Leonardo - The Absolute Man / Original Cast Recording / Magna Carta ‎Audio CD 2001 / MAX-9029-2

UPC 026245902923

Leonardo - The Absolute Man is a reasoned, selective re-telling of the life of a great man, Leonardo da Vinci, the ultimate Renaissance man. It has been in the works for years, originating as the ultimate artistic dream of Magna Carta label head Peter Morticelli, who then placed the intellectual blueprints in the hands of Trent Gardner who commenced to create what is by far, the most complex, grand and magnificently sweeping collaboration the label has ever attempted.

Leonardo sounds like no other progressive rock construct you have ever heard. It is a mix of cinematic progressive rock, symphonic rock, progressive pop and progressive metal, graced and articulated by true classical music and the theatrical scope of state-of -the-art soundtrack or dramatic stage music.

From the Artist:

Trent offers a little background into this pivotal Magna Carta project. "Once the idea got off the ground, I committed to doing some research and reading and once I got into the story I started to realize that there was a lot more there than I realized. I always had the view that Leonardo was just a Renaissance artist and that was it, and I didn't realize the full impact of his story. And that's when I got more inspired musically. We could have called this Leonardo - The Enigma. The trained scholars who have done the most research, all of academia - and believe me, I've run it all down - they don't know who this guy is. They know of him, they know things he did, but they don't know Leonardo the man. So what we tried to do is find out who he might be through those who were around him, look at some of the relationships there and deduce to the best of our ability and from the available academic information, who Leonardo was, making sure it was reasonably historically accurate. And the answer might surprise you. It really surprised me. There was much more to this guy than the artist who did The Last Supper or Mona Lisa. That was the LEAST that was amazing about him (laughs)." "I think there is no question that this is a melodic progressive rock album, but really heavy at the same time. I think we've broken some new ground here. Everything is a little more cohesive, the production values are high and the songwriting quality has definitely come a long way. I've found over the years that it takes a lot more craft to create a three or four minute song that has one or two ideas that have been developed. This seems to have the right mix and the right elements and above all, amazing vocal performances. I think we're making better music than we ever have before..."

Leonardo: The Absolute Man è un concept album rock progressivo sulla vita di Leonardo Da Vinci, ideato e prodotto dal leader dei Magellan Trent Gardner, che si avvalse di importanti collaborazioni del panorama quali James LaBrie (voce dei Dream Theater), Steve Walsh (ex voce e tastierista dei Kansas) e Terry Brown (produttore dei Rush). Il disco fu pubblicato il 24 luglio 2001 dalla Magna Carta.