Odissea Kazanzakis

Rondò Veneziano is an Italian chamber orchestra, specializing in Baroque music, playing original instruments, but incorporating a rock-style rhythm section of synthesizer, bass guitar and drums, led by Maestro Gian Piero Reverberi, who is also the principal composer of all of the original Rondò Veneziano pieces. The unusual addition of modern instruments, more suitable for Jazz, combined with Reverberi's arrangements and original compositions, have resulted in lavish novel versions of classical works over the years. As a rule in their concert tours, the musicians, mostly women, add to the overall Baroque effect wearing Baroque-era attires and coiffures.

If you loved the crossover hit song "Time to Say Goodbye" as performed by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman, or any of the Three Tenors discs, then you will love this disc also. Marcelo Álvarez and Salvatore Licitra are two of the new century's rising tenor stars, already being hyped as their generation's Domingo and Pavarotti. Here you have the two of them with the same lush orchestra and moving, passionate melodies as those other discs, including two new songs by Francesco Sartori, composer of "Time to Say Goodbye.

Homer's "The Odyssey" is one of the most beautiful stories ever written. The Odyssey-like venture of the French label Musea and the Finnish magazine Colossus was therefore bound to come across the road of the famous Greek poet of Antiquity. The triple album presented is made up of nine symphonic pieces lasting about 25 minutes each, and recorded by the most exciting gathering of international talents you may imagine: Nathan Mahl (Canada), Nexus (Argentina), Glass Hammer (USA), XII Alfonso (France), Simon Says (Sweden), C.A.P. (Italy), Tempano (Venezuela), Minimum Vital (France) and Aether (Brasil). Jointly inspired by Homer's masterpiece and the best works of the masters of Progressive rock, the nine bands have been able to give the best they could…

Piero Cotto (from Asti, Piedmont) begun his musical career in the early 60's with the Henghel Gualdi Orchestra, then as a solo artist. He lived for many years in Greece, where he had a huge success with the album Forgiveness. When he came back to Italy, he formed the group Piero e i Cottonfields with musicians from his home town (except Russo from Turin and Scarpellini from Bologna), that had their debut with a successful appearance at the Disco per l'Estate TV contest in 1972 with their first single Due delfini bianchi. In the same year they released their one and only album, with the long title "Il Viaggio, La Donna, Un'altra Vita", housed in a beautiful gatefold cover. Despite some more pop-inspired tracks, the album is on a good musical level, halfway between early Delirium and Odissea, with very nice flute passages like in Cantico or the title track, and the powerful harsh voice of Piero Cotto (similar to Delirium's Ivano Fossati) in evidence.