INFERNO - THE DIVINE COMEDY, PART 1

It's probably one of the most ambitious projects in the modern history of music. Of course Wagner alone wrote operas longer than this, but 34 tracks composed and played by 34 different groups/artists for more than 4 hours of music are a big effort, also for the listener. In addition the concept they are about is one of the biggest masterpieces of world's literature.

It makes impossible going track by track, so let's first say something about the poem:

In 13th Century Dante imagined the world after death divided into 3 divine realms: Inferno (we all know about it), Purgatorio halfway, where redeemable sins are cleared up, and Paradiso (Heaven). Each of them is composed of 33 chapters, plus one introductive at the beginning for a total of 100.

Without going in depth, he used the realms to put inside the main characters of History and of his current times to write an allegoric poem which speaks of politics other than theology.

From a progressive point of view the Inferno is made of 4 CDs for more than 4 hours of music.

Of course not all the 34 tracks are of the same level, but the complexity and the dramaticity of the concept gave the artists the possibility to interpret their respective chapters.

On the first CD I've been particularly impressed by the Romanian YESTERDAYS (great voice) and the Italian GREENWALL. They have kept the original text, and let me say that the result (for Italian speaking people) is excellent as their chapter is one of the most movig and famous of the whole poem.

On CD2 I can mention WILLOWGLASS, WICKED MINDS and IL CASTELLO DI ATLANTE. CD3 features excellent contributions of SINKADUS, OZONE LAYER and ADVENT (I would have expected something more by NOTABENE.

CD4 is darker, but we are in the deepest parts of hell... The string arrangement of the Spanish RAIMUNDO RODULFO is fantastic. DE ROSSI e BORDINI are typical RPI and SIMON SAYS make a great closure to this first "cantica".

What to say...4 hours of progressive music about one of the biggest concepts that can be imagined. It can't have less than 5 stars.

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