Roberto Cacciapaglia – Sonanze LP on Sale

Roberto Cacciapaglia is an Italian composer and pianist who started out in the fertile Milan avant-garde scene of the 1970s, which included Franco Battiato, Giusto Pio, Lino Capra Vaccina, Francesco Messina, among others. After studying at the conservatory, he worked at RAI s Studio of Musical Phonology – an electronic music laboratory similar to NDR WDR in Germany, GRM IRCAM in France or BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

Sonanze (Sonatas) is Cacciapaglia s debut album, a monumental work that was recorded over a two-year period and released in 1975 via seminal German label Die Kosmischen Kuriere (Ohr). While a sonata is traditionally performed by easily distinguishable instrumentalists (often soloist and accompaniment) and with repeated structural themes, Cacciapaglia flips this hierarchical form on its head – blending harpsichord, strings, brass and analog synths to create ambient mini-soundtracks.

As the composer writes in the original sleeve notes, I am aware, unfortunately, that I am a few millennia late in how I would like music to be understood, which today I find diluted in its primary powers, in an era that is destructive of essential values. Precisely for this reason, I want to search for it in depth and not on the surface, perhaps alternating the knob of a synthesizer with a marranzano (mouth harp).

Mixed in quadrophonic surround-sound under the auspices of Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser (celebrated producer of Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel), Sonanze remains on the fringe of Kosmische realms. Each movement explores hypnotic rhythms, intuitive arrangements, musique concrète techniques and a pure psychedelic awakening.

• First album by Italian avant-garde composer

• Originally released in 1975 on PDU Die Kosmischen Kuriere (Ohr)

• Recommended for fans of Krzysztof Penderecki, Popol Vuh and Jon Hassell

• First time available on vinyl domestically

• Liner notes by Luca D. Majer