Luca Turilli – Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody

Luca Turilli is someone I have admired for a fair while now. Upon first being introduced to him via a friend showing him his old band, Rhapsody [of Fire], his musicianship is something that has always amazed and inspired me. It always managed to pull Rhapsody’s music to another level. Following Luca Turilli friendly departure Rhapsody of Fire and the founding of Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody, he has once again pulled his talent for music and composing to the next level. Following their successful 2012 debut, ‘Ascending to Infinity’, 2015 marks the year for the release of their much anticipated sophomore album. It is entitled ‘Prometheus – Symphonia Ignis Divinus’, a name in which the latter half translates in Latin to “Symphony of the Divine Fire”. In the lead up to the release, I had the pleasure and privilege to speak with Luca Turilli; a man who is as humbling and completely without ego as his music is transcendent and encapsulating.

He was also a man who had plenty to say, and whilst sadly I can’t possibly list all Luca had to offer on the subject, I will do my best to delineate his most interesting segments in as great a detail as possible.

After exchanging pleasantries, Luca and I jumped right into the thick of it, with myself asking Luca if he could tell Metal Obsession a bit about the new about the new record: “It was a huge production this time,” he began. “It was about seven months of composition, three months of production and recordings, and almost two months of mixing. We connect the melodic side with the cinematic impact of the musical soundtrack. There is no other music [like this that] exists in the world, so it is difficult to mix; connecting the metal sound of the soundtrack to the ‘power’ is the most difficult task.”

Perhaps most interesting, however, came the revealing fact of what Luca had to say next: “In the case of Rhapsody, this is really what I love to do; because it means I’m more of a composer and arranger than a guitar player. I don’t find myself to be a good guitar player or keyboard player, but I needed to learn those instruments to use as a tool for my compositions. Of course, that takes a lot of time, so it’s better for myself to compose the album. That’s why it took seven months to compose the album. It’s not just about composition, but mostly about the orchestrations. I have a big passion for the cinema, for the soundtrack, [and] this is the big influence for Rhapsody. You can hear that if you listen to the album. Composers like Hans Zimmer; John Williams; Danny Elfman. In ‘Symphonia’, you can hear a lot of modern sounds, electronic sounds. I could not use this in the [early music] of Rhapsody because that band was related – musically and lyrically – to a fantasy, heroic subject, and I could not use that modern, electronic sound. So now, not having a saga anymore to refer to, in the same album I can write about different subjects, so it is great for me from a composition point of view because I can use really different sounds, different solos. There is more variety.”

What I also came to note, however, is that this is largely a symphonic and ‘cinematic’ album; with the guitars, for example, a lower element to the overall feel of the record. I asked Luca what his thought-process was behind this decision: “Well, you know what, in the end, the fans of Rhapsody never listened to the band for the guitars. I was not a good guitar player, so I was never that interested in guitar playing. I was always interested in that symphonic point of view. I came into metal in 1988 — I was 16 years old — and the bands that I loved were that of Helloween with ‘Keepers of the Seven Keys Part II’. Also, that of Crimson Glory [and their album], ‘Transcendence’. That was an incredible album for me! I love [vocalist] Midnight. I love the visionary aspect of that album. It influenced me a lot, really. In Italy, I use to listen to famous singers from the ’70s, but the point was about melody. So if you listen to an album like ‘Prometheus’ and the vocal lines, even if the album can seem complex because of the orchestral parts, with the vocal parts, they are very melodic.”

Mentioning his guitar efforts once more, Luca noted, “If I’m to tell the truth, if I realise how much time I really have to play guitar in one year, it would be maybe two months. Because the reality to play more is just impossible; I’m just composing and composing. The reality is that in some ways, I consider myself now more as a piano/keyboard player, because I’ve found that for ten months of the year, I’m just recording stuff for the keyboard and so on with my computer. So it’s very funny, people know me as a guitar player, but the truth is I’m more a keyboard player!” [laughs] Of course, on that note, for fans looking for that guitar element, don’t fret, there is still plenty to whet your appetite with on this album!

‘Prometheus – Symphonia Ignis Divinus’ – out now via Nuclear Blast

“Of course, this is not really related to the fact of the album,” Luca went on. “The album is called ‘Prometheus – Symphonia Ignis Divinus’. So particularly with [the word] symphonia, this doesn’t mean that the next album can’t have a little bit more guitar on the end. What I can say is that I am always [pushing] Rhapsody in connection with the cinematic music; the cinematic feel of the soundtrack. Because [this is what] I love to express. With Rhapsody, we love the positive energy. So what better than the bombastic music with this incredible strength? That’s why I really love this music. In some way, when I compose bombastic stuff and I hear it for the first time in my studio while composing it, I really feel connected to it. I would say a type of ‘divine energy of creation’. It’s a type of musical experience, I would say.”

For any with a keen eye or ear, you may recognise the familiar melody found within the seventh track of the album, “Notturno”. This is actually an adaptation of the famous piano piece, “Nocturne”, by 19th century Polish composer and pianist Frédéric Chopin, and served as a unique challenge to both Luca and vocalist Alessandro Conti. “This song is quite different from the rest of the album,” Luca said. “It’s one of those songs where in some ways, it’s the highlight. It is my arrangement of a famous piece of Frédéric Chopin, ‘Nocturne’, so I had a lot of fun recording the piano for it. It was quite hard for me, a very long process! [laughs] It was very difficult to memorise the notes for that. But putting together ‘Notturno’ with the piano from ‘Nocturne’ and the melody to find the notes that could fit into a metal-rock song, as well as knowing the vocal execution of my singer Alessandro. Because when I asked him to join me on the previous album, I sent him a lot of songs to sing, but not just metal songs – even crazy things like Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On”! [laughs] That’s when I also discovered he attended the same school of singing as that of Luciano Pavarotti. And from album to album, I try to have at least one song where we show off the vocal ability of Alessandro.”

I asked if Luca perhaps had any plans to bring down Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody to Australia? Stressing the point of logistics, Luca said with a tried, yet enthusiastic heart, “It’s just a matter of organising when and where we play different countries, and then working out Australia. We’ve always wanted to do that and now we have plenty of fans from other bands that play there, and they always say the people are fantastic. And so, yes, I think now is really time for us to come over too, and I think there is a great possibility for the tour following the release of this album.”

Closing the interview, I asked if Luca had any parting words he’d like to offer his fans. He had this great bit to say: “What I would say was in 1993, I was in the bed of a hospital and the doctor told me he considered me already dead because I had a cancer. And then a real miracle happened that saved my life. More and more I invested in spirituality, something more than religion. From this moment, I wanted to find more about the primordial, spiritual self. I really discovered incredible things thanks to my yoga and meditation practices. So what I discovered is that life really deserves to be lived and even when there is some difficulty to be faced, people have to consider that is a great, unique moment to evolve as human beings. So what even seems like a depressing moment in their life, use it to transform into something incredibly positive. It is really important. I want to bring it to my music and to my metal. For example, my music is considered a ‘hymn to life’. Because all that time I was in hospital, knowing I would never back away, you can really appreciate every minute you have on this wonderful planet. I want to see less people bored of living this wonderful experience of life, you know? Give back and you will receive. It’s important to always be optimistic and you will get this positive energy back. So that is all I can say.”

You can purchase your copy of ‘Prometheus – Symphonia Ignis Divinus’ now via JB Hi-Fi.

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