Italian, Paris-based pianist-composer Alessandro Sgobbio dedicates his third album in his series of solo piano plus live electronics albums to his late mentor, Russian-Norwegian pianist-composer Misha Alperin (1956-2018), and one piece, «Echoes», to the young Palestinian victims of the Gaza war, nurse Razan Al-Najjar, artist Mahasen Al-Khatib, and Mahasen Al-Khatib, who was killed during an Israeli attack on Al-Aksa hospital (Sgobbio dedicated the opening piece of Piano Music 2 to Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed by the Israeli army). These dedications inform about the urgent, melancholic spirit of the album.

As in previous chapters of Piano Music, released in 2022 and 2023 (both on AMP, Sgobbio plays on the grand piano (Fazioli F278), with its remarkable sound, and adds evocative and often cinematic, thought-provoking live electronics that contrast the clean, melodic piano lines. The album was recorded at Artesuono Studios in Italy, as were the previous chapters in this series, and the cover photo shows Sgobbio in a similar position to the one captured on previous albums.

The eight pieces are intimate, spiritual, and meditative. Sgobbio says that he wants it to be «like an open trip diary, where the composer, the listener, and the person or place whose the music is dedicated – they all can meet, meditate, coexist and write together new stories». Now, the live electronics play a much more important role, enriching the austere, impressionist themes with urgent, unpredictable, and mysterious sonic territories, and are not shy of dissonant, noisy sounds, especially on the 12-minute «Veils.

Eyal Hareuveni   

Alessandro Sgobbio (pianoforte Fazioli F278, live electronics)