Posts tagged neoclassical

As you may have noticed, I dropped last week’s #musicmonday. I was off for a quick holiday in my home country Sardinia/Italy. Now I’m back in Germany and even if I still got a lot of things to catch up, I’ll take some time to dedicate a few words to one of the most creative, most versatile and most interesting artists (that’s a lot of “most”) in the free music world. His name is Marco Lucchi, he is from Modena/Italy. He is a multi-instrumentalist and composer that has released a REALLY impressive number of high quality releases during the past three decades (or so), most of the them are available for free and all of the are worth listening.

It’s almost impossible to pick out one “typical” release of Lucchi, as he is involved in so many different ideas and projects. To have a brief introduction of his work and his biography, it’s best to visit his soundcloud-page and read the bio there and listen to some of his past and present recordings.

I’m pretty sure, that if you have the slightest interest in experimental music, avantgarde music, folk music or ambient music, you will find a lot of music from Marco Lucchi to listen to and to enjoy. I’ve downloaded/listened to at least 20 releases of this guy and still, every new release I explore surprises me.

Here are some good releases to start with. They are not intended as a representative cross section, but simply some of my personal favorites:

1. Marco Lucchi & Ensemble – Fados 1988-2008
   
    
   (click cover to download)
   
   A collection of mainly “old” recordings he did with an ensemble of very fine musicians. The music shifts between folk, (neo-)classical and contemporary music. A simply enchanting collection.
    
2. Marco Lucchi - Mater Natura
   Marco Lucchi - Alina, un altro giorno




The Estonian composer Arvo Pärt is a huge influence on some (not all!) projects of Marco. He seems to be fascinated by the simplicity and the emotional power of Pärt’s music. “Mater Natura” and “Alina, un altro giorno” (Alina, another day) are two very original attempts to rework two of Pärt’s major works (the Stabat Mater and the piano miniature Alina). You can find another Alina reference on the album Poets.




3. Marco Lucchi - The Spleen
   
   
   
   His latest release “The Spleen” (published on his bandcamp site only 10 days ago) is a wonderful example for his ability of blending ambient music with soundscapes and fragmentary melodies.

Related links:

• Marco Lucchi - Homepage 
• Marco Lucchi - facebook.com
• Marco Lucchi - bandcamp.com
• Marco Lucchi - soundcloud.com
• Marco Lucchi - webbedhandrecords.com

Though I’m really not the biggest fan of reinventing and remixing classical music - I found most of the reworked classics cheesy, way to simple and way to ‘reduced to hooklines’ - this free EP “Chopin Rearranged” by Polish musician Piotr Michałowski (in artem Nmls, whatever that stands for) sounds quite interesting.

Listen to what he created from the famous Raindrop-Prelude:

Giampaolo Stuani - Frédéric Chopin: Raindrop Prelude (op. 28/15)

Nmls - Rainlude Predrop

Quite a difference, eh? I like the way Michałowski mixes the popular melodies all up, changes the tempo and adds modern rhythm to it. The is much more than a rearrangement, it is a de- and reconstruction.

It doesn’t replace the original Chopin, but it is certainly one way to start with the romantic composer and to understand, which impact his harmonies still have in the 21st century.

You can get Michałowski’s EP → here

You can find the Preludes, op. 28 - my favourite Chopin cycle - wonderfully performed by the Italian pianist Giampaolo Stuani → here.
Unfortunately it is a VERY lossy version, as usual, when it comes to a free onclassical.com download version and unfortunately the parts are in the wrong order - but at least you get a good impression.

Both releases come with a Creative Commons license, check the download pages for details.