Inferno Dante Zanichelli

The Musea label and the Finnish magazine Colossus endlessly continue their quest for the greatest universal themes, in order to complete their collection of concept-albums dedicated to Progressive rock. The hero of the day is Dante Alighieri, the famous medieval author from Firenze who wrote "The Divine Comedy". That's precisely this epic piece of work, without a doubt one of the greatest books of all times, that serves as the basis for this project. And of course, it has been divided in three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. The first volume is made of thirty-four "cantos" dispatched on four discs, each one showing the personal interpretation of an international band, according to the rules of the genre: no drumboxes, the only instruments allowed are those of the mighty Seventies, the same as for the musical inspiration. Nuova Era, Nemo, Nexus, Willowglass, Ars Nova, Sinkadus, Simon Says and many more.

Liszt’s Dante Symphony is a work of astonishing imagination. His evocation of the ‘Inferno’, the shade of Francesca da Rimini and her sad remembered love is marked by strokes of genius which, with bewildering frequency, pre-empt the mature Wagner (who was, incidentally, the dedicatee of the work). If the second and third movements – the ‘Paradiso’ was wisely commuted to a setting of part of the Magnificat plus a brief Hosanna – don’t quite match the sweep and control of the first, they have their own particular magic. Even so, the work has not acquired the popularity of the Faust Symphony. Barenboim’s new recording with the Berlin Philharmonic is thus particularly welcome. Not only does it augment the number of available recordings to four, it is also the most polished. Even performing ‘live’, the Berlin Philharmonic turns in a performance of near-perfection – the solo lines are a particular joy.