Olivia Belli: Intermundia
XXIM
To create Intermundia (“the space between worlds”), Olivia Belli selected eight central Italy locations, all close to her home in the countryside of the Marche, and crafted a piece with each in mind. Enhancing the evocative character of the music are release booklet photos showing her at the sites, be it an ancient cemetery, shadowy cave, or Franciscan monastery. Belli structured the album into two parts, with each introduced by an “Anima” and containing four location-centred settings and the album tracks as a whole interspersed with four “Respiro” interludes conceived as reflection-inducing rest-stops. The movement within each part is from darkness to light, “from the gravity of material life to the bliss and perfection of the spiritual,” in Belli's words. Instrumental contrasts emerge throughout between solo piano pieces and chamber-classical ones coupling her with violinist Louisa Fuller, violist John Metcalfe, and cellist Chris Worsey.
Listeners heretofore conversant with Belli's material will know what to expect and won't be disappointed: painterly evocations that are lyrical, delicate, and melodic. Emotion is very much present yet articulated with dignity and grace; overwrought isn't a word one would ever hear aplied to her music. There's a strong spiritual dimension in play too, as well as a deep connection to nature. She's someone who years ago abandoned the frenetic pace of the city for the peacefulness and natural rhythms of the countryside. That she admires musical figures such as Chopin, Satie, Richter, and Einaudi comes through in her own compositions.
Belli's fingers dance ever so lightly across the keyboard in the chorale-like solo piano piece “Anima I,” its gentle sparkle providing a spell-casting portal into the recording. “Bet Ha-Chaim,” the first stop on the journey, transplants us to an ancient Jewish cemetery in Pesaro and sees the plaintive melancholy of the piano writing illuminated by the hushed lilt of strings. The first “Respiro” reaffirms Belli's status as a mood painter of the first order, with in this case pretty, tremulous ripples and cascades conjuring an inner state of serenity. A subsequent visit to Tempo del Valadier, a sanctuary located at the entrance of the Frasassi caves, engenders a reflection brimming with elegiac feeling and quiet majesty. While the softly rustling “Respiro 2” is as lovely an expression as the first, the third and fourth exude a soft, pitter-pattering radiance. Visiting “Mirando,” a poet's garden in Recanati, coaxes a, yes, poetic musical reply from Belli and her string partners.
The second part of the travelogue's cued by the gentle “Anima II” and the delicate “Pian Perduto,” the latter titled in reference to a valley near where the earthquake-damaged village of Castelluccio used to stand. Rapidly dancing piano patterns in “Amber Maze,” named after limestone caves at Grotte del Cantinone is Osimo, entwine in a manner suggestive of labyrinthine passageways. Such an uptempo excursion is a rarity on an album that largely emphasizes slow, ponderous reveries. Intermundia ends at Monte Sibyl in the Italian Apeninnes, with Belli breathing in the mountain air and giving us one final exercise in chamber-classical elegance. There's no trickery or gimmicks here, just pure acoustic music of honesty, authenticity, and genuine beauty. Intermundia is spiritually replenishing material of the kind we've come to expect from her and gratefully so. Refreshingly indifferent to passing trends, it's as pure an expression of Belli's special artistry as might be imagined.February 2024