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Rating: A firm believer in constant renewal, drawing from the full spectrum of human musical history without prejudice, Paolo Di Cioccio in 2002 produced an album based on the use of the theremin and released it by blending the expressionist scents of the early metropolises with the ancestral echoes of the Cosmos. This is to say that we are not talking about an old vinyl of microtonal whistles recorded in Cinecittà during the Neorealism era, but about a composite and complex work that builds an evocative and experimental journey around the unmistakable sound of the theremin.
As a conservatory oboe teacher, Di Cioccio inserts into the substantial liner notes of his album reflections and proclamations, both intellectual and visceral, motivating the project in a personal and courageous manner. It is certainly not a speculative work, even though the instrument at the center of this recital has come back into the limelight and fashion in recent years. Far from wanting to show us something talented or virtuosic in his approach to the musical antenna, the maestro guides us through a labyrinth that is at times surreal and at times sinister, of sound architectures emerging from various more or less obsolete devices; also elaborating on the sound of his oboe and unconditionally filtering his vibrational blend.
From the phantasmagoric "Elettropolis" that opens the album, through a tribute to Marinetti and one to Faust, Di Cioccio then arrives at the "Mistero Aerofonico" and concludes with "Aqua," a fittingly titled track in which the old theremin marries the asymmetries of the most modern electronics. It is not an easy listen and certainly not immediate: but the effort to concentrate to the point of ecstatic surrender is rewarded by sensations that ambient music often fails to provide.
Cover enriched by the urban profiles of Tonino Caputo's paintings. A heartfelt dedication to Franco Evangelisti, progenitor of European musical avant-garde, member of Darmstadt, and great improviser.
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