A Silvery Silence/Fragments From Moby Dick

Tracklist

1. Leviathan2:41
2. Carpenters And Coopers3:00
3. Letter H (Time And Tide Flow Wide)15:25
4. Jonah2:52
5. L'appel (To Paul Gauguin From Captain Ahab)6:45
6. A Silvery Silence5:21
7. Polynesian Drums (Tamburi Sul Mare)9:50
8. De Profundis Corale6:24
9. Cialomi2:22
10. Three Candles3:37
11. Corpusants1:18
12. Nine Flames4:47
13. Hammet Leva'eshà2:54
14. Ahab6:22
15. Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin0:54
16. The Chase -Third Day1:05
17. Whale Song1:31

Personnel & credits

• Salvatore MaioreAcoustic Bass
• Riccardo Joshua MorettiCantor [Hebrew Cantillation]
• Caterina Dell'AgnelloCello
• Alle BenassiClarinet [Clarinets]
• Roberto BonatiComposed By [Composer / All Compositions By], Conductor
• Luigi BussolatiCover [Cover Photo By], Photography By [Cover Photo By]
• Tony MorenoDrums
• Corrado CristinaEngineer [Recording Engineer]
• Riccardo Luppi (2)Flute [Flutes], Soprano Saxophone [Soprano Sax], Tenor Saxophone [Tenor Sax]
• Benedetto DallaglioFrench Horn
• ArteimmagineGraphic Design
• Roberto BonatiLiner Notes [English, Italian]
• Riccardo Luppi (2)Mastered By
• Riccardo Luppi (2)Mixed By
• Roberto BonatiMixed By
• Mario ArcariOboe, English Horn, Soprano Saxophone [Soprano Sax]
• Fulvio MarasPercussion [Percussions], Percussion [Electronic Percussions]
• Pietro BandiniPhotography By [Photos By]
• Alberto TacchiniPiano
• Roberto BonatiProducer [Produced By]
• Beppe CarusoTrombone, Tuba
• Michael GassmannTrumpet, Flugelhorn
• Paolo BottiViola
• Beppe CarusoVocals
• Lucia MinettiVocals
• Mario ArcariVocals

About this record

Genre

Jazz

Style

Contemporary Jazz, Avant-garde Jazz

Discogs

View on Discogs ↗

Press

“a beautiful album with its own logic”All About Jazz Italia ↗

“jazz undressed of genre connotations and transformed in contemporary language”Roberto Bonati (artist site / label notes) ↗

Reception

Critical coverage beyond catalog/label data is thin and largely confined to Italian jazz outlets. The one substantive review located is on All About Jazz Italia (AAJI staff byline, dated 2007-05-15), which is positive: it frames the record as a cultured, refined large-ensemble work that strips jazz of genre markers toward a contemporary language, and singles out the voice (Lucia Minetti) as the determining expressive element, with the orchestra described as full of capable soloists. The review's overall verdict is favorable (a beautiful, engaging work with its own internal logic). No numerical rating was confirmed and no English-language AllMusic/JazzTimes/Down Beat review was found. AllAboutJazz returned HTTP 403 on direct fetch, so the review text could not be read in full and is characterized here only from search snippets. No reviews in Swiss/German press (jazz'n'more, jazzthing, Concerto) or Radio Swiss Jazz were located despite Gassmann being Swiss. Most other web presence is descriptive catalog/streaming/label text (Discogs, Bandcamp, Apple Music, Amazon, the artist's own site) rather than independent criticism. Net: a respected but lightly-reviewed small-label art-jazz date; reception that exists is appreciative.

Background

"A Silvery Silence / Fragments From Moby Dick" is a large-ensemble suite composed and conducted by Italian double-bassist Roberto Bonati for his ParmaFrontiere Orchestra, the flexible festival ensemble he founded in 1998 within the ParmaJazz Frontiere Festival (where he has been artistic director since 1996). The work was created/premiered in 2003 and recorded that year, produced by the ParmaJazz Frontiere Festival, and issued on MM Records in 2006 (cat. MM43036; total time ~73:48; publishing via Jazzprint Edizioni Musicali). The title is taken directly from a line in Melville's Moby-Dick ("...made what seemed a silvery silence, not a solitude..."). The concept reads the novel through its biblical undercurrents, with the dichotomies of horror/beauty and awe/obsession; Hebrew cantillation by Riccardo Joshua Moretti runs as a connective thread and Lucia Minetti provides the lead vocals. Michael Gassmann is credited on trumpet and flugelhorn within a chamber-jazz orchestra (oboe/english horn, saxes, flutes, clarinets, french horn, trombone, tuba, viola, cello, piano, bass, drums, percussion). The piece sits inside Bonati's larger Melville/maritime cycle (later AAJ pieces reference "Macbeth and the Whale" and "Nor Sea, nor Land, nor Salty Waves"). Bonati teaches composition at the Conservatorio Boito in Parma.