Höstsonaten "Symphony N.1: Cupid & Psyche"

Country: Italy
Genre(s): Instrumental Symphonic
Label: AMS
Format: CD, vinyl, digital
Release date: April 8, 2016
Tracklist: 

1. The Sacrifice 
2. Zephyr
3. Love Scene
4. Unmasking
5. Venus (1st Trail)
6. Entrapped (2nd Trail)
7. Sheep and Water (3rd Trail)
8. Underworld (4th Trail)
9. The Awakening
10. The Ascension

Line-up: 
Luca Scherani: keyboards
Fabio Zuffanti: bass pedal & devices
Paolo "Paolo" Tixi: drums & orchestral percussion
Laura Marsano: guitars
Daniele Sollo: bass
   With
Joanne Roan: flute
Luca Tarantino: oboe
Sofia Bartolini: bassoon
Marco Callegari: trumpet
Alberto Repetto: horn
Federico Curotto: trombone
Maurizio Zofrea: tenor sax
Formus String Quartet:
Sylvia Trabucco: first violin
Alessandra Dalla Barba: second violin
Ilaria Bruzzone: viola
Chiara Alberti: cello

Description/Reviews: 

For some time Fabio had dreamed of composing a symphonic suite for group and orchestra on a mythological subject which could also serve as ballet music, as great composers such as Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky have done in the past. Apuleio's account of "Cupid and Psyche" (taken from the "Metamorphosis") inspired Zuffanti to jot down a series of musical ideas suitable for such a suite. When he had completed the cycle he put the material in the hands of Luca Scherani, who arranged it for string quartet, woodwinds and brass, sometimes drawing on Zuffanti’s ideas and sometimes writing new arrangements of his own. The aim was not to produce an album of classical music but to blend the sounds of the orchestra with the urgency of rock. And so the album includes fiery bass, drum and guitar sections combined with the magniloquence of the violin, the bassoon, the trumpet and all the other instruments of the orchestra. To this he adds, in the best prog tradition, plenty of keyboards such as Moog, mellotron, organ and piano of various kinds.
An album such as this one clearly has illustrious predecessors and sources of inspiration, particularly the New Trolls’ concerti grossi, the most symphonic chapters of Genesis and the great Romantic composers of the past. Fabio and Luca have added their own sensibility and all the atmospheres characteristic of Höstsonaten to these influences.
"Cupid & Psyche" is the first of a series of projects in strictly classical style that Fabio and Luca would like to work on in the future: a series of rock symphonies to make their own positive contribution to the merger of urgency with classicism.   

Media/Samples 
Bandcamp


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