Michele Fedrigotti/Danilo Lorenzini ‎– I Fiori Del Sole (1979, LP, Italy)

Michele Fedrigotti and Danilo Lorenzini’s long overlooked LP -‎ I Fiori Del Sole, is among of the great works of to emerge from Italy’s incredible movement of musical Minimalism. Both Fedrigotti and Lorenzini are renowned classical pianists, with the bulk of their respective careers dedicated to realizing the works of others. During the 1970’s and 80’s, they worked extensively with Franco Battiato - notably playing most of the instrumentation on Giusto Pio’s legendary Motore Immobile, which he produced. In 1979, the trio - Battiato, Fedrigotti, and Lorenzini, entered the studio to record I Fiori Del Sole, the duo’s only realization of their own compositions. The outcome was a gesture in sublime simplicity - a series of works for organ and piano, with each side dedicated solely to a single instrument. Charting an alternate path - one looking forward through the lens of the earliest days of the avant-garde - the piano works of Erik Satie and Debussy, I Fiori Del Sole feels like nothing of its era. Embracing simple melodies and progressions which are at once radical and steeped in romanticism, works appear as breaths of sound - constrained and flourishing beyond their boundaries. An essential piece in the puzzle of the remarkable body of Italian Minimalist sound, by two of its most important and under-recognized contributors, the reemergence of in the hands of Song Cycle is nothing short of a remarkable event.