POMELO REVIEW:
An instrumental journey through diverse soundscapes, genres, timbres and emotions. A collection of pearls and a balm for the ears.
Pomelo is the latest recording by Roberto Petroli, a clarinettist from Bari who boasts high-profile collaborations such as those with Dalla, Solieri, Concato, Finardi, and currently with Pippo Pollina.
This is a collection of 13 instrumental pieces in which the clarinet and saxophones are the absolute protagonists. One immediately hears a great work of orchestration, poised between light music, with pop and jazz references, with theme and variations.
The rhythm section immediately proves to be totally functional to the pieces, with a great ability to adapt as you go on listening. Many interesting rhythmic figures, but never overpowering the ensemble. Keyboards and string quartet do not just accompany the main voice, but offer well thought out arrangements, with a modern or traditional flavour, depending on the author's wishes.
There is a great variety of interpretations of instrumental music, with many different rhythmic figures and an infinite number of nuances and colours offered by this instrumental ensemble. Even the metronomic excursion gives us a great variety of solutions that allow the listener not to tire easily or to rest on a tempo, risking losing interest.
It is worth noting the author's ability to show off his technical skills, highlighting more than pure technique the ability to use it to develop melodic lines that are never predictable, capable of intriguing, attracting and conveying emotions and sensations that are then subjective and therefore impossible to explain or enclose within a meaning or any other conceptual box.
In conclusion, Pomelo is a mature album, the continuation of an artistic path already addressed thanks to the charisma and courage of very precise choices, as well as the experience and the long road already traveled. Listening slips away without stumbling and the ear is always stimulated, song after song, by changes in musical scenery, speed of execution or particular harmonic progressions. In short, this is an album that is easy to listen to for those who do not have trained ears, but interesting to study for those who know music and want to learn how to compose, play and communicate in music.
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