Ivano Fossati
La disciplina della terra

With "La disciplina della terra", Fossati closes a cycle of noble albums, proudly diverse, which began with "La pianta del tè". The subsequent albums (with the exception of "Not one word") will show a lightness, also noble, that stands in discontinuity especially with the album presented here. "La disciplina della terra" is an intense and brilliant album that goes "in an obstinate and contrary direction" (De André – Fossati, 1996) compared to most of the Italian music scene. The album opens with the fast and pressing beat of "La mia giovinezza" where Fossati states "shamelessly":

"I am guilty of having nourished
love and other deviations,
like melancholy,
like nostalgia."

Here Fossati manages to tackle worn-out topics, such as love, with a masterful flair. Follows the song I love the most on the album: "Treno di ferro (ai ragazzi che partono in guerra)". The track begins with the sweet and sad notes of a piano and then transitions into a crescendo where all the other instruments participate with vigor. Fossati sings:

"Goodnight
goodnight I'm leaving
I'm going and there's no appeal
and not even the umbrella I find this night
so I go even if it's raining
even if behind the clouds there is a new moon
I go without you
I go without you."

If you LIVE these words, you risk feeling the sweetness of the pain they convey. The next song is "La disciplina della terra", again played on the piano and accompanied by a string orchestra: the album's manifesto song and a strange combination of Fossati's typical cerebral tendency and a strong desire for change:

"Now I have a contract with the angels
and I will surely find you life
in some blinding August
or in a less deluded time
that you want."

With "Invisibile" comes the most "thoughtful" and less "felt" piece of the album: the class remains high, but it seems a pretext to show off his thoughts. It reminds me of "La bottega di filosofia", from "Lampo viaggiatore" when he says: "I am a visionary shop philosopher who observes and ultimately doesn't care": it almost seems written in reaction to songs like "Invisibile". The album's intensity soars with "Sono tre mesi che non piove". Just listen to him sing:

"It hasn't rained for three months
I have sand and salt in my bed
sin and repentance
I have a scythed soul
from which my entire race descends
which has a heart and belly of amethyst
no rule of life
without moonlight
gold in the eyes
and above all no defense from pain."

to get chills. The following "Angelus" is a gentle and kind piece towards one's woman but hides a "hunger" that can also be found in "La scala dei santi" from "Macramé". The quiet of this piece precedes the strong and controversial "Iubileum bolero (ai giubilanti dell’anno duemila)". For some, this song is a clear example of the excessive compositional heaviness reached by Fossati in some cases (songs of similar "size" are "Confessioni di Alonso Chisciano" and "Lunario di settembre"), for others it is the pinnacle of sophistication and expressive freedom. Although I lean towards the second faction, both viewpoints probably have their foundation and their dignity. But I am too sensitive to verses like:

"And here is the spirit of an engineer
who saw the West Indies
and latitudes and longitudes and still asks:
"in which city we are going and in what time
especially in what time".

After the fantastic jazz counterpoint by Enrico Rava on the trumpet and an intense recitative by Mercedes Martini, the traditional song "La rondine" insinuates itself, a simple and delicate moment interpreted by Fossati with Luvi De André (daughter of the much-missed Fabrizio). A further jump to the heart comes when "Il motore del sentimento umano" emerges. It is a bitter and bewildered love song: Fossati's voice suggests eternal disorientations when he sings:

"And what words are needed today
for those who can only write love letters
what steps of poets and their rains and solitudes
would bend your gaze and your time again
towards me."

The end of the album is entrusted to "Dancing sopra il mare (Panama, parte seconda e finale)" and "Finale (al tempo che si muove)". The first is the conclusion of the story left open with the song "Panama" from the eponymous album. The song is entrusted to the reciting voice of Mercedes Martini and immerses us in the somewhat melancholic but playful atmosphere of a cruise where the lives of many dreamers intersect and seem to dance to the music of the track. "Finale (al tempo che si muove)" is a highly atmospheric instrumental, for piano and orchestra, indicating the landing that Fossati would soon reach: his next album "Not one word".

To end with just a few, simple words: one of the highest points of Italian songwriting.