“Raffiche”

Albumleaf 174: November 24, 2020 (Bologna)

“Momentary Raptures”

Albumleaf 173: November 7, 2020 (Bologna)

“Little Vanishing World 7”

Albumleaf 172: October 27, 2020 (Bologna)

“Beautiful Games”

Albumleaf 171: October 15, 2020 (Bologna)

“Letting the Beast Out and Putting Him Back In Again”

Albumleaf 170: October 15, 2020 (Bologna)

“The Bird at Pilate’s Basin”

Albumleaf 169: July 6, 2020 (Bologna)

So, below is a rough recording of this Albumleaf that I wrote over the summer. Since then, I’ve revised and rerecorded it for a very exciting project that I expect to be announcing in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, the recording below does give a sense of the final version. The picture shows “Pilate’s Basin” in a courtyard of the Basilica of Santo Stefano in Bologna.

Click here for recording.

“Taccio”

Albumleaf 168: April 20, 2020 (Bologna)

The title means “I’m quiet.”

“Phrases from a Warm Weekend in Quarantine”

Albumleaf 167: April 12, 2020 (Bologna)

“Battuta dalla Quarantena”

Albumleaf 166: April 2, 2020 (Bologna)

TEN YEARS AGO today, I posted my first Albumleaf. 

The original goal was to write three ‘leaves every two weeks.  I came close in 2010, but shortly thereafter production slowed due to parenting and other musical projects.  From 2014, there’s only a single ‘leaf; in 2016, there were none.  In 2018, I decided I had just time enough to get to number 200 by the tenth anniversary, and I sped up composition.  But soon performance opportunities and The Shepheardes Calender—especially the composition of the second (non-Albumleaf) part—intervened, and here I am at 166, well short of 200.  Still, the ‘leaves do average out to more than one per month, and I’m content with that.  (And considering that there are two two-part Albumleaves, numbers 81 and 127, maybe we can call it 168, no?)

Reader, you can imagine what the site’s traffic has been like.   But Albumleaves has been very useful nonetheless and has led—and continues to lead—to other musical opportunities.  The project still interests me, and I have no plans to stop.  If I were more tech-savvy, I’d embark on a thorough redesign.  I have a huge artsy idea for that.  But I’m not there yet. 

So, here you are.  “Battuta dalla Quarantena” (“Joke from the Quarantine”).  It hardly marks the occasion in grand style.  But I get a kick out of it, and it harkens back to the days when the ‘leaves were shorter, less formal, and fell more frequently.

Thanks for listening!


“Dall’orto se ne vien”

Albumleaf 165: March 24, 2020 (Bologna)

“Back from the orchard she comes.” After Filippo Azzaiolo (d. 1570)

Click here for recording.