Although I am certain none of the eight composers that contributed to Claudio Sanna's anthology had Buster Keaton in mind when composing this music, much of it would be a fitting addition to Keaton's films. I say this because Keaton's art was not merely comic pratfalls and violence. It was serious business. He never threw nor took a pie to the face, his art was one of social commentary and the triumph of the individual. The music presented here has a kind of synesthetic quality, which enables the listener to 'see' with their ears, visualizing the composer's conceptualization.

As a performer, Sanna's approach weaves classical, folk, and improvised music into his performance. The compositions draw as much from baroque, musique concrète, romance, turntable effects, and dance, as it does from popular folk music. Like all great new music, anything and every genre of sound is information and the material for communication.

Composer Luciano Chessa's "Quadri da una città fantasma, Un mistero da camera per pianoforte, lavagna e tre piatti giradischi" (Pictures from a ghost town, A chamber mystery for piano, blackboard and three turntables) documents the ghost town of Virginia City, Nevada. Once a thriving silver mining community, the town went from boom to bust as people rushed in to make their fortunes and fled just as fast when the prospects dried up. Chessa's seven compositions paint a visual portrait of apparitions that linger in this deserted spot. Sanna's piano and chalkboard writing is joined by Leandro Lo Bianco's turntables which add a ghost-like presence with the runout clicks of vinyl calling for someone to lift the tonearm. This ghost town tour includes a descent into the mines, a hallucinatory wireless opium experience that bleeds into a dreamt opera, and a sentimental coda for the forgotten life of a city. Additionally, Chessa's "Cupric Donna I & II" for his departed friend lost in a fire is both beautiful and full of anger.

Andrea Granitzio's "The First Eclipse" documents the experience of witnessing a solar event. Sanna's piano tracks the sun with first, a metronomic precision, then the sudden realization that time has paused in the heavens. As a viewer (and listener) you realize nothing may ever be the same again.

Paolo Pastorino's "Rebirth (acousmatic)" chronicles the resurgence of nature, an unstoppable reincarnation of sound. The composition is performed with close mic'd electronics as if one were pressing your ear to the ground to listen to lichen, grass, and even microbes repopulating Gaia.

Riccardo Collu's "Jusq'au bout" is a simple song without words, performed in the romantic tradition. The music expresses both a longing and the determination you sense from one of Buster Keaton characters.

Giuseppe D'Amico's nine "Lyrical Sketches" and one "Esercizio" were written to coexist with a symphony he was working on. Although, simpler in form, they express a wide variety of emotion that create the possible visual images to accompany Keaton's or one's own internal cinema.

Giovanna Dongu's three compositions "Sogno" (Dreams), "Timido volo" (Timid Flight), and "Un sentimento di danza" (A Feeling of dance) draw from the impulse of classical works as filtered through a Sardinian perspective. "Timido volo" is written for both the keyboard and insides of the piano, highlighting the instrument as a percussive unit. "Un sentimento di danza," inspired by a Greek melody, dances an intoxicated melody that could easily get stuck in your head.

Claudio Sanna's three compositions "Giga," "Studio sulle none 1," and "Studio sulle none 2" present brightly lit music, all articulated with Sardinian accents. Let's imagine Sanna is accompanying a Keaton silent film, and relating to the audience with pieces and parts of the local popular music.

Luca Sirigu's "Solitude" began as a miniature for solo piano. It repeats a single note that spreads wider and wider with its exponential growth, much like Keaton being chased by one policeman which quickly becomes dozens. His "Il Notturno No. 1 "la Luna sull'acqua" (The Moon on the Water) is a light playful remembrance of the delicate reflection of the moon upon the Gulf of Asinara.

I'm certain none of the eight Sardinian composers had Keaton nor silent films in mind when composing this music and in the hands of lesser talent, these compositions would not yield the spectacular visuals that Sanna's performance accomplishes. Listen to the music here with your mind's eye and visualize the inner cinema it creates."-Mark Corroto, April 2022

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