Following on the fluttering heels of Velocity of Love, Suzanne Ciani is joined by violinist Steve Kindler, percussionist Kurt Wortman, flautist Peter Gordon, and guitarist John Wheelock for Hotel Luna.
The additional musicians flesh out Ciani's rich palette of synthesizers and piano, so that tracks like "Maremosso," with its lush, worldly feel, rings even truer with the addition of flute and violin solos.
The sounds of a storm wash predictably through "Rain," but its pattering keyboards are nevertheless well done.
It's more textured genius from Ciani, a progressive electronic music pioneer who seems to understand intrinsically where technology ends and the human heart takes over.
With this knowledge, she can imbue "Love Song" with appropriate amounts of grace, but juxtapose it with "Simple Song," where jaunty synth flourishes set up a big, brassy (synthetic) fanfare that's irresistible over the track's percolating electronic groove.
Later, Ciani's pop sensibilities come to fore with the gorgeous, sweeping melody of "L'Azzuro," which is as romantic an instrumental as any song with words would be.
Kindler's violin weaves into Gordon's flute, and both musicians follow the lead of Ciani's breathy synth washes.
It's some of Ciani's most accomplished work yet, building brilliantly on its central themes of romance and remembrance.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hotel LunaSuzanne Ciani | Suzanne Ciani | Play | 04:12 | 9 MB | 23 MB |
| 2 | Mare MossoSuzanne Ciani | Suzanne Ciani | Play | 04:48 | 11 MB | 27 MB |
| 3 | RainSuzanne Ciani | Suzanne Ciani | Play | 02:55 | 6 MB | 17 MB |
| 4 | OndineSuzanne Ciani | Suzanne Ciani | Play | 03:52 | 8 MB | 21 MB |
| 5 | Love SongSuzanne Ciani | Suzanne Ciani | Play | 03:50 | 8 MB | 20 MB |
| 6 | Simple SongSuzanne Ciani | Suzanne Ciani | Play | 03:13 | 7 MB | 18 MB |
| 7 | ItaliaSuzanne Ciani | Suzanne Ciani | Play | 03:23 | 7 MB | 17 MB |
| 8 | FestaSuzanne Ciani | Suzanne Ciani | Play | 03:40 | 8 MB | 21 MB |
| 9 | L' AzzurroSuzanne Ciani | Suzanne Ciani | Play | 05:09 | 11 MB | 28 MB |
| 10 | BelcantoSuzanne Ciani | Suzanne Ciani | Play | 02:20 | 5 MB | 11 MB |
| 37 mins | 85 MB | |||||
| 37 mins | 208 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Corey Allen | Cello Arrangement, Flute, Mandolin, String Arrangements |
| 2 | Robert A. Arbittier | Horn, Synthesizer Flute |
| 3 | Armadillo String Quartet | Strings |
| 4 | Chris Bellman | Mastering |
| 5 | Massimo Carola | Computers, Programming |
| 6 | Suzanne Ciani | Arranger, Composer, Piano, Primary Artist, Producer, String Arrangements, Synthesizer |
| 7 | Mathew Cooker | Cello |
| 8 | Kurt DeMunbrun | Design |
| 9 | Sarajo Frieden | Illustrations |
| 10 | Dominic Frontiere | String Arrangements, Synthesizer Violin, Vocal Arrangement |
| 11 | Peter Gordon | EWI, Flute |
| 12 | Kam Hinatsu | Photography |
| 13 | Peter R. Kelsey | Engineer, Mixing |
| 14 | Steve Kindler | Violin |
| 15 | Marc Mann | Computers, Programming, Synthesizer |
| 16 | Melanie Penny | Art Direction |
| 17 | John Peters | Fretless Bass |
| 18 | Luis Quine | Assistant Engineer |
| 19 | John Riley | Bassoon, Oboe |
| 20 | Steven Scharf | Violin |
| 21 | John Wheelock | Guitar (Acoustic) |
| 22 | Kurt Wortman | Percussion |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |