recorded January 1994
     Copenhagen

The first and one of the most important and influential of modern Italian poets. He was born in Alexandria, Egypt in 1888. He studied at the Sorbonne, and while in Paris he became a close friend of Guillaume Apollinaire's. He published his first volume of poetry in 1916, a definitive break with the late 19th-century conventions of Italian poetry. After living in Italy for a number of years, he went to Brazil as a professor of Italian literature at the University of Sao Paulo. On his return he taught at the University of Rome. His work deals with the large themes of human existence: loneliness, love, loss, nature. But above all, his work is a long record of confrontation with death. T.S.Eliot ranked Ungaretti as "one of the few authentic poets" of the century. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969. He died in Milan 1970.

In nessuna
parte
di terra
mi posso
accasare

A ogni
nuovo
clima
che incontro
mi trovo
languente
che
una volta
già gli ero stato
assuefatto

E me ne stacco sempre
straniero

Nascendo
tornato da epoche troppo
vissute

Godere un solo
minuto di vita
iniziale

Cerco un paese innocente

  
  In no
  place
  on earth
  can I
  settle down

  Every time
  I experience
  a new climate
  my longing
  starts
  again
  because
  I have
  already
  grown accustomed

  And I always leave
  as a stranger

  Reborn
  returning from  times,
  where life was too  intense

  To enjoy a single
  moment of life
  beginning

  I search for an  innocent  land

     The Danish Radio Big Band

     Jan Kohlin, Benny Rosenfeld, Palle Bolvig,
             Henrik Pedersen, Lars Togeby   (trumpets, fluegelhorns)

     Vincent Nilsson, Steen Hansen, Kjeld Ipsen   (trombones)
     Giordano Bellincampi  (bass trombone)
     Axel Windfeld  (bass trombone, tuba)

     Jan Zum Vohrde  (flute & alto flute, soprano saxophone)
     Michael Hove  (flute, clarinet, soprano saxophone)
     Uffe Markussen  (clarinet, bass clarinet, flute)
     Bob Rockwell  (clarinet, soprano saxophone)
     Flemming Madsen  (clarinet, bass clarinet, flute)

     Nikolaj Bentzon  (synthesizer)
     Thomas Ovesen  (bass)
     Jonas Johansen  (drums)
     Ethan Weisgard  (percussion)

Mantler has made a song cycle punctuated with bridging interludes which together form a cohesive work every bit as compelling as Ungaretti's plaintive poems ... Mona Larsen sings the poems in the original Italian with a spine-tingling elastic sensuality, airborne and passionate - one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard. There is a quality in Mantler's work which this voice exemplifies. Something exotic and exuberant. A fine introduction to the recordings of Michael Mantler and a ravishing work in its own right.

- THE WIRE

A suite of songs and interludes with words by Italian poet Giuseppe Ungaretti. Mona Larsen sings these modernist lyrics in a suave cabaret style, accompanied by Mantler's big band plus strings and soloists. An integrated hour of moody entertainment, with hints of myriad influences from classical, jazz and pop.

- TIME OUT