SUMMEREVE

There is a new Vivaldi in progland as the multi-talented and prolific Fabio Zuffanti has just completed a unique achievement in the progressive rock annals by finalizing a set of 4 mostly instrumental albums depicting the four seasons in the annual cycle. From stellar previous works such as the delicate Springsongs, onto the numbingly gorgeous Wintertrough and the febrile Autumnsymphony , the loop is now complete with the sizzling Summereve, even though the liner notes state that this is the first in the cycle (Fabio just did it backwards).

This is perhaps the best quartet of prog music ever, a dizzying accomplishment worthy of the great classical composers and underlines the freedom that artists now have, fully unchained from the shackles of corporate expectations and demands. Under Zuffanti's leadership and his vrooming bass, the musicians continuously display incredible creativity, vision and dexterity that espoused all the glorious traditions of classical compositions but within a firm progressive symphonic context. It is therefore fitting that as summer finally arrives, we are graced with a warm progressive soundtrack that is easily among the greatest releases ever! Yeah, I know, high praise for an all-instrumental work but the cherry here outbursts the cake.

"Season's Overture" is a 10 minute mellotron-packed romp of the very highest pedigree, a five part suite that sizzles along, reliving various previous themes found on the preceding albums, sort a recap if you will and a monster track with tremendous contributions from keyboardist Luca Scherani on elegant piano, swooshing synths and the wispy mellotron as well as guitarist Matteo Nahum on lead and acoustic strings. Drummer Maurizio di Tollo is easily the new percussion maestro in Italian prog, keeping tight time with some fascinating inserts. The achingly gorgeous string quartet work on "The Glares of Light" is to expire for, the passion and pain simply too haunting to adequately describe, even as the sweet flute and violin coalesce magically, in embraced spirals building a crescendo remake of "Kemper/Springtheme" on the earlier Springsongs album, with a focal melody already minted as a precious medallion of prog bliss. Music does not get anymore beautiful than this, possibly bringing one to tears, especially with the mellotron's gentle influence. "Evening Dance" involves more playful tonal adventurism, the flute again pied-pipering the way, a sensual bass groove set into motion, over which magical carpets of delicately woven synth, organ, piano and clavinet filaments intermingle . "On the Sea" starts with a soaring yet brief axe solo that scours the choir-tron cascades and some superb drum fills from Maurizio, a dab of windswept flute patiently ushering in another solo from Nahum that oozes a contained fury that leaves one in shambles. Some electric piano washes and an oboe intervention docks the pier. "Under Stars" is a short effects laden piece with recitative voice that serves as a welcome interlude, numbing the listener to the surprising riff of "Blackmountains", a stunning piece with a dreamy curtain of combined percussion, some swift acoustic guitar runs and synth sweeps, as the flute once again carves out the delicate melody, aided and abetted by the catty violin. "Prelude of an Elegy" gets even groovier with marshalling drums and burping bass, almost beyond space rock, as the synths wobble madly in orbit and the movement progressing forever forward. The lead solo combined with the choir mellotron is just plain silly-good. A thunderbolt seals the letter. The finale "Edge of Summer" does not release the pressure on the pedal at all, a sympho-folk rendition that relies on the strings and the keys to conjure grandiose imagery, providing the solid foundation on which Nahum's guitar can dance for the ages. Artwork, booklet and design all are typically exceptional, showing the care Zuffanti puts into these personal efforts. This is without any hesitation a 5 . Perhaps even one of the finest prog recordings ever from Italy.Yes, it's that good! Its perfect. Buona sera !

'Summereve' - Hostsonaten (9/10)

Much like another well-known Italian artist composed a few centuries earlier, progressive rock act Hostsonaten has taken on writing a soundtrack to each of the seasons, as part of a fairly familiar, yet highly ambitious project of four albums. Capping off this album cycle is the band's 2011 offering, not surprisingly entitled 'Summereve'. An almost entirely instrumental journey, Hostsonaten creates a stunning soundtrack for the warmest of seasons; a beautifully fitting score to the coming months. Although the concept of this album may seem tacky at first glance, the brilliant way Hostsonaten executes it puts 'Summereve' among the freshest sounding symphonic prog rock albums in recent memory.

Best described as a soundtrack, the music on 'Summereve' is best identified with film score music. Some very subtle natural ambiance weaves its way into the background of some of the passages here, giving the listener enough of a auditory cue to imagine their own visual accompaniment here. Thinking of the music in this abstract sense, there are moments here where the music speaks of thunderous summer rain, bright sunrises, gardens in full bloom, and colourful orchards. For such a pastoral ideal, Hostsonaten uses lush harmonies, mellotrons, keyboards, and tastefully performed guitars of all shapes and sizes to bring forth the musical vision. The sound is fairly vintage; sounding like it could have been written and performed at any time over the past three or four decades. The production shows the modernity of 'Summereve' though; every instrument may be heard with beautiful clarity.

Besides a fleeting section of spoken word dialogue (which feels somewhat unnecessary in the overall scope of the album), Hostsonaten decides to make their musical vision clear without any sort of vocal accompaniment. This might tend to alienate the fans of Italian progressive rock who look out for great vocalists in music, but it does work to the music's favour. The soundtrack feel to 'Summereve' allows for the instrumental nature of the work to thrive. Although the symphonic instrumentation of symphonic prog rock has usually amounted to the work of a keyboardist, there are real classical instruments at work here, which only adds to the distinctly organic feel of the music. Instead, synths and mellotrons are only used when the band feels like they would sound best there, which makes Hostsonaten's sound quite a bit more sincere than the run-of-the-mill prog band.

'Summereve' came to my attention only through the widespread acclaim it was receiving across the board, and I have found myself incredibly impressed by this masterpiece. The 'mood music' vibe of 'Summereve' leads one to question whether it will truly become one of the classics of Italian progressive rock over time, but it is clear even from the year of its release that Hostsonaten has released an incredible piece of work with 'Summereve', and closed off what has been a surprisingly successful concept project.

I'm sorry but this album is so flawed, substandard, and redundant in production, engineering, and performance, respectively, that I cannot imagine giving it a "excellent" much less "essential" or "masterpiece" label. The chamber music songs ("Glares of Light," "Under Stars)" and the folk tune "Evening Dance" are beautiful, but "Season's Overture," "Blackmountains," "Prelude of an elegy," and "Edge of Summer" are so full of clichéd sounds, riffs, and motifs that I'm actually quite astounded that experienced ears find this "masterful" and "essential." Half the time I feel like I'm listening to New Age music from the 1980s or practice songs from the 1980s Genesis roadies. Everytime the lead electric guitar enters and performs it feels so over the top, so melodramatic, so "been there, done that," (i.e. tired, old) that I'm almost repulsed. This might be pretty music, but "good" is all I'm willing to rate it. And I've been listening daily for over a month now feeling somehow insecure that I'm missing something--that there's something here that's NOT!

Although summer is just beginning for us in the Northern hemisphere, Höstsonaten's Summereve brings the band's 4-album season cycle to a close. I was intrigued by the multi-album concept, and the few samples I heard sounded great, so I picked it up right away. I'm glad I did, because from the first listen I was hooked. I've been really enjoying Summereve, and although I haven't heard the other 3 seasons of the year yet, I'm looking forward to getting a bit chilly and watching the leaves fall.

The first thing that should be known about Summereve is the style of music the band employs. There are equal parts rock and classical music at work here, and you're just as likely to hear a guitar solo as you are a violin and flute duet in the same song. The wind and string pair are in fact a major part of the sound of Summereve, and they are heavily featured on each song. The other instruments get their fair play as well, such as acoustic and electric guitars, piano, synthesizers and Mellotron. The keyboards get the most time to shine, but every instrument is integral in creating the great atmosphere. The synthesizers sound great paired with the more pure sounding classical instruments, and the Mellotron's choirs create some incredibly powerful moments.

Of course, what good would a nice collection of instruments be without good songs to go along with? The overture acquaints the listener with the album's sound, though there is only one true theme that gets a reprise at the very end. The rest of the melodies of the overture evoke the feeling of the songs they relate to, but are never quite the same and can be difficult to recognize later on. Besides a short few spoken lines in a later song, Summereve is completely instrumental, and very melodic. The instruments help to paint the picture of summer, ranging from warm nights to rainy afternoons and calm waters. There is a good mix of fast and slow paced songs, and the drums really aid in making the difference in the atmosphere. The music never gets particularly complex, but what it lacks in technicality it makes up for in aesthetics.

Besides the 10 minute opener, each song hovers around 5 minutes, and are quite good on their own. The first half of the songs all have a different feel, though by the time the end had come I had grown a little tired of the flue and violin pair. Although the guitar solos are all very well done, I wouldn't have minded if another one had been substituted for a passage of one of those two instruments, simply for how cool the contrast in sound is. Other than this, the main issue with Summereve comes right at the end. The main theme from the overture comes back in a triumphant fashion and builds to what seems like a great climax. Rather than fulfilling that tension by brining it home, the guitar drops down in the mix on the last note, and some quick, solo drums, close it out. I have suspicions that this will match up with the intro to the fall album, Autumnsong, but I have no way of checking currently.

Even though this ends up being a pretty disappointing ending, it doesn't ruin anything that came before it. Regardless of a giant climax in the last few seconds, the previous 40 minutes of music are generally really beautiful and a joy to listen to. The album goes by fast, and besides my complaint with the overuse of the flue and violin, I really enjoy listening to it all the way through. If you're already a fan of Höstsonaten's work you're probably going to want to finish the season cycle, and even if you're new to the band, this is a good one to check out before the year comes to a close.

Such a beautiful little record...

Everyone who knows me and/or have read my reviews in the past might have been expecting a long and tedious rant about how unoriginal this album happens to be or how it's pretentious and down right ridiculous for a band called Höstsonaten (Autumn Sonata in Swedish) to release an album titled Summereve! Luckily, I've decided to skip going down that route today seeing that this is actually a nice little gem of an album. You probably won't hear me praising this material to skies since it's not really worth such a recognition, but that doesn't mean that I can't enjoy it for what it is.

Fabio Zuffanti and a massive lineup of talented musicians have crafted a beautiful symphonic album filled with gorgeous and melancholic melodies that will sit well with fans of the classic '70s instrumental music. Everyone who wants to hear a groundbreaking Symphonic Prog album should probably stay away from Summereve since it's far from a challenging record and at times it even boarders dangerously close to soft rock territory. Fortunately, I don't find that to be a bad thing since that band keep themselves far enough from treading over the more obvious prog clichés and deliver solid material all thoughout the album.

This is simply easy listening at its finest! If you're fine with that then definitely give this record a go. If not, simply stay and you won't get burned. Since I've never been one to shun great melodic compositions that don't try to be anything more than that, I can't find a reason for giving Summereve anything less than a solid rating of excellence. Nothing less and nothing more!

***** star songs: Glares Of Light (7:25) On The Sea (4:20)

**** star songs: Seasons's Overture (10:51) Evening Dance (4:13) Under Stars (3:17) Blackmountains (4:07) Prelude Of An Elegy (4:07) Edge Of Summer (5:40)

I ended up listening to this album as a stream because I wanted to hear some more recent RPI. Apart from one Goblin album, my whole experience of RPI is based in the 1970s. (I am familiar with some non-RPI Italian groups from the last 20 years, however). So this whole group is news to me. This is the fourth in a string of albums named after a season. First spring, winter, autumn and now summer. This is instrumental music that, at least on this release, is heavily influenced by 1970s Genesis. Which is great if you like to listen to nothing but Genesis 24/7, but I was expecting a little more for a 2011 release.

The playing and sound is generally pretty good. The compositions, although not terribly original, are nonetheless not predictable either. There is some good use made of various percussion instruments. Lots of retro keyboards and use of bass pedals (like Genesis). The opener "Season's Overture" is the longest track and is divided into 6 different sections. This has a great cinematic and atmospheric beginning. Some great tribal percussion is joined by more atmospherics before the track goes into a good Genesis inspired part. Some tasty clavinet at one point...you don't hear enough clav in prog. This is great symphonic prog but it's nothing you wouldn't have heard before.

"Glares Of Light" is a very classical sounding piece until the rhythm section enters before 3 minutes. Then it becomes slow-paced Genesis inspired symph prog. I really like the retro synth sounds that end this song. "Evening Dance" is one of my faves here. Great mix of organ and acoustic guitar at the beginning. This song does not come off as a '70s symph prog tribute, which I why I probably like it so much. The tempo picks up later and we get some really great memorable keyboard work. Good flute and violin work in places as well. A rockin' guitar solo at the end. A highlight for sure.

"On The Sea" is more Genesis inspired stuff with cool bass pedals and Mellotron choir. The saturated electric piano sound here, however, is very different to Tony Banks' style. "Under Stars" is Genesis in acoustic mode but with great flute melodies and a voice speaking Italian at one point. "Blackmountains" by contrast starts off rocking hard. Then a great mix of percussion and atmospheric keyboards. Later some great acoustic guitar and violin playing.

"Prelude Of An Elegy" starts off with an almost New Wave, very 1980s type of beat. The synth playing here is awesome. The bass is simple but keeps a groove going. As good as it was getting, it goes into slow-paced Genesis territory for the last minute. Another highlight anyway. "Edge Of Summer" is very Genesis sounding (shocked yet?). After awhile I start to think I AM listening to Genesis. When I hear music like this I feel I would be better served by listening to Foxtrot or A Trick Of The Tail instead. This is very derivitive and somewhat retro sounding but is well done and enjoyable nonetheless. I'll give this 3 stars.

It's not unlikely I just found myself the album of the year with this latest release by Hostsonaten. I was just checking the site of my fellow countrymen (DPRP) merely out of curiosity and I detected a 10 out of 10 there. Now why doesn't that surprise me... ?

Compared to that our own 4,02 (so far) is a very modest score for such a jewel I would say. And another remarkable thing is: 134 ratings with just 7 (?) reviews at this point. It makes you wonder if this is a tough album to review. Well, actually it could be because I find it hard myself to say much about it. Let's give it a shot: it's enchanting instrumental music with high quality melodic tracks is the best I can do. I'm not really familiar with this band and RPI is not quite the subgenre I would expect listening to this. It's more like symphonic prog, a bit in the style (not sound !) of Clearlight. Best tracks are the opening (mini) epic and the marvellous closer (guitar !). The rest is way above par as well by the way.

In the end the rating is just about as tough to determine as the review. It's a very tough call between 4 and 5 stars but since I can't detect any flaws and it's an overall more than excellent effort by Hostsonaten I will round up this time. Album of the year ? To me it (probably) is !

I'm not the biggest fan of what i'd call pretty music, i'd much rather listen to fuzzed out organ or bass and some screaming guitar.There is a time and place for almost everything I suppose and so I do admit enjoying this style from time to time. In fact I have three HOSTSONATEN albums that i've given 4 stars to. I actually had no intention of getting this one because I really felt it probably wouldn't be better or that much different from the ones I already own, so what's the point. Someone though was kind enough to send this to me unsolisited which I appreciated, but it only confirmed my thoughts.

"Season's Overture" opens with lots of atmosphere including mellotron. Percussion after 1 1/2 minutes as it starts to build.The synths after 3 minutes are joined by guitar. Mellotron follows then some flute and heaviness before 6 minutes. A beautiful soundscape before 7 1/2 minutes. It keeps changing thougjh.The guitar leads before 10 minutes. "Glares Of Light" opens with piano then the violin joins in before a minute followed by flute. Drums and bass before 3 minutes. Piano only ends it. "Evening Dance" features acoustic guitar and organ to start and it sounds great. It turns heavy then settles with flute.The organ is back as it picks up and the piano returns. It kicks in before 4 minutes as the guitar lights it up to the end. Nice.

"On The Sea" is mellow with aboe.The guitar leads for a while then it settles back with aboe and piano. "Under Stars" has acoustic guitar and flute early on.Sampled spoken words come in briefly after 1 1/2 minutes. "Blackmountains" is a favourite of mine with those raw sounds to open along with percussion and atmosphere.The violin makes some noise too. "Prelude Of An Elegy" is eventually led by a good beat with atmosphere.The guitar soars after 3 minutes. "Edge Of Summer" is mellow and classical sounding. Not a fan of this one.

I agree with Andy at Planet Mellotron on the 3.5 star rating. If you've never heard this band before this is a good example of what they do and it's well worth checking out.

Höstonaten is a project that dates back to 1991. It's mainly the brainchild of Fabio Zuffanti, a very prolific multi-instrumentalist and composer involved in many other bands and projects such as la Maschera di Cera, Finisterre, Aries and Rohmer just to name a few. The name of this project was inspired by a famous film directed by Ingmar Bergman, Autumn Sonata, and the love for cinema can be perceived also in the evocative atmospheres conjured by the music. After two interesting albums (Höstonaten, released in 1996, and Mirrorgames, released in 1998), Fabio Zuffanti started to work on a series of musical tableaux inspired by the cycle of the seasons that was completed in 2011 with "Summereve", the album inspired by Summer. The album was released on the independent label AMS/BTF and is the first part of cycle. Well, the first part of this cycle was also the last one to be released but I think that it's the right starting point to explore all the albums of the cycle if you haven't listened to them yet. The line up here features along with Fabio Zuffanti (bass, Moog, Taurus bass pedals, acoustic guitar, tambourine, tubular bells) also Luca Scherani (Mellotron, Hammond and Church Organ, Minimoog, Grand Piano, Fender Rhodes, clavinet, Roland & Yamaha synthesizers, RMI keyboard, Farfisa, Sequencers, piano), Maurizio Di Tollo (drums, congas, tambourine), Matteo Nahum (acoustic and electric guitars), Fausto Sidri (didgeridoo, percussion), Joanne Roan (flute), Luca Tarantino (oboe), Sylvia Trabucco (violin), Alessandra Dalla Barba (violin), Ilaria Bruzzone (viola) and Chiara Alberti (cello). The beautiful art cover by Davide Guidoni tries to capture the spirit and the colours of the music opening a door for your imagination...

The first track "Seasons's Ouverture" is a suite in six parts (Rite Of Summer, In The Rising Sun, The Last Shades Of Winter, A Church Beyond The Lake, La Route Pour Finistére and Springtheme). The mystery of the Summer solstice is celebrated at dawn with a rite featuring a crescendo of percussions, then the sun begins to shine and lights up the colours of the nature. Fabio Zuffanti had the idea of this cycle of the seasons during a journey in Brittany and you can try to follow him on his way to Finistère to visit a quiet, beautiful church beyond a lake... Acoustic guitar passages, swirling flutes notes, fiery keyboards surges: the music is complex with many changes in rhythm and mood but always warm and pleasant. There's no interruption between the different tracks of this work and piano and violin lead the way to the idyllic, romantic "Glares Of Light". "Evening Dance" follows bringing a touch of mystery and thoughtlessness while "On The Sea" is more reflective and dreamy. On the evocative "Under Stars" you can listen to some narrative vocals... "We celebrated every moment of our meetings as epiphanies / Just we two in all the world / Bolder, lighter than a bird's wing, you hurtled like vertigo / Down the stairs, leading through moist lilac to your realm / Beyond the mirror...". These are the first verses of a poem by Arseny Tarkovsky that you can hear in The Mirror, a 1975 film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, son of the poet... An electric guitar riff then introduces "Blackmountains" an amazing track full of colours and exotic touches where flamenco guitar and violin interact broidering delicate melodies. Next comes the tense "Prelude Of An Elegy" that drives you towards a storm and to the last track of this album, the melancholic "Edge Of Summer". Well, on the last notes you can feel that Autumn is coming soon...

Hostsonaten has crafted an immensely gorgeous album with Summereve. It is a splendid showcase of compositional magic and inspiring performances. The exceptions are the sixth and seventh pieces, where it seems the band ran out of creative ideas, and opted for frivolousness instead. However, there are a myriad of stellar passages, often one pearl after another, strung together by the proper necklace of elegant composition.

'Seasons's Overture' Dense atmospheric textures wrap around a light synthesizer lead before percussion drives the music forward. Once all the instruments appear, it is a striking and wondrous moment, with uplifting guitar and keyboards. No instrument gets in the way of anything else; each has its place in complementing the other, be it complementary electric guitar, airy flute, the steady bass, drums that let the rest of the music breathe, or that soothing organ and synthesizer passage. This instrumental symphonic masterpiece weaves in and out of various time signatures and musical colors, concluding in a most grandiose manner.

'Glares of Light' Hostsonaten scales back the pomp but not the beauty, offering gentle piano and sweet violin. The eventual addition of organ and a rhythm section do not disrupt the splendor of this stirring piece. It eases into a bittersweet passage toward the end.

'Evening Dance' Changing styles, this piece opens with a moderately-paced, unorthodox acoustic guitar chord progression before launching into a hard rock passage, and then a calm flute moment. All of these segments are transient, as the main piece involves a bass groove under various lead instruments, including piano, flute, and violin.

'On the Sea' As the title suggests, the fourth piece, with its implied major seventh chords, brings to mind drifting alone on an expansive blue ocean. With its soaring lead guitar, which seems to borrow from Pink Floyd's 'Time,' I am reminded of David Gilmour and his similarly titled album, On an Island.

'Under Stars' Twelve-string guitar shifts between peaceful and menacing chords. Overall, this terse opus is a shimmering, tranquil moment.

'Blackmountains' Following a steady segment of hand percussion and wayward synthesizer, a flute leads into sprightly acoustic guitar and violin trading phrases. This work is not as well structured as the others, remaining rather erratic.

'Prelude of an Elegy' A straightforward bass juts in and out over a stable rhythm. It does not move me much, although the Mellotron and electric guitar is an excellent, if somehow unoriginal moment.

'Edge of Summer' Hostsonaten chooses to end their impressive album with one final, rousing anthem that even seems to be saying 'Farewell.' The concluding guitar solo is one of the best performances on the album, although there are plenty of jewels throughout.

The seasoncycle suite of Zuffanti's Hostsonaten came to end in February 11' with the release of its last part ''Summereve'' on BTF.Again one can find some great line-up changes, only Zuffanti and guitarist Matteo Nahum remained stable in a 11-piece crew of musicians.New entries include keyboardist Luca Scherani, formerly of Trama and a collaborator of Zuffanti in the Finisterre and Aries projects, and drummer Maurizio Di Tollo, past member of Distillerie Di Malto and drummer of Rohmer, Moongarden and La Maschera Di Cera.

With ''Summerve'' Hostsonaten mark somewhat of a return to the sound of their first releases.This is again a good combination of Folklore soundscapes with atmospheric Symphonic Rock, but the balance of these styles is very good and easily distinguishable.Additionaly the folkier parts are more energetic and far from relaxed with the nice acoustic grooves and lovely flute work richly supported by the notes of piano, synthesizers and Mellotron.Regarding the symphonic parts of the album, these sound really modern and fresh, sometimes flirting with the flashy Neo Prog sound, characterized by the grandiose orchestrations, the dramatic guitar solos of Nahum and the carefully structured string sections.Succesfully to say the least, Zuffanti has chosen to fill this album with more optimistic and rather pleasant musicianship with a good dose of dynamics, far from the somber themes of ''Autumnsymphony''.

This one stands somewhere between the very best and the less intricate releases of Hostsonaten.Strong musicianship with nice orchestrations and a good chance to meet Hostsonaten's both folky and symphonic face, if you are not aware of the band's sound...3.5 stars.