Albus: recording a piano the way you photograph the night
A Bechstein D282, microphones chosen like lenses, an analogue chain to the very last sound
In April 2023 a concert grand almost three metres long arrived straight from Berlin. A Bechstein D282. For Edoardo it was a lifelong dream, pursued for more than twenty years. He gave it a name: Albus.
Since that day every one of his recordings has been born there. The first was Rachmaninov's Études-Tableaux, recorded for the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth. Then The Night Suite.
Edoardo is a pianist and an engineer, and since his third album he has also been the sound engineer of all his own productions. He personally oversees the preparation and tuning of the instrument, the acoustic treatment, the balance. Above all, he chooses where the microphones go.
This is where the pianist and the photographer meet. Placing a microphone is much like choosing a frame: a few centimetres closer and the sound becomes intimate, almost tactile; a few steps back and the space breathes around the notes. The microphones are Sennheiser and Schoeps, the preamplifiers Millennia and Rupert Neve. The rest, the distances, the angles, the choices of each session, remains a trade secret.
Then the sound passes to producer Marco Lincetto, who handles mixing and mastering in a strictly analogue chain. No digital shortcut between the hammer and the listener's ear.
The result is a recording that Lincetto himself considers a reference among the best solo piano productions of all time.
How to listen
To truly hear Albus you need the high-resolution files or Velut Luna's Master Clone Black editions, and good headphones or a carefully calibrated hi-fi system. There, between one note and the next, you can hear the instrument breathe.