Concerto grosso per i New Trolls by New Trolls

Concerto grosso per i New Trolls by the New Trolls from 1971

A milestone in Italian progressive rock, of exceptional musical quality and animated by excellent sounds.

It contains a song that, in my opinion, is one of the New Trolls' finest works, "Improvvisazione nella sala vuota," featuring a great drum solo by Gianni Belleno.

The album was born from an idea by composer Luis Enríquez Bacalov, who wrote the music for the purpose of presenting a concerto grosso, in the style of Italian baroque music, entrusting the solo parts of the score to rock instruments, with the New Trolls playing and singing alongside the orchestra conducted by the composer. Bacalov initially considered involving the Rokes, but settled on the Genoese group at the suggestion of Bardotti, the composer's producer.

Bacalov, known as Luis Enriquez, was an Argentine-born Italian pianist, composer, conductor, and arranger, famous for his film scores.

Side A of the album contains the title track, "Concerto grosso per i New Trolls," divided into four movements.

The first three movements constitute the concerto itself, following the typical three-part division of a baroque concerto:

- The first movement, Allegro, an instrumental piece that Bacalov had already used without rock arrangements for the music of Franco Giraldi's film Lonely Hearts.

- The second movement, Adagio (Shadows), in English, is taken from the song "My Shadow in the Dark," which, in the opening and closing credits of Lucidi's film, quotes a fragment of the famous monologue from William Shakespeare's Hamlet, also featured on the cover.

A version of this song, titled Morire... dormire... forse sognare (Mourning... Sleeping... Maybe Dreaming), with Italian lyrics by Bardotti and a similar arrangement, was recorded that same year by Patty Pravo for her album Per aver visto un uomo piangere e dolore Dio si tranformato in musica e poesia (Per aver visto un uomo piangere e dolore, Dio si tranformato in musica e poesia).

- The third movement, Cadenza - Andante con moto, is almost entirely instrumental, with the only vocal part echoing the Shakespearean quotation from the previous movement. It also shares the harpsichord finale, played by Bacalov himself.

- Side A closes with "Shadows (for Jimi Hendrix), a different version of the second movement performed by the New Trolls without an orchestra, with an arrangement that pays homage to Jimi Hendrix, who had passed away just a year earlier. The vocals repeat the verse of "My Shadow in the Dark" (Always searching, never finding / your shadow in the dark) and then repeat the entire lyrics of "Adagio (Shadows)" in several voices. The song closes with a long guitar solo by Nico Di Palo, performed in the style of Hendrix. Beautiful.

- The album's B-side is occupied by the song "In the Empty Hall," a twenty-minute improvisation, mostly instrumental, recorded live and without an orchestra. The final section is a nearly seven-minute drum solo by Gianni Belleno, leading to the brief finale. Maurizio Salvi's Hammond organ part is beautiful; he would become an official member of the band starting with the following album, "Searching for a Land."

In a 2021 interview, De Scalzi explained that "In the Empty Hall" was nothing more than a medley they used to perform live at the time: among the various cues, there was also the song "Il sole nascerà," released by the group in 1969, whose authors were De Scalzi, Di Palo, and Gian Piero Reverberi (music) and D'Adamo (lyrics).

A must-have for fans and enthusiasts, an essential addition to your recording library.

The Tracks

- Concerto Grosso for the New Trolls:
1. 1st Movement: Allegro (2:15)
2. 2nd Movement: Adagio (4:50)
3. 3rd Movement: Cadenza - Andante Con Moto (4:10)
4. 4th Movement: Shadows (5:30)
- 5. Nella Sala Vuota, New Trolls Improvisations Recorded Live (20:32)

Duration 37:17

Line-Up

- Vittorio De Scalzi - guitar, flute, vocals
- Nico Di Palo - guitar, lead vocals
- Maurizio Salvi - piano, Hammond organ, Fender Rhodes (5)
- Giorgio D'Adamo - bass, backing vocals
- Gianni Belleno - drums, backing vocals

With:
- Luis Enriquez Bacalov - composer, arranger, and conductor (1-4)