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Sab, 17 mag 1997 19:51 Texts: Warren P. Blumberg. Photos: Adriano Scognamillo. The project, in orchestral and compositional terms, is an organic extension of Lena's soundtrack for the film "Ferie d'Agosto" by Paolo Virzì, done two years ago. Battista rehearsed the Band for an entire winter, two times a week and composed and arranged the music with not only the instrumentation in mind, but, ultimately, how those instruments would be played by a musical unit composed almost entirely of non-professional musicians. The result was , in Battista own words!'...a rich musical experience, but - perhaps more importantly - a deep and rich human one as well". Initially there was some discontent among the ranks of the Municipal Band, whose members (as has been mentioned before) are largely, if not entirely, non-professional: students, children, accountants, shoemakers etc., and whose musical experience in the band was largely limited to the playing of Marchs and Arias from Opera and Operetta. The challenge, in musical and aesthetic terms, was to realistically capture the unbridled vivacity and pure sonic energy of the Municipal Brass Band on CD, while rounding the rough edges of that energy to conform to the aesthetic of what Battista simply calls'making it all sound beautiful". Upon hearing the tapes of the session the producers at Label Bleu were convinced that these terms had been met, and, that another important consideration had been addressed and resolved: that of inserting the solos of jazz players in the music while avoiding the cliché of "swinging the classics" or "jazzin up the popular melody". The success of the project lies largely in its inherent balance of imprecation and melodic scoring, and in the loving, light-hearted its ironic attitude towards traditional musical materials, chem somehow as if they were the etnhic musics of that lost Southern European island which is Italy. natu ti For contacts: SOUNDS FROM THE WORLD (Mario Guidi Italy) tel. +39-742-35.55.88 e-mail: Battista Lena archlena@chiantinet.it Page 5 of 5 Europe Jazz Network