Track Listing

1. In Principio
2. Lady Labyrinth
3. Nightbook
4. Indaco
5. The Snow Prelude No.15
6. Eros
7. The Crane Dance
8. The Snow Prelude No. 2
9. The Tower
10. Reverie
11. Bye Bye Mon Amour
12. The Planets
13. Solo(Hidden) Bonus Track

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #202 in Music
• Released on: 2009-10-05
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds
• Running time: 71 minutes

CD Description
Italian contemporary classical/new age composer-pianist Ludovico Einaudi returns with this ninth studio album and follow-up to 2007's 'Divenire'. This release marks a new step in another different direction for the composer as more looselycomposed forms for piano and strings are blended with prominent percussive and electronic elements. The result is his interpretation of a night-time cityscape, as langorous melodic patterns invoke a melancholy fugue.

Customer Reviews

An emotional journey, guided through light and darkness, calm and intensity
While Ludovico Einaudi is best known for his provocative, melodic piano works, heard everywhere from adverts to films, `Nightbook' creates a different feel, described as `musical meditation on the transition between light and darkness, the known and the unknown'. His use of electronic sounds, not so much heard in previous works, amplifies the use of the piano - his main focus- `projecting it like a shadow in all directions'.

The minimalistic style is still unmistakeably Einaudi, however. The haunting, beautiful melodies which define his work still permeate each and every piece, demanding attention and having an impact on a listener. Some tracks feature just solo piano, in others we also hear soaring cello passages which reach straight into the heart.

One track in particular, called `Lady Labyrinth', takes the listener through a powerful journey. A distinctive, repeated piano motif and sailing cello melodies create rich, dark harmonies, whilst a driving percussive rhythm urges the piece forward.

In contrast, other tracks soothe into a dreamlike state, with propulsive quaver movement - a widely used minimalist style- and eerie, whispering electronic sounds. These textures gradually build, creating an enormous sense of tension, which then slowly fades into a shadowy whisper. But Einaudi has mixed this new sound with some beautiful solo piano tracks to which you can easily sit back and let the lush chords and floating melodies drift over you - a clear change to some earlier intensity and emotion. It is clear why this album is described as contrasting light and darkness.

This album will affect any listener, with pieces that will stay in the mind long after hearing. The feeling and conviction with which Einaudi always plays is impossible to ignore. This collection is a gradual progression in his work - it is not the first time he has taken advantage of electronic sounds, however, it is the first time he has used them to such powerful effect, relying in earlier work more on acoustic instruments.

This music is for those who want to be taken on an emotional journey, guided through light and darkness, calm and intensity.

Amber Hartley-Watts

He's back!
It's Ludovico's stile, no doubt: calm and slightly minimalist classic piano based music. But has some surprises:)
I recommend Lady Labyrinth - I ended up dancing energetically to the sound of the song!
What I most enjoy in his records, is the very interesting ability of him to stick to his own special stile, that is always pleasing!!!

Beautiful
Ludovico Einaudi is often sneered at by pompous "serious" music critics for not playing by the rules of the classical game, for being populist i.e. not wanting to be elitist and actually wanting people to listen to and enjoy his music. Presumably he should stick to playing music written 200 years ago and not have the temerity to actually create something himself.

Fortunately, people who actually like music, as against critics who want to be in an exclusive club, are usually delighted to see creativity in action. The great breakthrough of popular music was to democratise the process of creation, to kill the lie that you had to be a trained and serious musician before you could dare to think about writing something new.

To me Einaudi takes the best of that popular creative process, recognising that the piano equivalent of the guitar riff is just as valid for this venerable classical instrument as it is for the ubiquitous axe, then couples it with technical skill and all of the benefits of that long background of classically focused training to create marvellously melodic, astonishly evocative pieces of music. In some ways he is often still quite conservative; several of his earlier albums are almost exclusively solo piano. However, following on from where "Divernire" left off, "Nightbook" experiments even more extensively with electronics and even percussion to create even warmer, more enveloping sound textures and atmospheres. On the whole, it works brilliantly.

I think I detect a little more overt minimalism in some of the compositions on "Nightbook", but the glorious melodies that carry his best music to such epic heights are not forgotten.

There are one or two tracks that don't do it for me, and the utter mess of the final track giving way to some "hidden" tracks is madly irritating. Why do people still do this? If the track is worth listening to, just put it on the damned CD properly! A couple of minutes of dead silence while I am trying to listen to some music in the car is not helpful and gets the CD swapped out pretty quickly.

Minor gripes aside, this is another superb album from a brilliant and original musician.