for me. One cannot flog a dead horse. Once a track is complete, it is complete. The album total length of the digipack release is of 35 minutes while the digital download, which has only 11 tracks instead of 13 is of about 30 minutes. It is reduced to the bone, but that is how it was… Q: I get the sense that taking a new direction for you didn’t just mean introducing electronics into the game…
and I would then ask him to strip the sound down. I wanted to reduce the musical communication to its core. Q: Have you and Davide actually physically met? A: No, we talked extensively on Skype. Our collaboration though worked very well as there was a lot of chemistry between us and there was no need even to discuss themes and concepts. What we mostly talked about were issues relating to planning and scheduling. In terms of the musical imprint we had blind faith in what the other was doing. Instead of having to say, “I would like this or that”, I would just say, “I trust you”. Q: Did it ever happen that he wasn’t convinced with one of your compositions? A: Yes, it happened both ways. What he was mostly surprised by was the length of the tracks. He kept asking me, “Why are they so short?” The track Summer Nights, for instance, only lasts 1’50”. He said that if it were longer he would’ve gladly listened to it for 8-10 minutes. There was nothing I could do about it, though. That was the perfect length
A: I feel there has to be a will to try out something new in the creative process. What I like to listen to, I then try to incorporate in my own work. I’ve mentioned Greg Haines as an influence, but I could have mentioned Ólafur Arnalds as well, and the labels Erased Tapes and Serein, for instance. The more one broadens one’s listening habits, the more one is encouraged to experiment. Having entered this world from the front door, so to speak, with Ludovico Einaudi, who is one of my all time favorite artists, I am now trying to evolve. I didn’t want to remain anchored to a specific sound and I tried to push myself. Q: Where does the artwork come from? A: The album cover shows a scene with snow, that is the theme of the album. I like the artwork very much, because Eugenio, who also worked on Autumn Stories, has interpreted the concept to perfection. The album is called Now and shows a very still and glacial landscape, but for an accent of colour which represents something extemporaneous. Melancholic moments, then, but also filled with hope. There is a coincidence between graphics and concept. Q: What is your compositional ap-
proach to any particular track? A: It has remained the same over the years. I sit down at the piano, I switch on my PC and I play. As soon as I play something I like, I record it and 9 times out of 10, it makes the final cut. I hardly touch the tracks after that. There are instances where I may expand the themes, but mostly I don’t touch them again until I go into the studio to record them. With the string sections, it is a different matter; the process is more labour intensive and there’s more thought behind it. When I wrote the cello part in Now, for instance, I was already thinking of what the viola should do. Q: Are you classically trained? A: I went to a private music school here in Mantua that enabled me to take the entry exam at the Music Conservatory. I do know the theory of music so when I sit down to write the string parts I have an idea of what to do. The strings parts are generally speaking more thought out, whereas the piano parts are more instinctive and improvised. Q: You started playing the piano when you were six, is that correct? A: Yes, we had a piano at home and my father used to play the piano himself. From then on, and since I was eight years old, I had a teacher and I took piano lessons up until my college years. By that time I was playing in rock bands. I sang in a cover band that played Pantera, a band I loved, and Deep Purple etc. We wanted to be famous! I went back to the piano only many years later. Q: Did you ever used to listen to Italian prog rock? A: Not at the time. We preferred to listen to British and US stuff. Only now I’ve rediscovered many gems of Italian prog, but at the time, it was all about Genesis and Dream Theatre. When I went to college, though, I took up jazz music and had Antonio Zambrini as a teacher. He is a great musician. I loved jazz and I wanted to study the difference in harmonies between classical and jazz music. I even set up a jazz quartet with guitar, double bass, drums and piano. The last thing I did was a Hammond based tribute to the James Taylor Quartet. I then quit playing the piano for a long time, until one day, as if by magic, I sat
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