Bernardo Sassetti Nocturno (2002) [flac]

O 1º de nove álbuns inéditos de actuações ou sessões de gravação do músico. Em 2005, o pianista e compositor aterrou nos Açores para uma série de concertos no Teatro Micaelense. O espaço tornou-se mais do que um cenário para a sua música: assumiu-se como elemento fundamental para a construção da mesma, que ali nasceu com a cumplicidade apenas do técnico de som e do afinador do piano. A relação que Sassetti estabeleceu com o som especial daquele instrumento levou-o a isolar-se nesse curto período, criando e alimentando uma música que pertence apenas àqueles dias. Entre peças originais em que então trabalhava e temas totalmente improvisados e inspirados por essa conjugação especial de factores (aquele piano, aquele local), ali nasceu um milagroso conjunto de gravações que permaneceram inéditas até hoje.

Tony Conrad is an American multimedia and experimental artist. He is musically known in the 60's for his abrasive violin drones and collaboration in the American "Dream Syndicate". In 1972 he visited the krautrock band Faust at Wumme and recorded a first album with them called "Outside The Dream Syndicate". The album is a vast catalogue of shimmering drones for violin, accompanied by percussive minimalist pulses and moving bass guitar lines. The result is tripped out, engaging the listener in strange rituals (almost buzzing "raga" dreamy sounds). This intriguing album is now a true classic of contemporary music and progressive rock. This one captures the essence of minimalism music and the energy of rock. To be honest, this album looks like more to Tony Conrad's explorations in experimentation sounds and insistent droning performances than Faust's hybrid rocking universe.

Pasquini’s golden era of dramatic composition was between the years of 1670 and 1680. Within the realm of the Oratorio genre, his creations were sought after outside the Roman circles. Performances were made in cities such as Florence, Modena, Naples and Vienna. An interesting annotation emerges from the correspondence of the Marquise of Ferrara, Ippolito Bentivoglio (studies done by Sergio Monaldini) in which Giacomo Zucchesini requests an Oratory be sung in Ferrara with a personal stipulation. E se si compiacesse ancora d’accompagnarlo con un altro di Bernardo Pasquini […] mi stimerei somma[men]te favorito. (And were it to be pleasing to have another one of Bernardo Pasquini, I would consider myself highly fortunate.)

Concepts such as evolution and progress are hardly fitting when considering the history of the arts. Each period and place has its own language, which borrows from what had preceded it, paves the way for what will follow, but also rejects some elements of the past and will be partly rejected by the future. Forms and genres prized by one generation are forgotten by the following, and new styles become fashionable in place of the preceding ones. Each of them may produce – and normally does – great masterpieces, which influence in turn what will happen in the future decades.