BARBARA HANNIGAN - La donna del lago

“La Donna del Lago” is the first work born from a three-way collaboration, presumably improvised on the spot, between the bassist and composer of Zu, Massimo Pupillo, French musician David Chalmin, and Canadian soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan. An unlikely trio bringing together very different musical worlds, from the avant-rock of Zu, back on top form with their recent masterpiece “Ferrum Sidereum”, to the operatic art of Barbara Hannigan, to David Chalmin's blend of classical and electronic music, which in 2024 crowned, together with Bryce Dessner (The National, Clogs) and sisters Katia and Marielle Labèque, his dream of recording an album for Deutsche Grammophon (“Sonic Wires”).

Yet something unites these three very different musical experiences: a shared appetite for experimentation and a knack for wide-open, freely radiating improvisation. Out of this common ground comes “La donna del lago”, a Chandleresque title that in fact has nothing to do with the great noir writer Raymond Chandler, but is instead tied to Gioachino Rossini's opera, itself inspired by Walter Scott's epic poem.

Although inspired by Rossini, this ambient-electroacoustic transfiguration leaves no room for any kind of linear storytelling, instead resting on six lengthy improvisations that fuse moments of pure abstract experimentation with others that are strikingly tragic and emotional — thanks above all to Barbara Hannigan's voice — coexisting within the same track (“Tazio”).

Among the most dramatic passages is “Lalala”, a string of unintelligible monosyllables sung over a wall of bass and keyboards that never leaves an empty space. “Being Beauteous” conjures up a hypothetical crossroads between the gloomy sounds of Hungarian composer György Ligeti and the witchy vocals of Goblin's “Suspiria”. “Mezza di voce” is the most moving piece, almost a secular prayer that recalls the sacred hymns of Popol Vuh.

The album continues along this free-flowing trajectory with long stretches of stillness in which it's the voice, above all, that comes to the fore, giving meaning to a work that could well serve as a promising starting point for a future collaboration.

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15/05/2026