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Giovanni Mancuso & Debora Petrina — NuovoMondo Symphonies
(Bandcamp Zoar Records, 2022, CD / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2024-06-29

NuovoMondo Symphonies Cover art

Many years ago, it occurred to me that one of the qualities I enjoy in music is that it takes you to a world all its own — sounds that come from a place conceived by people with their own singular vision of what music should sound like. With NuovoMondo Symphonies, Giovanni Mancuso and Debora Petrina are doing that quite explicitly. The album is presented as a sort of travelog to an imaginary world called NuovoMondo, featuring field recordings of various places along with music to accompany them. It’s a big world, so each scene is rather brief, and only two of the 24 tracks last three minutes or more, with several less than a minute. Petrina should be familiar with our readers — we’ve been covering her music for ten years now — but Mancuso was a new figure to me. He’s got credits as a pianist going back to the early 90s in new and experimental music. The overriding mood on NuovoMondo Symphonies is one of playfulness, letting the imagination run wild. None of these miniatures is overly dissonant or heavy, and one of the most memorable field recordings you’ll hear is children playing. The music is manifested with pianos as the most frequent instrument, with Petrina’s voice, other keyboards, and toy instruments contributing as well. One track features the sound effects of a sword fight, though well-versed progressive rock fans can rest assured that it sounds much more realistic than the one from the famous Deyss album. Several pieces are built around repeating motifs on the piano that fall somewhere in between Philip Glass and Keith Emerson — “Obscure Merry-Go-Round for Nocturnal Animals,” for example, uses an insistent bass line that wouldn’t be out of place in “Karn Evil Nine,” but tops it with moody chords and a breathy vocal melody. “Clicks - Clocks - Pop Song” has a joyful swirling piano part accompanying free-flowing vocalizations with lots of clicks and random syllables. On the whole, the album is eccentric and fun, the whimsical result of two talented musicians letting their imaginations fly unfettered.

Filed under: New releases, 2022 releases

Related artist(s): Debora Petrina, Giovanni Mancuso

More info
http://giovannimancusodeborapetrina.bandcamp.com/album/nuovomondo-symphonies

 

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