(2021) Lorenzo Masotto - i=r
Review:
Don’t be thrown by the technical-looking title of Lorenzo Masotto‘s latest album. The Verona, Italy-based pianist chose i=r, otherwise known as Snell’s Law and/or the law of refraction, to emphasize how each of its ten tracks presents a different point of view, as if what’s heard is done so through the refraction of a mirror. The recording is thus the sound of Masotto exploring a variety of directions and exploring contrasts in mood and style, and there’s nothing intimidating about that. More pertinent are other facts about the thirty-nine-minute collection. First, they’re all Masotto originals and thus reflect his melodic sensibility and compositional style; secondly, a minimal approach to recording was adopted with the unadorned sound of one piano and two microphones lending the material a heightened intimacy; and thirdly, a Seiler upright was played, a choice that also gives the music a distinctive sound. As much as anything, i=r is about the tonal textures generated when a hammer touches a string and the various creaks and noises the instrument and the bench produce during a performance. Like the sparkle of raindrops, “i=r (reflection)” establishes the album’s soundworld immediately. Entrancement sets in fast as Masotto’s patterns cycle, with everything wrapped in a reverberant haze and ever so slightly softened at the edges. Whereas “i=r (human)” calms the spirit with elegant folk-like figures and a serene hush, “i=r (ancient)” adds an air of majesty to the proceedings. A quiet setting like “i=r (tree)” makes every rustle of the piano’s mechanisms audible, but the effect is less jarring than endearing when it brings the listener so close to the moment of creation. Pieces alternate between settings that flow as torrentially as river rapids and slower meditations marked by stillness and conducive to reverie. Rolling left-hand patterns provide a solid ground for the uplifting melodic patterns voiced by the right. Each inviting, harmonic piece is three to four minutes, long enough to make a substantial impression but not so long disinterest sets in, for player or listener. If the album title looks like an equation from a science textbook, the music itself is as personal as it could possibly be, and one comes away from i=r with a full appreciation for and clear understanding of the type of music Masotto creates.
Track Listing:
1.i=r (reflection) 04:17
2.i=r (human) 04:24
3.i=r (train) 03:01
4.i=r (lake) 04:09
5.i=r (fly) 04:05
6.i=r (river) 03:51
7.i=r (rain) 03:40
8.i=r (tree) 03:31
9.i=r (ice) 03:57
10.i=r (ancient) 03:27
Media Report:
Genre: ambient, classical
Country: UK
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits