Sfumato Records: A label without boundaries

I have always been fascinated by Leonardo da Vinci. He was the subject of my first operatic musical – presented at the Casino de Paris during its millennium festivities. Before Claudio Monteverdi in 1607(and well before Wagner), da Vinci had already achieved his gesamtkunstwerk (‘total art’), the Mona Lisa. As well as her famously enigmatic smile and a gaze that follows the viewer around the gallery, the Mona Lisa’s hands evoke to me the ultimate mystery of the Florentine master. In da Vinci’s time, of course, the piano did not yet exist – but I wonder if the mythical pose of the Mona Lisa was already that of a pianist?

Although I am primarily a composer, I spent a delightful decade presenting my Parisian musicals, in all their aspects, from scenography, music, libretto, to production. After 800 performances frenetically marking stages across Europe, I now wanted to refocus on the meaning of my life: music. My privileged relationship with nature and its elements has a ubiquitous influence on my inspiration, and my librettos and four piano concertos, BLEU (2005), WILD (2012), LUX (2019), and AIR (2020) have been the essence of my artistic project to date.

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci ©Wikimedia Commons

The American conductor John Mauceri said: ‘A painting, you hang it on the wall and wait for the public to be interested, while music does not exist until it is played’. This intimate dynamic between imagination and artistic performance nurtures the blossoming of my musical creations. That is why, in 2022, I created Sfumato Records with my son Aylwin – also a composer and music publisher – to produce world premieres. The label aims to stand out in the landscape of contemporary music by offering productions that represent the dissolution of dogmatic boundaries, reintroducing freedom of thought and sharing. In the image of Sfumato, the atmospheric painting technique championed by da Vinci which uses gradual tonal modulations rather than lines to paint figures in contrast to a dark background, the label's editorial approach is the erasure of the contours of musical language.

The world of music is undergoing a metamorphosis. New artists have direct access to a global audience via social networks and digital music platforms and so all communication with the public becomes important, right down to something as simple as the posting of artistic content to their fans.

(Image courtesy of Sfumato Records)

Young artists do not always have the perspective and relevance to craft the ideal image for their promotion (although some certainly do already have that talent). The experience of a senior artist leading a new label at full speed brings a different breadth from the standard of music industry teams. My partnership with 24-year-old Aylwin is particularly prolific in the exchange of artistic and marketing viewpoints, and we share the thrill of beautiful music and the scouting of young talents, emerging artists, and composers. We take our time to do our mixes and masters in our studio, The Village School. I am sensitive to the old-school analogue sound of vintage while combining today’s audio plugins – we live in an exciting audiovisual era of incredible technological mutation, the possibilities are enormous, and it is up to each one to create their identity.

My production vision is centred on a certain freedom given to performers at the heart of each project. For our latest album Back Home with the Moon, I presented Swedish pianist Peter Jablonski (pictured above) with a series of my preludes, ranging from the most virtuosic to the most refined, and let him develop his delicate personality around what inspired him the most. The concert pianist, endowed with unparalleled technique, opted for a minimalist concept (reflecting his inner peace) and, working in tandem with musicologist Anastasia Belina, selected filmed singles from the album. It seemed natural to me to give them unmediated decision-making on the direction of the project.

(Image courtesy of Sfumato Records)

For the album AIR, I invited conductor Sergey Neller to give the Royal Scottish National Orchestra his personal ‘Mahlerian’ vision of the second movement of my Piano Concerto No. 4. This singular interpretation gives a unique atmospheric suspension to the score, corresponding to the moment I composed the theme, at the time my half-brother passed away, although I was unaware. Sergey suggested recording Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun following my symphonic poem DAWN, for its obvious dreamy parallel and the century that separates the two works.

By a chance encounter in January 2022, at the time Kremlin boots began their thunderous march to Ukraine, I set to music the peaceful communion of a rare couple of artists, Ukrainian pianist Svetlana Andreeva and her husband Sergey Neller, of German-Russian origin. Other adventures are already in motion; as Rachmaninov said, ‘Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music’.