Recorded at the Auditorium di Roma (Teatro Studio) on May 3, 2008 PRODUZIONI FUORIVIA (Worldwide distribution by HARMONIA MUNDI-LE CHANT DU MONDE)
At some point, a live recording becomes necessary. After so very many concerts all over the world, after so much travel, so many adventures (both musical and human), it was somehow essential to leave a concrete trace, a disc that could travel the globe on its own, offering witness (in their absence) to the physical presence and warmth of a relationship with the public.
SOLO-dal vivo
is the complete recording of a solo concert held at the Auditorium di Roma (Teatro Studio) on May 3, 2008.
Produced by Paola Farinetti for PRODUZIONI FUORIVIA,
SOLO-dal vivo
will be released in Italy on January 15, 2009 (distributed by Egeamusic on the ODD TIMES RECORDS label) and in the rest of the world in mid-February (12th February 09)
distributed byHARMONIA MUNDI-LE CHANT DU MONDE.
Right off the bat, we must say that it’s an imperfect recording.
We didn’t plan to record the Rome concert or release it as a CD. Therefore, we took none of the steps customary under the circumstances. As fate would have it, though, that particular concert was magic—a miracle of intensity and poetry, with a current of emotion flowing between stage and hall.
Happily, Musica per Roma records every concert for archival purposes, and the CD now being presented was drawn (with considerable effort) from their noisy master. The result is a kind of bootleg authorized by the artist, favoring emotion and soul over technical considerations. All of this is strictly for the record because, in the end, the results are quite good: Gianmaria’s interpretation and voice are such that any technical shortcomings fade into the distance.
It might seem odd that Gianmaria Testa—one of the Italian musicians most open to collaboration, encounters, and special projects that shuffle genres and decks—would choose for his first live recording a solo concert, voice and guitar, nothing more. But the more you think about it, the less strange it seems. Gianmaria has always spoken up for the song form—that perfect balance of text, melody, and harmony that by itself makes up a whole. He has stated repeatedly that if songs do not live and move listeners on their own, played simply on guitar, then no arrangement or gimmick can save them. Here, then, is the reason behind this courageous undertaking, one that looks to the very substance of things. SOLO-dal vivo is a recording that restores to Gianmaria’s songs (including some of his most famous ones) the emotions that brought them to life.
There are two surprises, too—one at the beginning and one at the end. The disc opens with a cover, LA NAVE (“THE SHIP”) by the Apulian Angelo Ruggiero, winner of the 1991 Premio Recanati (now known as Musicultura). It closes with a little gift: a new song, unpublished, a studio recording made in Bologna with two of Gianmaria’s closest musical collaborators: Piero Ponzo (sax and Indian harmonium) and Nicola Negrini (double-bass). COME AL CIELO GLI AEROPLANI (“LIKE AIRPLANES IN THE SKY”) is a love song—intense, full of longing, one of those songs that seem to have existed since the beginning of time.
SOLO-dal VIVO was mixed at Fonoprint in Bologna by Roberto Barillari, with mastering by Maurizio Biancani.
People like me get their start doing lonely battle with a guitar until the varnish wears off the wood and the strings dig burrows into their fingers. Pointers from friends are welcome, but the greater part of the work is a stubborn calling to tame something that you find feral and anarchic. At some point, the solitary work becomes a frontier—and if you cross it, the sickness of song descends upon you. So it was for me—and so, perhaps, it had to be, with a guitar for company and accompaniment. And I would have played and sung just the same, with or without recordings, with or without an audience. For this reason, I feel no stage fright at my concerts. For me, they are encounters to be honored—encounters with people who have come for a reason, with some who have come by mere chance, whom I must not disappoint.
Along with Paola, I decided to create a document of this: Of a May evening in Rome, a few friends, and people who came as if to a date.
Gianmaria Testa
TRACK LISTING:
“LADIESandGENTELMEN”
LA NAVE di A. Ruggiero (ed. BMG Ariola/Fuoristagione)
DENTRO LA TASCA DI UN QUALUNQUE MATTINO di G. Testa (ed. Quai N° 3)
IL VALZER DI UN GIORNO di G. Testa (ed. Quai N° 3)
UN AEROPLANO A VELA di G. Testa e P. Ponzo (Ed. Fuoristagione/Universal Music Publishing Ricordi/ Il Ponte edizioni)
PICCOLI FIUMI di G. Testa (ed. Quai N° 3)
COMETE di G. Testa (ed. Quai N° 3)
SEMINATORI DI GRANO di G. Testa (ed. Produzioni Fuorivia)
FORSE QUALCUNO DOMANI di G. Testa (ed.Produzioni Fuorivia)
UNA BARCA SCURA di G. Testa (ed. Produzioni Fuorivia)
POLVERE DI GESSO di G. Testa (ed. Quai N° 3)
IL PASSO E L’INCANTO di G. Testa (ed. Produzioni Fuorivia)
3/4 di G. Testa (ed. Produzioni Fuorivia)
AL MERCATO DI PORTA PALAZZO di G. Testa (ed. Produzioni Fuorivia)
RITALS di G. Testa (ed. Produzioni Fuorivia)
LA NOSTRA CITTA’ di G. Testa (ed. Produzioni Fuorivia)
SEI LA CONCHIGLIA di P.M. Giovannone e G. Testa (ed. Quai N° 3)
AVREI VOLUTO BACIARTI di P.M. Giovannone (in “Austro e Favonio”, Genesi, Torino, 1994)
GLI AMANTI DI ROMA di G. Testa (ed. Quai N° 3)
BIANCALUNA di G. Testa e G. Guglielminetti (ed. Quai N° 3)
COME AL CIELO GLI AEROPLANI di G. Testa (ed. Prod. Fuorivia)
UNPUBLISHED
