Hope

Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door

(Emily Dickinson)

When I posted the first recording of HOPE it was May 3, 2020: the next day the restrictions, after two interminable months, would finally be loosened. I wrote, “We will not go back to normal, but it is something… HOPE is the key word now, intended, however, as a dynamic process that emerges from the ruins and actively projects itself into the future, not expectation then but trustful action”. It still took a long time, in fact, to go back to normal, and frankly today I wonder whether it makes sense to use this expression, which, after all, implies the idea of the pandemic as an expulsion from Eden, the breakdown of an initial state of substantial well-being, or more trivially the usual cliché of we were better off before. The immense tragedy of disease and death has not made our lives worse than it has revealed weaknesses and miseries already there. Nor, unfortunately, has it made us all that much better, as was repeatedly hoped for then: indeed, it is quite evident, today more than ever with a war that exploded a year ago in the heart of Europe, the inability to direct our destiny toward “the prodigy of life in peace, of life tuned to a lost harmony whose distant echo can comfort our hearts” (M. Zambrano). But a breach has opened, and a faint light has begun to illuminate areas once in shadow revealing the vast field of unrealized potential. This is not the confident waiting of a favorable event, a passive standing by, but confident action towards a goal: HOPE.

I wrote SPRING WILL COME as a journey through the first lockdown of March 2020, when we all felt fear, boredom, and frustration, but also courage, strength, and hope. It was a deep need that pushed me to create this second musical diary, which was vastly different from my previous work RINASCITA. I recorded it using only a piano out of tune, a single microphone, and a single video camera in an unsuitable room filled with the noises of everyday life. My intention was to provide an aural space for listeners to feel safe and connect with their own emotions and thoughts. It serves as a form of meditation and a source of comfort.

After almost three years, the close connection the record had with the terrible events of that period has obviously loosened, but its underlying purpose remains. In today’s world, overwhelmed by social media notifications, headlines, political crises, a changing climate, and a constant sense of impending catastrophe, the temptation to escape from reality has never been stronger. SPRING WILL COME invites us not to do so, to stay awake and in relationship with others, and to practice attentive and patient listening, an essential tool for living a better and more fulfilling life.

The single’s cover for HOPE was designed by my Iranian friend Golnar Dashti (Dashi Design Studio): I met her when she was studying painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti (Firenze, Italy) taking her first tentative steps toward the development of personal artistic ideas. She is really open-minded and always looking forward to the experience of new perspectives in contemporary visual art. She is one of the founders of La Filharmonie and she already collaborated with me a few years ago on the music video for PICCOLA DANZA, a single from my first album for piano solo. I loved her idea of creating a short video instead of the usual static artwork: it makes the cover a lot more interesting and engaging! What do you think? One last thing: Golnar is a lovely person!!!

Credits

Music composed and performed by Paolo Cognetti

Recorded and Mixed by Filippo Rossi and Lawrence Fancelli at Officina Sonora del Bigallo

Mastered by Niccolò Caldini

Digital distribution: Distrokid

Artwork: Dashti Design Studio

Poems: Maria Ester Mastrogiovanni (MEM)

A year after composing and recording my second solo piano album SPRING WILL COME, I felt the desire to offer a new perspective on the pieces, one that would recover the spontaneity and naturalness that had originally characterized them. So, I decided to spend a day with Francesco Ponticelli at the Cicaleto Recording Studio, a historic eighteenth-century home immersed in the peace and beauty of nature, just minutes from the center of the city of Arezzo, in the heart of Tuscany. Inspired by the place and its atmosphere, I recorded all the tracks in a row and without any editing, trying to capture the essence and emotion of a live performance. To further foster the sense of an immersive and engaging experience, I asked Arianna Fiandrini and Mauro Magrini of Visualcam Production to create a video of the entire experience, and today I share with you the last excerpt, presenting HOPE.

Credits

Directed by Arianna Fiandrini

Gimbal: Mauro Magrini

Recorded, Mixed and Mastered at Cicaleto Recording Studio by Francesco Ponticelli