adEIdJ – Associazione delle Etichette Indipendenti di Jazz

Press Release

A member of Maurizio Brunod’s group, which released the excellent «Ensemble with Daniele di Bonaventura & Gianluigi Trovesi» through Caligola in 2020, thirty–five–year–old Piedmont pianist Emanuele Sartoris created one year later, this time as a leader, another refined album of chamber flavor together with Daniele di Bonaventura on bandoneon. «Notturni», as the title itself suggests, is a fitting tribute to Frédéric Chopin and not surprisingly, together with the seven original songs composed by Sartoris and di Bonaventura, the record opens and closes with a totally modern and personal interpretation of the well–known nocturnes Op. 9 n°1 and n°2 by the great Polish composer (on «Notturni», they are renamed Impromptu I and Impromptu II).
Showcasing his creativity on multiple fronts, he’s a classically–trained pianist and has been playing jazz since he was a youngster, studying it thoroughly – therefore it wouldn’t be inappropriate to talk about Third Stream for him (even though he’s not the only Italian pianist to play both styles with confidence, let’s think about Danilo Rea for example) – Sartori has recently released as co–leader both «Woland», with percussionist Massimo Barbiero and violinist Eloisa Manera, and «Totentanz – Evocazioni Lisztiane», played four hands with classical pianist Massimiliano Génot.
Maybe that’s the reason why the liner notes for «Notturni» were written by a cello player of the likes of Mario Brunello, who underlined how “...the magic of this chant lies precisely in the wait and the time that the vibrations of each note take to reach the silence. Notes that throb, reignite at every touch of the keys and rekindle the desire for a melody, a chant indeed. The melodies are supported by the breath, the pressure of the bellows, the sustained sound of the key reaching into the soul. A slow journey, a way into the history of music joined by the improvisations and inspiration of two formidable, brave musicians having the genuine talent to get close to and enter the magical atmosphere of Notturni”. If we exclude the two Chopinian reinterpretations already mentioned, it’s precisely by Daniele di Bonaventura, Notturni d’inverno, the only original “nocturne” on the album.

Track List

1) Notturno impromptu I (E. Sartoris, D. di Bonaventura)
2) La volta celeste
3) Le terre oniriche
4) L’aurora
5) Notturno d’inverno (D. di Bonaventura)
6) Il plenilunio
7) Sancta Sanctorum
8) La fine dei tempi
9) Notturno impromptu II (E.Sartoris, D.di Bonaventura).

All tunes, except where indicated, composed by Emanuele Sartoris.

Personnel

Emanuele Sartoris (piano)
Daniele di Bonaventura (bandoneon)

Recording Data

Recorded on December 16 and 17, 2020, mixed and mastered in January 2021, at Il Pollaio Studio, Ronco Biellese (Biella), Italy, by Piergiorgio Miotto.