It's fair to say that for every artists, it always comes a moment in their careers in which they need to close a circle. For years, fans and music lovers in general had requested a greatest hits from the Italian Maestro Roberto Cacciapaglia and their wish has finally become reality.
Atlas, Cacciapaglia's new release, is a double CD that encapsulates perfectly the artistic path of the Italian artist through 28 tracks, mostly belonging to the later releases of Cacciapaglia's extraordinary career.
The choice of the setlist may seem, at first glance, just a casual compilation of the Maestro's most famous tunes composed in the last quarter of the century. In reality, Cacciapaglia builds very carefully and cleverly the sequence of tracks present on Atlas, alternating moods and atmospheres through some truly sublime and inspired piano movements coming from Cacciapaglia's most recent discography like Canone Degli Spazi, Alphabet, Ten Directions, Quarto Tempo, or some slightly more dated, like Sonanze and Incontri Con L'Anima, amongst others.
The Italian Maestro, which has always been working with some of the finest musicians in the world, gifts the listeners, as an extra added bonus on Atlas with two new and very evocative tunes, Reverse and Mirabilis. Cacciapaglia had composed those new tunes prior to the release of this greatest hits and then he recorded them with the musical support of the very talented young musicians of the Celestia Chamber Orchestra last year, during the Tree Of Life Tour.
One of the most touching moments of the album is the Italian Maestro's homage to the life and career of the late great David Bowie, through a delicate and delightful piano version of Starman, one of the most iconic songs written by the English artist throughout his glorious career. Cacciapaglia treats the tune with the greatest respect possible, creating a dreaming arrangement with tinges of melancholy and drama. The whole, executed in the inimitable, exquisite and unique style and charisma that have been the trademark of every record of the Italian Maestro.
Atlas may be, or may be not, Cacciapaglia's own way to close a musical circle before launching himself into the next musical chapter of his splendid career and time will surely tell us more. What we have here, for old and new fans of the Italian artist, is a timeless record that photographs perfectly the past and the present of one of the giants of Contemporary Classical music. An outstanding statement of talent and brilliancy of one of the most inspired, intuitive and creative musicians of this generation.
Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Atlas is out now and it is available via Amazon
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