Battista Lena's Soviet Space Oddity

Italian guitarist and composer Battista Lena has put together a couple of rather astounding records for the French Label Bleu in the past few years. One of them, (Banda Sonora), remains on my wish-list. The other is an orchestral eurojazz space opera that describes the fictional voyage of 3 Russian cosmonauts, with a dual libretto in Italian and French.

I Cosmonauti Russi is a curious musical confection that teeters between some rambunctious Slavic wedding feast and the pompous soundtrack to a Soviet May Day parade. The record comes as a 2 CD set, with the same music on each disc, but with French lyrics on one and Italian on the other.

The narrative itself follows a similar arc to David Bowie's Space Oddity: the cosmonauts launch into orbit, they express wonder at the beauty of outer space, there are references to what the papers (Pravda) are saying back home, thoughts of women and families left back on earth, and finally the cosmonauts are lost in space.

Here are a couple of selections, one from each of the French and Italian versions, performed by the Banda et Coro Bonaventura Somma di Chianciano Terme. Solos are by Enrico Rava (tp) and Gabriele Mirabassi (cl).

Battista Lena - La Jupe Bleue de Tatiana/Le Hublot
(Tatiana's Blue Dress/The Porthole)
Battista Lena - Dimitri, Yvan e Alioscia Erano i Nostro Nomi
(Dimitri, Ivan and Aliocha were Our Names)
From I Cosmonauti Russi: Label Bleu LBLC 6641/42 [Buy]

Battista Lena

Mashup Challenge 2006: Update
Thanks for all the suggestions so far: we are still accepting late contributions. Our team of subservient house-elves will begin their deliberations tonight, and (barring hanging chads and ongoing issues with our dodgy IBM voting machines), we should have a Top 10 posted in the next few days!

By the Way...
Dave Douglas has a blog.