because of the cover

Music Every now and then I'll have an eccentric reason for buying an album, usually when I've never heard of the performer or even the kind of music they play. Usually it's because of the cover. Sometimes it's price. I bought Ludovico Einaudi's una mattina for both of those reasons. The random nature of the image reminds me of the kinds of haphazard shots which appear on flickr sometimes. The man doesn't tidy up after himself straight away. The ablum cost £2.99 in the HMV pre-Christmas sale.

The third secret reasons was the mini-explanation that Einaudi's included on the inlay which a snook a peak at in the shop. He says that its a collection of songs linked together by a story, that it speaks about him now and the things around him, and he lists the elements -- his children, his house, the weather, the music he likes, the books he reads and his memories. The man's a blogger -- but instead of a clacky keyboard and a dodgy server, it's him, his Yamaha (or whatever) and a recording contract.

The sound could have been bland, because there isn't any accompanyment, the piano sounds presenting the message. But it's an impressive place to be for an hour and actually the sort of music you would expect to be playing in the scene from the cover. I'd like to regale you with what I think are his classical influences but the girl I really like who works in Blackwells smiled at me today and all knowledge of high art has drifted to the stratosphere of my brain. Instead I'll say that if you like the menu music from the dvd of Steven Soderbergh's Solaris or Michael Nyman when he's scoring Sally Potter films you'll love this.

Incidentally here's a photo of Ludovico from another page of the inlay were he looks uncannily like Larry David...