ATARAXIA & AUTUNNA ET SA ROSE
Odos Eis Ouranon - La Via Verso Il Cielo

Label: Equilibrium Music

Released in celebration of a concert by Ataraxia and Autunna Et Sa Rose in 2005 at St. Michele in Rovigo, "Odos Eis Ouranon" is a double album, featuring a full album by each of these Italian neo-classical luminaries.
While neither was recorded live at the show that precipitated this release, Autunna's disc comes from an earlier performance at the same location.
Atraxia's contribution, "Strange Lights", is an acoustic studio session featuring pieces from not only their back catalog, but seven unreleased pieces as well.

Of the two bands featured here, the Ataraxia disc is the one that wins my heart.
In utilizing a studio, it has a sharpness that its companion lacks; even the silence is a participant. The instrumentation within "Strange Lights" showcases classical guitar and piano, with the subtle grace of occasional flutes and the gentle tingle of bells and chimes.
A tambourine like-jangle and fairy shimmer of snowy bells lends the wandering guitar in "Veules Les Roses" a seasonal atmosphere, Franscesca Nicoli's lilting high operatic voice shimmering like a spirit. "Strange Lights" sighs like waves hitting a beach, as pensive clear guitar is strummed to alternating solemn spoken word and the siren-like wail of Nicoli. While these guitar-driven pieces are serene, the moments where the piano is the centerpiece are also enchanting.
The tool is played with passion in "Faust In Una Sala Maledetta", each note stuck with force in a soundtrack dirge as Nicoli succinctly proves her vivid operatic range. Leading its waltz, the heavy-hearted piano is paced by guitar in "Ophélie", a pieces which also features a notable sorrowful flute contribution.
Finally, like an elven ballad, the sour "Bonthrop" is carried by a duet of sad piano and plucked guitar, Nicoli dipping deep like the gravity in her voice bears the world's weight. While I have not heard every recording by these figureheads within the neo-classical realm, thus far this is my favorite album by Ataraxia to date.
Autunna Et Sa Rose, on the other hand, I have never heard of until now, despite a career spanning at least a decade. In comparison, the male vocalist Disorder adds an antagonistic edge to the package, while their compositions feel a bit more stark and cold.
A passionate monologue casts its shadow over a nervous cello is the emphasis of the first part of "La Morte di Virginia", disappearing into the tinkle of piano and ghostly soprano wails in its second act.
The opening piece, "L'Art et La Mort", is similar in nature, with the rattle of discordant bells, the flutter of paper moths wings, and the slow lurch to shudder of strings sufficing for the foundation beneath Disorder's sharp tongue.
"Slow Rain" features Sonia Vesitin's angelic operatics in a calm duet of Autunna's chosen instruments, yet the mood is eclipsed in its center by demanding cello strokes, tense piano, and a tersely half-spoken verse. The hammers strike the wires like exclamation points in an argument with pleading cello in "Vergänglichkeit", resolving their tone in mid-song to conclude in a loving duet.
Lastly, the threadbare "Gentiane Percluse" picks at nerves with its high-end piano and awkward writhing cello, before rolling into staggered, rapid waves of piano and stabs of distressed strings.
While the concert that was the spark that started the fire is absent, this double disc collection is quite the memorial. The contrast between the two acts is definitely engaging, the performances of both distinctly different.
Certainly, if one is a fan of Ataraxia, "Strange Lights" is worth the price of admission alone. "Logos" is also quite good, although Autunna's traditional operatic accent and the occasional accolades of the audience cannot capture the melancholy beauty of Ataraxia.Vlad McNeally,  12 Dec 2005