Rondò Veneziano
Masquerade

When I was little, I didn't understand a damn thing about music, or maybe I was at that age when you don't have existential crises about what is alternative or not, and you listen to everything that happens to be around. Well, while Albertino from Radio-Dj was my life model (I was young!!), a much older guy gave me a tape of a group, I correct myself, of an orchestra, no, of an artist, unique, perhaps a genius. Maestro Gian Piero Reverberi. Who is he? Well, to be honest, I didn't know him either. An internationally renowned composer, arranger, collaborator with Mina, Battisti, Gino Paoli, Luigi Tenco, and I could go on. His greatest effort, however, remains the Rondò Veneziano. I can only imagine the reactions to this my de-review. I adore just this album, the rest is mere background.

"Masquerade" (1989 @ BMG Records) completely departs from that excessive baroque quest typical of the immense (about 70 albums) production of Rondò Veneziano who, I emphasize, are only the performers of the music written by Reverberi and Laura Giordano, forcefully inserting itself into the line of "Pop-Instrumental-Chamber-Music-Bedroom-With-The-Head-In-The-Clouds". Does that genre exist? No!? Hooray, I've invented another one.

Lights and shadows under a starry sky and wind rippling the waves. A semi-deserted square, a waltz of leaves. A wooden pier and a gondola reflect on the water at sunset. The newly born moon smiles at an old, tired gondolier. The arches of the colonnades swept by the breeze of the Lagoon. A tear trickles down a carnival mask, following all the irregularities, encountering here and there the preciousness of the finishes. All in pure Metal style, because it is known that classical music is at the origin of Metal (right??).

The truth is that this album should be listened to with headphones, eyes closed (Latin absolute ablative, take that), letting yourself be transported and dreaming. Seductive violins, classical guitars softly plucked, transverse flutes that enter your soul and (e)motion your stomach. Perfect arrangements for an entirely imperfect album in its being "rondò". The mysterious man on the cover hides(shows) the true artist, the genius of Reverberi, who wanted for once to step out of the boundaries he himself created.

Try it to believe it (poor Gigi), believe to live, live to love in pure DeBaser style.

Heavy Metal for everyone, Always!