Belcanto

Belcanto (2025) is an Italian TV series that blends the scope of a traditional period drama with the splendor of opera. Maria and her daughters, Antonia and Carolina, flee from the oppression of their father and end up in Milan, the beating heart of 19th-century opera. The mother, hiding a dark secret, wishes for one of her daughters, where she failed, to achieve success in opera. As events unfold, they continue their search for freedom and redemption, which they hope to find in opera, while simultaneously the soon-to-be-revealed secret will have the power to reshape their lives forever.

Opera and classical music had been a recurring subject in (cinematic) history, through its re-use, widespread influences and contrasting, cliché factor. Generally, in music, conductors, reshaped a single work slightly to more radically transformations for contemporary audiences, forming a bridge and seeking connections to popular music. It is all reflected in what composer Stefano Lentini transacts for the TV series; a hybrid of an original score, interwoven with a remolded, more contemporary view of opera, and to some extent Neapolitan folk tradition. As for the palette and performers in bringing forward this electric (re)shaped musical world, see all credits below.

To understand the quality of Lentini's work, knowledge and/or experience with operas and scores is required, but presumably, even novices can appreciate its depth. Yet, even for me, it translates into accepting a wide array of more modern ideas, regardless of whether I would otherwise opose singular details, all in favour of the overall scope and quality.

The various pieces of opera by Bellini, Mozart, Schubert, Rossini, Donizetti, and Verdi (on the album labeled Belcanto Intervention), and several other piece,s are spectacularly well treated in reinterpretations by Lentini, adding so much new to them and intertwining with various elements presented in the score. In some of them, I think there are a variety of small details that enhance the dramatic developments of characters, hidden within their reinterpretations; as Diva (Norma: V. Bellini) concludes, it segues into a very evocative piano chord. Ave Maria (Belcanto Invention) expands on the content with contemporary electronics, such as the electro-pop-sounding beat and synthesiser programming. The electro beat is perhaps best understood as a simplifying means to explain why I find everything Lentini did to be brilliant. On its own, an electro-pop beat-dominated take on classical music, an aria, usually serves as the most simplified reason I strongly dislike the approach and results in something quasi-pretentious. Yet here, with all the details and overall scope, it is not; I adore everything in attempting to modernize things and how it is transferred to pieces of scores such as Rivoluzionini.

The original score is incredibly memorable, often channeling the emotional developments surrounding the triangle of the women, highlighting their hopes, desires for freedom, and redemption. This is interwoven with a dark, lurking secret that becomes evident as the music progresses through the episodes. There is a wealth of extraordinary music; Antique includes surging tension, drums, and layers of elegiac strings, while Volta del cielo"serves as a hypnotic, introspective cue, and Explosion develops into an operatic rock anthem.

De facto, two tracks form the highlight of Belcanto, touching upon both sides of the bridge; Universi nascosti and Ninna nanna sei figlia mia. Universi nascosti is an evocative composition, that starts with atmospheric layers of synthesisers and guitar plucking; imaginative, calm and soothing. As the cue progresses, the simple repetition of the same melody continues, is carried over to different instruments, such as the piano, deeply moving strings, presented in different nuances and creating wider range of emotions through shifting interplay between different instruments. The level of a wide and spacious soundscape interlinked, shifting nuances as the melody is treated in wonderful interplay of instruments is zealous. Additionally, the melody is quite similar to Helena's theme from Krzesimir Dębski – Ogniem I Mieczem.

Ninna nanna sei figlia mia follows a similar progression by transporting the basic melody to different instruments, serving as a reconstructed version of Johannes Brahms' Op. 49 No. 4 lullaby. It begins with the recognizable melody and the singing of a female soprano supported by evocative, slightly ambient atmosphere, subtle programming, plucked guitar, and slow piano, capturing the essence of this stellar lullaby. This idea continues in a bright interplay led by driving strings, ending on an atmospheric, highly appealing drowned variation of the melody played by a few instruments. Despite all the brilliant efforts of the composer to bring opera to contemporary appeal, this piec e-not opera- stands out the most and is easily the best interpretation of the Brahms piece I have ever heard.

Belcanto is a brilliant work by composer Stefano Lentini.


Stefano Lentini on Neapolitan folk music:

The Neapolitan folk music you hear in Belcanto was entirely created for the project. I took inspiration from historical texts, but musically, these are original compositions. My goal was to recreate the energy and engagement of that era while ensuring the music didn’t feel “old” or overly vintage to today’s audience. For songs like Cicerenella and Amice, I approached them as a folk musician would: I used the original lyrics (Cicerenella dates back to the 1500s, Amice to the 1700s) and reconstructed the melodies purely from memory, without listening to any official versions. Cicerenella is still well known in Italian folk music, but I wanted to reinterpret it in an organic way, allowing for natural “errors,” as happens in oral musical traditions. Amice, on the other hand, has a completely new melody set to the original lyrics. For Na Casa and Vota u Vico, I was inspired by traditional texts but composed them from scratch. I chose instruments with a raw, authentic sound—especially an Italian handcrafted guitar that immediately gave me the right feeling: not a refined, classical instrument, but one with an imperfect yet beautiful tone, rich in its simplicity.

And on the use of programming and electronics:

The creative process of programming and writing takes place entirely within Logic Pro. Once everything is fully defined, I transfer it to Pro Tools for external recordings outside my studio. I have a very ambivalent approach to analog and digital. On one hand, I use a wide range of string instruments from around the world—blending classical guitars with ronroco, lutes, and mandolins from different traditions. On the other hand, when it comes to synthesizers, I prefer working exclusively with fully digital instruments. I frequently use Retro Machines MkII, Serum, and 808, and and I really love Logic’s ES1 and ES2 synthesizers, which always offer me enormous flexibility. I then process the sound using external plugins such as UAD, Soundtoys, and the outstanding Aberrant DSP—a small New York-based company that creates unique creative gems.






Music credits:
Coloora Musick Orchestra & Quartetto Adorno
Edoardo Zosi, concertmaster
Daniele Belardinelli: conductor
Coro di voci bianche “I piccoli cantori” di Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, Salvina Miano: choir master
Nuovo Coro Lirico Sinfonico Romano, Stefano Cucci: choir master
Alessandro Deljavan, Alessandro Simoni: piano
Andrea Marzari: electric guitar
Marco Rovinelli: drums
Stefano Lentini: guitars, bass, piano, clarinet, flute, ronroco, tres, harmonium, percussion, backing vocals, synthesizers, programming, music director, additional mixer
Carmen Maria Aurora Bocale, Valentina Gargano, Naomi Rivieccio, Marla Green, Chiara Latini, Jesus Eduardo Niave: vocals
Antonio Arcangeli: music assistant, programming and additional arranger
Fabrizio Aiello, Diego Guarnieri, Stefano Dalfovo, Antonio Giardina, Emanuele Lucchisani: programming and additional arrangers
Davide Dell’amore, Michale Seberich, Fabrizio Ludovici: recording engineers
Geoff Foster : mix
John Webber: mastering (AIR Studios)




Tracklist
1. Il cielo splende sopra di me 2:42
2. Su me, morente, esanime (Belcanto Invention) 3:12
3. Piano Trio, Op. 100 (Belcanto Invention) 2:38
4. Il vento 2:24
5. Regina della notte (Belcanto Invention) 3:35
6. Casta diva (Belcanto Invention) 4:05
7. 'Na casa 3:56
8. Vota u vico 2:53
9. Sisters 3:10
10. Una furtiva lagrima (Belcanto Invention) 5:12
11. Una volta c'era un re (Belcanto Invention) 2:43
12. Vocatus atque non vocatus deus aderit 3:32
13. Ave Maria (Belcanto Invention) 6:13
14. Explosion 4:36
15. Suite della notte 4:30
16. Cicerenella mia 2:06
17. Caelum Sidereum 5:56
18. Mors et vita (Requiem) 3:44
19. Laude (Donna de Paradiso) 2:06
20. Amice 1:58
21. Universi nascosti 7:17
22. Milano 1848 3:43
23. Antique 4:29
24. Chant Obscur (Ave III) 4:05
25. Voi che sapete che cosa è amor (Belcanto Invention) 2:24
26. Rivoluzioni 4:31
27. Volta del cielo 4:03
28. Neapolitan Novel 3:12
29. Ninna nanna sei figlia mia 5:58
30. Sky 4:18
31. Oh, dischiuso è il firmamento (Belcanto Invention) 2:36
32. Va pensiero (Belcanto Invention) 4:14

Total duration: 122:01




(27-03-2025)