Genre: Classical, Electronic, Ambient
Like much of the output of neo-classical composer Max Richter, who is German while Ludovico is Italian but recorded this album in Germany, this music seems like it was written for a movie that hasn't been made. It has an unobtrusiveness that sounds as if to let pictures evolve in front of it without taking away its focus. There is no movie or television show attached to this music as far as I know so this feeling of the music being background is intended. The job then is to make this understated music demand some attention if listened to closely as it sounds perfect as background ambiance. Einaudi is mostly successful with this task but his clear unhurried piano can get tiresome at points, he isn't as repetitive or hypnotic as Phillip Glass nor as complex as slightly jazz influenced like Steve Reich and he isn't as experimental as Max Richter. He's kind of in the middle, which is to say he is pleasant without really pushing anything. He attempts a few moods but there is not as much variation as this type of music can promise. He relies on a chamber orchestra with slight electronic touches which means muffled flourishes to introduce and end some pieces. The electronic parts are smartly used but it would have been better to use them as more of a full instrument rather than a bookend.
In the end, this music is neither as experimental or strictly acoustic, it's middling. The music is soothing and pastoral while occasionally suggests something a bit darker but it's neither here nor there.
RATING: 3.5/5
Below is a youtube link to a live 75 minute recording of the set 'In A Time Lapse'
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