“The Future of Ballet Music: Creating Digital Recordings Truly Designed for Dance”

Understanding the technical intricacies of the ballet world requires a deep collaboration with the music world.

Ballet directors, ballet masters, conductors and musicians specializing in the ballet repertoire should work together to create something unparalleled that allows artists—both dancers and musicians—to express their talent.

One of the most integral elements of a ballet performance is the music. It can be played live or, as happens in most cases today, through digital audio recordings.

Yet the unfortunate truth is that almost all the ballet repertoire recordings currently available on streaming platforms or in digital catalogs are produced as concert versions.

The result is a major disconnect between the artistic needs of the ballet world and the recorded music available on the market.

Often it becomes almost impossible to dance to these recordings, because the tempos are not conceived for dancing. The existing digital audio has many limitations, restricting the artist’s creativity and expressive potential.

Imagine dancers working on variations, pas de deux or corps de ballet sections from great classics such as Swan Lake, Giselle, La Bayadère, Raymonda, Le Corsaire or The Sleeping Beauty, struggling to stay in time with recordings whose tempos are usually too fast.

Was Minkus imagining La Bayadère as a concert performance? And what about Tchaikovsky’s three masterpieces? If they were alive today, would they agree to have their works recorded as if they were symphonies? And how would Marius Petipa react to hearing these types of recordings? Would he be satisfied?

They would see people forced to use audio-editing software to recover a “normal” tempo—a practice that compromises the sound quality and, more importantly, the dancers’ performance.

To resolve this issue, it is time to launch new dedicated ballet recording projects, where conductors collaborate closely with ballet directors and ballet masters to define the right tempos, phrasing and interpretative approach for each musical piece.

This is essential for creating high-quality recordings that truly align with the artistic vision of the ballet world.

With new ballet-oriented digital releases, companies, academies and schools would finally have access to music conceived specifically for their daily work, rehearsals and performances.

They would simply choose the version that best reflects the artistic identity of their team—whether inspired by the tradition of the Royal Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, and so on—without worrying about tempo issues or technical adjustments.

Such an initiative could also encourage the emergence of a new generation of orchestra conductors highly specialized in ballet conducting.

Professionally produced ballet-specific recordings would bridge the gap between the dance world and the digital music industry, increasing demand for dedicated releases and creating new opportunities for both fields.

Music labels and digital distributors must join hands with the ballet world to build a brighter future for dancers, students and the entire music community.

The new music composed for piano. For sleeping or for being awake?

In my musical research and in conversations with colleagues and artists, including some of great renown, I have noticed an increasingly marked trend: the proliferation of “ambient” or “atmospheric” piano music.

This movement has generated an endless literature of dedicated playlists, music for studying, for sleeping, for focusing, which now dominate digital platforms and seem, for many, to define what it means today to compose for the piano.

Let me clarify that this is a personal observation, fully aware that musical beauty responds to subjective tastes.
However, I believe it is necessary to raise a few questions that concern not only aesthetics, but also the function of music and the development of contemporary piano language.

This ambient production certainly responds to a real need: we live in an age of constant overstimulation, and many seek refuge in sounds that demand no active attention, that soothe rather than stimulate.
The issue arises when this becomes the only direction perceived as commercially or artistically viable for contemporary piano music.

I wonder: wouldn’t it be just as valuable to compose piano music that keeps people awake? Music that offers a positive stimulus, that injects vitality into someone’s day?
Music does not have to be only a sedative or a neutral backdrop, it can be energy, friction, dialogue, surprise.

There is also a technical and linguistic aspect we cannot ignore. This “ambient” aesthetic often leads to an oversimplification of piano language. Elementary harmonic progressions, ultra-minimal textures stripped to the bone, the absence of thematic development—elements which, from a pianistic-technical point of view, frequently correspond to a first-year level of study.

To be clear: simplicity can be a profound artistic choice when it is conscious and motivated. But when simplicity becomes a repeated formula, when a single manner of playing is presented as if it encompassed the entire possible pianistic universe, then we are drastically limiting the instrument’s potential.

The piano is an instrument of immense expressive and technical richness, with a vast history of rhythmic, timbral, and melodic exploration.

This is not about criticizing ambient music, it too has dignity and purpose. Rather, it is about reclaiming space for other voices, for a piano that can still be complex, virtuosic, irregular, even uncomfortable.
A piano that engages in dialogue with the listener instead of merely accompanying them discreetly.

As composers and pianists, we still bear the responsibility to explore the full expressive spectrum of our instrument, and not allow ourselves to be seduced solely by the algorithmic logic of playlists that reward repeatability and non-invasiveness.
Perhaps it is time to compose not only to make people sleep, but also to keep them awake, or perhaps, to make them dream, but with their eyes opened.

La nuova musica composta al pianoforte. Per dormire o per stare svegli?

Nella mia ricerca musicale e nel confronto con colleghi e artisti, anche di grande fama, ho notato una tendenza sempre più marcata: la proliferazione di musica per pianoforte "ambient" o "d'atmosfera". 

Questa corrente ha generato un'infinita letteratura di playlist dedicate: musica per studiare, musica per dormire, musica per concentrarsi, che domina le piattaforme digitali e sembra definire, per molti, cosa significhi oggi comporre per pianoforte.

Premetto che il mio è un commento personale, consapevole che la bellezza musicale risponde a gusti soggettivi. 

Tuttavia, ritengo necessario sollevare alcune questioni che riguardano non solo l'estetica, ma anche la funzione della musica e lo sviluppo del linguaggio pianistico contemporaneo.

Questa produzione ambient risponde certamente a un bisogno reale: viviamo in un'epoca di sovrastimolazione costante, e molti cercano rifugio in sonorità che non richiedano attenzione attiva, che cullino piuttosto che stimolare. 

Il problema sorge quando questa diventa l'unica direzione percepita come commercialmente o artisticamente valida per il pianoforte contemporaneo.

Mi chiedo: non sarebbe altrettanto prezioso comporre musica pianistica che faccia stare svegli? Musica che offra uno stimolo positivo, che inietti vitalità nella giornata delle persone? 

La musica non deve essere solo un calmante o uno sfondo neutro, può essere energia, confronto, dialogo, sorpresa.

C'è poi una questione tecnica e linguistica che non possiamo ignorare. Questa estetica "ambient" porta spesso a un'ipersemplificazione del linguaggio pianistico. Progressioni armoniche elementari, texture minimaliste ridotte all'osso, assenza di sviluppo tematico, elementi che dal punto di vista della tecnica pianistica corrispondono, in molto casi, a un livello da primo anno di studi.

Intendiamoci: la semplicità può essere una scelta artistica profonda, quando è consapevole e motivata, ma quando la semplicità diventa formula ripetuta, quando si propone un'unica maniera di suonare come se fosse l'intero universo pianistico possibile, allora stiamo limitando drasticamente le potenzialità dello strumento.

Il pianoforte è uno strumento di immensa ricchezza espressiva e tecnica, con una enorme storia di ricerca ritmica, timbrica e melodica.

Non si tratta di criticare la musica ambient, anch'essa ha dignità e funzione. Si tratta piuttosto di rivendicare uno spazio per altre voci, per un pianoforte che possa ancora essere complesso, virtuosistico, irregolare, persino scomodo. 

Un pianoforte che dialoghi con l'ascoltatore anziché limitarsi ad accompagnarlo discretamente.

Come compositori e pianisti, abbiamo ancora oggi la responsabilità di esplorare tutto lo spettro espressivo del nostro strumento, di non lasciarci sedurre unicamente dalle logiche algoritmiche delle playlist che premiano la ripetibilità e la non-invasività. 

Forse è tempo di comporre non solo per far dormire, ma anche fare stare svegli, o magari, per far sognare a occhi aperti...