THE DANTE TRILOGY

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bigmoog
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THE DANTE TRILOGY

Post by bigmoog »

this body of work divides the fanbase like no other, so I thought it appropriate to start a thread to discuss all three works, I hope it doesn't descend into flames.........into purgatory :wink:


I will start by saying, that for BM, me, the trilogy now sits as flawed but sincere, some is marvellous, some is tedium in extremis, but like a classical opus, it pays to listen to the music and draw some inspiration....its an epic in more ways than one. I dont listen often, but dip in...mostly to purgatorio and parts of paradiso,,,,,,,,,,,,,


over to you all :arrow:
...The wise.....are silent.....
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Laserdisc Dream
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Post by Laserdisc Dream »

Make it as a Box Set for all 3 Albums.

Inferno
Pugatorio
Paradiso


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alipaul
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Post by alipaul »

With DVDs :shock:
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billythefish
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Post by billythefish »

My humble opinion is that Inferno is infernal... Only the final track does anything for me, and it was with great trepidation that I went to the Royal Festival Hall to hear the premier of Purgatorio.

I was GRIPPED by Purgatorio - absolutely loved it, and still love the CD too. Sure, it has some slow moments, but the highs more than make up for it.

As for Paradiso - well, I recognise that there are some strong tracks with well written melodies and structures, but the slow moving recitative tracks are way too numerous for my liking and I can never listen to the whole.

I have not yet invested in the DVD of Inferno - I wonder whether that would improve my enjoyment of it, especially given my impressions of Purgatorio having seen it live? But as it stands, I would only classify Purgatorio as close to a masterpiece...

I wonder what this says about the trilogy? Perhaps the getting from 'A' to 'B' is much more thrilling than 'A' and 'B' themselves? :wink:
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Michael66
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Post by Michael66 »

No Dante Trilogy for me, thank you very much... I have nothing against (in fact I'm a fan) of TD touching philosophical/spiritual concepts, but the way Dante was done, the music just bores me, and the opera-style singing makes my toenails want to curl up (sorry) (and I LIKE Cyclone, Tyger and MFD!). Also, as far as I know, there were never any lyrics provided and I just refuse having to learn Italian for getting into the concepts behind a trilogy that's musically not appealing to me at all.

The recent quality output looks like a sign they have "The Trilogy" out of their system now, so maybe the whole thing had a good side after all.
Onwards and upwards. :)
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alipaul
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Post by alipaul »

Case of been there done that !!!!
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On guard duty to shoot all grizzlies on sight !!!

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24db
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Post by 24db »

my opinion, not facts:

Inferno on CD...ok, not as dark as it perhaps should have been...but ok I guess
Inferno on DVD...much much better 'for me' and it works
Purgatorio live...dreadful, my worst gig ever. Although I applaud Edgar for having the balls to try it....plus some fans loved it, so it's cool with me. I didn't shout at the end of the gig or flounce off afterwards saying that I'd never play their CDs again ;)
Purgatorio on CD...some fantastic bits...but far too long. A single CD would have been much better IMHO
Paradisio on Fan tape: rather good
Paradisio on CD: OK, too long, and it doesn't hold my interest.

Overall worth trying, flawed but worth it for the good bits. Can't say that I play them that much, but then again I don't play Ricochet that much and that's my favourite disc of all time. I sooner listen to new stuff from the band and other groups.

Dante's dead? well not quite, it was a progession to the music we now have, without it I doubt whether Edgar et al would be at where they are now. The concept by Dante coupled with Edgar's idea/music was a ballsy thing to do, it was quite obvious that a large percentage of the older fans would hate it. A true artist still does what interests him first....everything else is secondary.

Just my opinion...nothing more
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Post by TDludo »

Just my opinions too, about the Dante trilogy...

INFERNO was firstly a big surprise ("TD is doing an opera ??") then an album that was not easy to listen : not many changes between the beginning and the end, a sort of dark and monotonous atmosphere, very religious... It took me a long time to think it's an interesting album when you're in the mood to listen to that atmosphere, because of several very good tracks and beautiful voices.

PURGATORIO : really great, a sort of masterpiece, just a little bit too long in some tracks (the album could be 10 minutes shorter). :D

PARADISO : the most difficult in the trilogy. It's really too long (could be 15 or 20 minutes shorter, I think), some tracks are really boring, too much spoken narration, and a strange mix between the voices, the electronic instruments and the orchestra, all seems flattened... But several tracks are great, especially the first part of disc 1 and the 4 last tracks of disc 2. All in all, a difficult but interesting experimental album.

So I think this trilogy has a real value, but it's not to listen very often, except Purgatorio.
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Post by nightmare strand »

Looks like my judgement was seriously flawed overall. Inferno proved such a difficult listen that I opted to skip Purgatorio (but still bought all other TD releases, no loss of faith). After a while I thought I'd give the trilogy another chance and bought Paradiso based upon the brief pre-release summary on the TD website. Again it's a testing listen but the first 10 minutes of CD1 are excellent and there are other great passages amongst the rest of the release, just not quite enough overall IMHO, though like many of you, fair play to the maestro for flexing his experimental muscle.

Can you guys tell me if Purgatorio a large enough departure from the other two in terms of musical variations to warrant a purchase?
Pertou

Post by Pertou »

Inferno 7/10
Purgatorio 10/10
Paradiso 8/10

http://td.pertou.dk/eng-0009.htm
nightmare strand
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Post by nightmare strand »

enough said, many thanks. As soon as CDS deliver the backlog of orders I have with them, namely Astoria DVD, BOA and SUIN and TQ album, I'll put it on order unless you guys can suggest an alternative supplier.
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Post by 24db »

nightmare strand wrote:enough said, many thanks. As soon as CDS deliver the backlog of orders I have with them, namely Astoria DVD, BOA and SUIN and TQ album, I'll put it on order unless you guys can suggest an alternative supplier.
sadly you've asked two weeks too late, otherwise I would have said Fopp...they went tits up a week or so back. They did the double CD for a £5 :(
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bigmoog
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Post by bigmoog »

i have listened tonight to paradiso, in headphones, while writing a bigmoog appreciation of td music for the 40th anniversary blog for andy.........


the main problem with the third opus in dante is for me twofold


the mix, too flat and one dimensional, where the music demands space and texture....to allow the density to breathe, there are too many themes and ideas....explains the tedium listening to this cd......


and secondly, i find the two disc set, just a little bland and fuzzy overall, it doesnt engage my mind as purgatorio does......although there are moments of pure, experimental electronic meditational magic buried within....the cd is enjoyable but in need 3 discs not two!!


flawed is better than perfection as flawed is human and its instructive that even edgar and tangerine dream sometimes step down from the stage to join us mere mortals
...The wise.....are silent.....
24db
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Post by 24db »

Cheers mate, got to agree...not sure what happened to Thorsten's mixing on this one *hides for cover* but IMHO I like the engineer TD have recently used on the Eastgate version of MFD and SUIN more. Perhaps TD have upgraded their studio equipment recently?
nightmare strand
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Post by nightmare strand »

BM you have a very eloquent way of summing up. Your opinions surpassed only by the means in which they are expressed, an enjoyable read everytime. Get Edgar to put your words to music.
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