Steve Hackett
Under A Mediterranean Sky

Every now and then the good old (he's now 71) Steve remembers A) to take a nice vacation away from the crowds of his concerts, B) that he is an excellent classical guitarist. When this happens, a work like "Under a Mediterranean Sky" emerges, and the two circumstances inevitably end up mingling, as in this case. Thus, we see in the booklet associated with the double album all the destinations of his Mediterranean travels and hear their echoes.

In reality, Hackett's latest effort opens with a broad symphonic piece, inspired in my opinion by Rodrigo's Guitar Concertos, certainly well-known to our hero. Although the first title is "Mdina," namely the fortified city of Malta, rather than the homeland of the great Spanish composer; nothing serious, on the contrary, to make the piece even more friendly, Steve inserts a beautiful and broad citation of Tchaikovsky, an uncredited quote... something fairly normal since the days of the famous "Horizons," clearly derived from Bach's Suite No. 1 (Prelude). Well, nothing serious, as long as the Music goes on! And so it is with a beautiful composition for solo guitar inspired by Steve by the mountainous profiles of the Croatian coast, which may seem a bit boring to some, but fortunately soon gives way to "Sirocco," a decidedly orientalizing piece with orchestral support and tabla, aimed at reminding us of the desert atmospheres between Jordan and Israel up to Egypt and then distant Morocco.

The transition to side B is very nice and fitting. In Steve's arpeggios, you truly feel the "Joie de Vivre," which he claims characterizes the French spirit and its main peculiarities: wine, food, folk music, and painting. There's a stark contrast with the subsequent "The Memory of Myth," definitely poignant and melancholic, capable of perfectly recalling the Cradle of our Civilization, as well as the birthplace of Tragedy, Poetry, Prose, and indeed the Myths such as that of Ulysses: the ultimate embodiment of human thirst for Knowledge.

And finally, we arrive at Home, this time with an excellent arrangement (cited) of a sonata by Domenico Scarlatti, aligned, if nothing else, in origins with two giants of the era that certainly, see above, Hackett knows very well: Bach and Handel. From Naples, Scarlatti's birthplace, to Pompeii is a decidedly short step, and upon reaching the world's most famous archaeological site, the author wants us to know that he was "enchanted" (his words) by the tiny statuette of the Faun in the eponymous villa, thanks to a very delicate piece that puts us all in agreement!

And we come to the last side of the vinyl, the third, with a strong new transition in Turkey to the dance of the Dervishes, evoked in a nostalgic and melancholic manner first, before immersing us in the rhythm absolutely faithful to that Persian-origin rite, cut—it's indeed the case to say so—by the orchestra's decidedly epic intervention. A very rich and complex piece, "The Dervish and the Djin," in my opinion the most successful also for its adherence to the environment evoked, quite familiar to me. Just for the record, the Dervishes are an Islamic monastic caste of which the famous whirling dervishes represent a Turkish specialization and in particular of the Koranic school of Konya located in central Anatolia, while Djin stands for an evil genius, commonly referred to by us as a demon that the Dervish wants to banish with his exhaustive and exhausting ritual.

We return to earth (musically) with "Lovato," which gives us the third point and victory over the other Mediterranean countries, portraying with a delightful arpeggio the land of Romagna depicted by the beautiful Sant'Arcangelo, where Steve certainly returned more and more times, in fact, on one of these occasions we even met in Sogliano, a few years ago. The last Mediterranean land to be honored could only be Spain, specifically Andalusia, whose musical heart can't help but take us to Granada and its Alhambra, where Hackett very naturally goes wild with a decidedly complex arpeggio enriched by the contribution of Roger King's orchestra.

Final dedicated to the call of the Sea (Mediterranean), quite ceremonially.

Moral? A good work, cared for and felt, decidedly distant from the stereotype of the Genesis' Pillar that was and the prog works of Hackett himself. Excellent packaging of the 2 vinyls accompanied by CDs for all listening needs, which I do not give the highest score mainly for the lack of originality of this work.