Persichetti Part Two, Noi Quattro from 1987

 

In this case the verso is the same as the front.

Coming up on the heels of the well-loved Tempo, Memoria that preceded it, this is clearly a quartet as you can also see here but one in which Marco Persichetti attempts to do it all, creating an entire chamber orchestra from the electric keyboard: oboes, flutes, trumpets, strings, etc.  Although in terms of nostalgic emotion and songwriting (melodic) composition it is slightly inferior to the first album, the arrangements are extremely tastefully done and quite graceful, elaborate, and well-thought-out, and this feature definitely adds to the charm of the whole.  On its own terms, it's still one of the best library records I've heard.

Track A4, Quando Verai, instantly gives you an idea of what I mean with the intro of piano playing frills around the strings, the horn substitute appearing, then flutes, before the piano again takes up the melody above the fake news-- I mean fake strings:

B1 called Our Days, Our Feelings is my favourite with its admirable chord progressions hinting at a circle of fifths and the descending pattern common to 70s songs (like "Have you ever been mellow") but then quickly backing out of the cliches to develop the feelings more deeply, adding on layers of chamber string arrangements, interrupted with piano and flute expressions, here and there building up to crescendos of dramatic mood-- clearly a lot of time, thought, and sweat went into this tiny little miracle of a piece. If you listen patiently all the way to the end, it surprisingly ends with a kind of Handelian Halleluia chorus build up but then unexpectedly peters out into a very modern diminuendo:

It was my favourite, that is, until I heard the second after song, the Winter Serenade, with its gentle string introduction and the way the solo is played by acoustic guitar on top of the ever-present fake strings, but when the piano takes up the melody after 90 secs, the song transmutes into an even more melancholy kind of thing-- and it's rare for a library track to change so much in a 4 minute period:

You might at first be disappointed by this if you have the other album in mind, but if you're patient, I think this album will be just as rewarding in the end.  It's just a little bit more complicated.

A great example of the beauty of some of these 'lost' Italian library records.