Antonio Flinta: Peripheral Songs

In July 2021 Chilean-born, Italian-based pianist & composer Antonio Flinta went into a recording studio near Florence to record his first solo piano album. Spontaneity and freshness of expression were the goals. In two hours he had twenty pieces—improvisations, covers and originals. The initial result of this effort was Secrets of a Kiri Tree (Self Produced, 2022), one of the year's finest solo efforts (review here).

But there was more music that did not make the cut. Whatever the reason for that, it was not a lack of quality, accessibility or beauty. Indeed, music on Peripheral Songs, culled from the same recording session which resulted in Songs Of A Kiri Tree, is as free-flowing, fresh and lovely as the sounds offered up on its predecessor, beginning with "Improvisation #1," the first thing Flinta played that day when he settled in at the piano and laid the tune down in one take, no edits, no do-overs. And, to paraphrase author Kurt Vonnegut, "So it went."

If it was absolutely necessary to begin things with an improvised piece—Flinta says so, and he can be believed, given the quality and cohesion of Peripheral Songs—it was also necessary to play something familiar, George Gershwin's "I Loves You Porgy." Inspired by Bill Evans' take on the tune, Flinta keeps things tied to the relative simplicity of the melody—has anyone ever written a prettier one?—with his heartfelt rumination on this enduring classic, and the spontaneity of the piece. YouTube contains videos of pianists playing in airports. There is no indication that Flinta has engaged in one of these, but consider him wandering by a lonely upright, coming out of the crowd, sitting down and presenting his impromptu take on the beautifully organic tune in one of the most artificial places on the planet—all steel and glass and sharp angles, floors buffed up into a different dimension. This could surely stop the harried travelers in their tracks and make them drop their cell phones to their sides as Flinta transports them out of an otherwise unholy experience with a Gershwin reprieve.

"Cycles And Rhymes," (or haikus, cicadas, comets and seasons, knowing it or not we all rhyme), a Flinta original, is solemn, celebratory.

Chick Corea's "Crystal Silence" closes the set with a vibe of gorgeous introspection, sounding like a search for deep truth, in keeping with everything on the disc that preceded it.