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Roberto Bonati
Roberto Bonati ParmaFrontiere Orchestra: Si erano vestiti dalla festa
by Duncan Heining
"Si erano vestiti dalla festa"--They had dressed up for the party. In August 1922, citizens of Parma barricaded the city against a planned assault by Mussolini's blackshirts. They resisted valiantly and repelled the fascists. No fascist passed that day. A few months later, in October, King Victor Emmanuel III appointed Mussolini prime minister. The heroes of Parma were not forgotten and their bravery is embedded in Parma's popular history. Roberto Bonati and his orchestra chose to celebrate their ...
Continue ReadingRoberto Bonati Chironomic Orchestra: The Gesture Of Sound / The Gesture Of Colour
by Duncan Heining
Someone once said that writing about music was as illogical as singing about economics. Writers about music inevitably bristle at the suggestion but it might have merit when it comes to improvised music. How do you write about something that can never be recreated, even when recorded and preserved for posterity? We can discuss its method of creation, the sounds made by those who perform it, its colours and textures and our emotional and intellectual responses to it in much ...
Continue ReadingRoberto Bonati + ParmaFrontiere Orchestra: La fòla de l’oca/Overtime
by Duncan Heining
Bassist/composer Roberto Bonati is one of the most imaginative and creative composers working in 2023. His past recordings evidence a fondness for literary and philosophical concerns, grand conceits that his compositional skills are more than able to match. A Silvery Silence: fragments from Moby Dick (MM Records 2006) pondered obsession versus conscience, while The Blanket of the Dark, a Study for Lady Macbeth ( MM Records, 2001) explored Shakespeare's -and Verdi's -tragic themes from the lady's perspective. Le Rêve du ...
Continue ReadingTor Yttredal, Roberto Bonati: Some Red Some Yellow
by Neri Pollastri
Dopo anni di collaborazioni e trasferte nelle rispettive città, Parma e Stavanger, Roberto Bonati e Tor Yttredal si incontrano faccia a faccia e danno vita a un album in duo, intimo, lirico e sofisticato, nel quale si fondono mirabilmente le tradizioni musicali dei due paesi d'origine. Il lavoro si compone di sedici brani, tutti di Bonati tranne l'iniziale “Tuning," di Yttredal, e i tre centrali, interamente improvvisati. Il multistrumentista norvegese vi alterna i sax tenore e soprano, il ...
Continue ReadingRoberto Bonati: Vesper and Silence
by Maria Giovanna Barletta
Un luogo di raccoglimento, come una strada nascosta che conclude nel ritrovamento di se stessi. Una sorta di clausura feconda dove potersi ritrovare. Se potesse parlare di sé questo progetto direbbe, come Rilke «Sto, dentro al lavoro, come il nocciolo nel frutto». Questo lavoro in solo di Roberto Bonati è stato registrato dal vivo il 20 luglio 2017 in un luogo intriso di magia, l'Abbazia di Valserena a Parma, nota come “La Certosa di Parma" che ispirò Stendhal ...
Continue ReadingRobert Bonati Chironomic Orchestra: Whirling Leaves
by Duncan Heining
Whirling Leaves is a wonderful, intriguing album from Roberto Bonati, one of Europe's most interesting and creative composers. Bonati's previous large ensemble records have all essayed specific themes, from “The Scottish Play" from The Blanket of the Dark, a Study for Lady Macbeth ( MM Records, 2001) to the migratory nature and evolution of medieval music on Le Rêve du Jongleur (Parafroniere, 1999). With Whirling Leaves, however, there appears to be no such programme intent here. The music is its ...
Continue ReadingRoberto Bonati: Vesper and Silence
by John Kelman
Roberto Bonati may not be a name familiar to many jazz fans in North America, but at home in Italy and, increasingly, across Europe he has become a far more familiar face. Beyond inimitable talents as a double bassist, composer and conductor, Bonati has created a name both for himself and the northern Italian city of Parma for its far-reaching annual festival, ParmaFrontiere, first launched in 1996 and where he has remained Artistic Director ever since. ParmaFrontiere's name has gained ...
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Music
Roberto Bonati
Instrument: Composer / conductor
