme dedicated to the Seasons Cycle, a long conceptual suite that began with "Springsong", and joins the Milanese label VM2000, the revived Vinyl Magic, distributed by BTF.

"Winterthrough" is the third part of the Suite, while "Springsong" is the fourth. A Cycle that thus began in reverse, starting from the last part, a rather unusual choice, as original and always against the tide as Zuffanti's personality. Intimate, sometimes somber or of chiaroscuro that come and go in the light of the Lantern. A winter and snowy soul, leaden sky, Zuffanti has never hidden his love for the soft and silent snow-covered landscapes of the colder months. All characteristics that became evident with his solo album "Pioggia e Luce" and focused, crystallized in the symphonies of "Winterthrough".

From the original Höstsonaten, we find, besides the versatile Genoese artist on bass, pedal bass, 12-string guitar, and electric rhythm guitar, only Edmondo Romano (Eris Pluvia) on sax and clarinet, and Robbo Vigo on the many keyboards, who, in addition to being an omnipresent sound technician, is the owner of Studio Zero-Dieci, the headquarters for all of Zuffanti's project recordings. In this album, there are also two members from another Zuffanti project, the acclaimed Maschera di Cera. Alessandro Corvaglia, here not as a singer but as a keyboardist on synthesizers, and Maurizio Di Tollo on drums and various percussion. Completing the circle is the talented guitarist Matteo Nahum from Real Dream, a Genoese cover band dedicated to Genesis, in which Corvaglia also plays.

Sad atmosphere, melancholic, the album opens with "Entering the Halls of Winter" and the Autumn Symphony, Höstsonaten, becomes a Winter Symphony, rain, fog, heavy clouds with insistent piano chords as the track develops in a crescendo. The chimes of "White Earth", a white and motionless landscape coming to life in "Snowstorm", the snowstorm that disrupts the immobility coming from the sky with its symphonic iciness and a sweet melody of hope. Another great symphony is "The Crystal Light" with its initial openings of mellotron and a sweet swaying in a crystalline to and fro of clarinet, as it should be. A joyful moment for "Outside", with a beautiful moog riff opening up to an energetic guitar solo reinforced by the mellotron "choirs", it is the track most tied to the prog of the '70s.

A brief bridge with the wind and the stormy, thundering, pouring clouds of "Ruins" and "Through Winter's Air" and the album closes with "Rainsuite", a long mini-suite in perfect Zuffantian style. Melancholic with a heart-wrenching guitar until the change of pace and then you retreat into the piano's intimacy, dreamy, oneiric, as if watching from a rain-soaked window. The symphonic, airy end that explodes again in piercing guitar solos leaves a glimmer of hope and renewal of life at the end of Winter.

Another hit for Zuffanti, who seems to have the ability to accomplish many things and do them all well. If he has a hand musically, the Genoese musician imbues ideas, creativity, the fire of art that resides in his DNA. This new chapter of Höstsonaten is undoubtedly a great album and now we just have to wait for the other two missing chapters.

Daniele Cutali

You can listen to a preview of 'Winterthrough' on Hostsonaten's MySpace. You can purchase the album here.