DESCRIPTION
The Ensemble Sideral project is leaded by Anton Giulio Priolo alternated his work as a dedicated and passionate jazz guitarist (along with those musical styles related to it) with the study of composition that is part of the traditional programme at the Conservatoire, followed by specialization courses after graduation. However, neither predominated over the other; if anything, an osmosis occurred between the two. There exists in the DNA of this composer an instinctive idea to revolutionize, blend and experiment. As a result, his scores have won prizes at international composition competitions (in Italy, Spain and England). They have been commissioned and performed by such important orchestras and chamber music groups as the Regional Orchestra of Lazio and the London ensemble made up of musicians from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Christopher Austin. London, furthermore, is the city that the musician chose for broadening his horizons, specializing in film scores there (and earning a Master awarded Distinction from the prestigious Royal College of Music where he was a pupil and then collaborator of the composer Dario Marianelli, who won an Oscar for the film Atonement), and working there for several years composing numerous sound tracks.
The lesson of “Maestro” Astor Piazzolla (to whom homage is paid in the above-mentioned Oblivion, here in a version for a string trio and piano) finds its exact correspondent in another inspired track entitled Milonga para Elisa in which refined polyphonies of Bachian taste confront Brazilian Villa-Lobos type reminiscences. The piece that gives its name to the album is exquisitely “Argentine”, and, in line with the best tradition, the principal themes are entrusted to the accordeon and the violin. The surprise, however, is to be found in the heart of the piece when a long, beautiful piano solo, unmistakenly jazzlike in colour, takes over, supported by the strings; while the rapid rhythmic base that provides the framework for the piece is equally jazzlike in structure.
And now for the other musicians: the string quartet, the classical soul of the ensemble (at times acrobatic, at times ethereal and rarefied) includes Elisa Papandrea and Natascia Gazzana violins, Daniele Marcelli viola, and Laura Pierazzuoli cello. These four musicians can boast of respected curricula vitae having played with the most prestigious symphony orchestras and chamber music ensembles, among which the Accademia Nazionale of S. Cecilia, the Quirinale, the Swiss Radio, the Covent Garden of London, the Musikverein of Vienna and the Lincoln Center of New York. Another cardinal point is the well-known jazz pianist Massimo Fedeli, who in recent years has also developed a visceral and totally personal relationship with the accordeon, an instrument that he has mastered with great skill and on which he has transferred with great naturalness his unusual talent for improvisation. Stefano Cesare on double bass and Gigi Zito on drums, authors and collaborators who are already present on many titles in our catalogue. Once again they show that they are great musicians apart from being reliable session men confronting one another – with their vast palette of colours and rhythms – in a repertoire that, given its originality and lacking pre-established supports, is therefore complex and heterogeneous. Last, but certainly not least, is one of the most famous Italian percussionists: Arnaldo Vacca, and it would be both useless and boring to list all his accomplishments. Suffice it to say that Arnaldo contributes his immense baggage of sounds and “essences”, at times inventing apparently impossible medleys, uncommon combinations that, when it comes to settling accounts, still bring freshness, originality and unity to the entire project.