Sogno n° 1

Sogno n° 1 (intended to be read as Sogno numero uno, i.e. "Dream Number One"), is a posthumous tribute album to Italian singer-songwriter Fabrizio De André, released in 2011 and featuring De André's original isolated vocals over entirely new orchestral backing tracks, arranged by British conductor and composer Geoff Westley and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. Including vocal contributions from Franco Battiato, Vinicio Capossela and De André's widow Dori Ghezzi, the album is a collaborative effort of Westley and Ghezzi's, originally released in aid of her Fondazione Fabrizio De André charity organization.

Sogno n° 1
Album cover
Studio album by
London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Geoff Westley and Fabrizio De André
Released22 November 2011
RecordedSeptember 2011
GenreClassical music, singer-songwriter
Length54:50
LabelSony Music
ProducerGeoff Westley

Track listing
  1. "Preghiera in gennaio" ["Prayer in January"] (De André); originally from Volume 1 – 6:04
  2. "Ho visto Nina volare" ["I saw Nina flying"] (De André/Ivano Fossati); originally from Anime salve – 5:23
  3. "Hotel Supramonte" ["Supramonte Hotel"] (De André/Massimo Bubola); originally from Fabrizio De André, also known as L'Indiano – 7:33
  4. "Valzer per un amore (Valzer campestre)" ["Waltz for a love (Country waltz)"] (Gino Marinuzzi [music], De André [lyrics]); originally from Canzoni; featuring Vinicio Capossela – 4:14
  5. "Tre madri" ["Three mothers"] (De André/Gian Piero Reverberi [music], De André [lyrics]); originally from La buona novella – 4:07
  6. "Laudate Hominem" [literally "Praise the Man", in Latin] (De André/Reverberi [music], De André [lyrics]); originally from La buona novella – 3:44
  7. "Disamistade" [literally "Unfriendship", in Sardinian – meant as feud] (De André/Fossati); originally from Anime salve – 5:26
  8. "Rimini" (De André/Bubola); originally from Rimini – 5:41
  9. "Anime salve" [literally "Saved souls", but meant as "Solitary spirits"] (De André/Fossati); originally from Anime salve; featuring Franco Battiato – 8:43
  10. "Le nuvole" ["The clouds"] (Mauro Pagani); originally from Le nuvole. NB: The spoken text written by De André and featured on the original version is omitted from this recording, although the booklet does include it. – 3:55

Overview

The album features a selection of songs from all stages of De André's 40-year career, from his very first studio album to his very last. Westley's orchestral arrangements add a sense of epic, cinematic grandeur to the singer-songwriter's usually quiet, restrained style, generating a unique, unusual mixture of sounds, textures and styles, and bring all of the Genoan artist's creations into new territory.

Differences between original studio recordings and new versions

All songs are built on De André's original vocals, taken from his studio recordings (i.e. studio albums). However, only two songs over ten ("Ho visto Nina volare" and "Rimini") are re-orchestrated recordings of the respective album versions. All others have been changed, some subtly, some significantly. The changes are as follows:

  • "Preghiera in gennaio" is extended with new orchestral material, by Westley.
  • "Hotel Supramonte" is taken at a much slower pace than the original studio version. The single vocal lines are separated from each other and dilated, which enables Westley to build a vast, breathy orchestration on a very broad largo tempo in 4
    4     (in lieu of the original metre of 12
    8    ).
  • "Valzer per un amore" has a marked symphonic, Strauss-like feel, rather than the country-sounding original, and incorporates a short excerpt from Dmitri Shostakovich's popular "Waltz 2", taken from his 1956 Suite for Variety Orchestra. Vinicio Capossela sings a virtual duet with De André on this track.
  • "Tre madri" is slightly slower than the original, and, like "Hotel Supramonte", it is changed from 12
    8     to 4
    4    .
  • "Laudate Hominem" is a completely new recording of the original track from La buona novella; De André is not featured on this track, which is instead sung by an operatic choir.
  • "Disamistade" is relatively faithful to the original studio version, but includes a few orchestral passages newly composed by Westley.
  • "Anime salve" is, yet again, much slower, broader and substantially extended than the version on the same-titled 1996 album. Franco Battiato, De André's virtual duet partner on this track, enters by singing his opening line "Passaggi di tempo..." (i.e. "Time passages...") a few bars after De André has finished singing it. In the original version, Ivano Fossati, his duet partner at the time, finishes the line himself, while De André does not – the start of Fossati's vocal is overlaid on his.
  • "Le nuvole" is another entirely new recording where De André is not featured at all. It consists of the orchestral piece written by Mauro Pagani, and arranged by Piero Milesi, for the original song from the same-titled 1990 album, without the spoken-word vocals featured in the original (although the poetical lyrics from that recording are retained in the CD booklet).

Album title and artwork

The title Sogno n° 1 is a paraphrase of "Sogno numero due", a track from De André's 1973 album Storia di un impiegato (he never actually wrote or recorded a "Sogno numero uno"). Dori Ghezzi chose it because hearing her late husband's voice over all-new orchestral backgrounds was a dream come true for her.[1] The artwork for the album, created by designer Arturo Bertusi for the Chiaroscuro Creative design company in Bologna, is a CG combination of the Genoa port skyline on the upper side, and the Westminster skyline on the lower side, symbolizing an ideal union of De André's hometown and London. The back cover features the same design but with the upper/lower positions of the two cities having been exchanged. The inner gatefold of the Digipak CD features a simpler, line drawing version of the same artwork.

Personnel

Performers

Production
  • Project conceived, arranged and produced by Geoff Westley
  • Recorded at AIR Studios & Abbey Road Studios, London, September 2011
  • Engineer: Mike Hatch
  • Orchestra supervisor: Alex van Hagen
  • Vinicio Capossela's vocals recorded at Officine Meccaniche, Milan; engineer: Takeo Gohara
  • Franco Battiato's vocals recorded at Pinaxa Studio, Milan; engineer: Pino Pischetola
  • Vocals mixed by: Maurizio Parafioriti
  • Orchestra mixed by: Mike Cox
  • Final mix and mastering: Maurizio Parafioriti
  • Assistant: Alessandro Giampieri

References
  1. From Dori Ghezzi's liner notes in the CD booklet.
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