Le Onde - Ludovico Einaudi

...may already be familiar with Le Onde, even if you don't realise it. Remember that wonderful piano music on the advert for the John Lewis Autumn collection? It sounded like a musical version of a wave, rising and falling, louder and quieter. It was shown last year and I did see it a couple of times this year too. Well that music was the key theme of Le Onde – which means ‘The Wave’ in Italian.

I first heard Le Onde a few years ago on ...
...through them.

Le Onde was written in 1996 by the Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi. He says that he was inspired by Virginia Woolf's novel The Waves, and writes, “I was really intrigued by the form of the novel, which is very complex and interesting because some parts are written in italics and others in normal text. The parts in italics are like a cadence running through the book. The book is a description of what people see during ... more

Firstly apologies on Ciao's behalf for the spelling mistake - it should read LUDOVICO Einaudi.

You may already be familiar with Le Onde, even if you don't realise it. Remember that wonderful piano music on the advert for the John Lewis Autumn collection? It sounded like a musical version of a wave, rising and falling, louder and quieter. It was shown last year and I did see it a couple of times this year too. Well that music was the key theme of Le Onde – which means ‘The Wave’ in Italian.

I first heard Le Onde a few years ago on the Classic FM 3CD compilation set, Time to Relax. (Track 4 Disc 1). It had an immediate effect on me – it was so beautiful and evocative – I had to know who it was by and where I could hear more. After a little research I found that the excerpt on the Classic FM CD was from a whole CD of solo piano pieces, all slightly different but with the same haunting theme running through them.

Le Onde was written in 1996 by the Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi. He says that he was inspired by Virginia Woolf's novel The Waves, and writes, “I was really intrigued by the form of the novel, which is very complex and interesting because some parts are written in italics and others in normal text. The parts in italics are like a cadence running through the book. The book is a description of what people see during one day, starting from the light of the morning and by the end of the book night has fallen. Every time the italic chapters come back, you see a different change of light on what's happening on the shore."

Einaudi started writing all the pieces for Le Onde inspired by this idea, but then he reached a point where he felt there was still a piece lacking from the overall picture. "I said 'yes, it's missing Le Onde', which had in its opening the cadence of a wave. The idea was that the music flowed and was developing by itself, from the opening arpeggio, like when you see a wave developing in its space, it's developing because it has to. It's perpetual motion."

Some might describe Einaudi’s style as simple, easy listening music. I think I would rather call it understated and minimalist – the individual pieces are full of a hidden complexity, which manages to evoke a strong emotional response whilst being pleasingly undemanding on the ear.

I find that the main theme of Le Onde is so beautiful and so haunting that it takes me back to a beach I used to walk along during my childhood, bringing back all those unforgettable memories. You can almost smell the salt in the air and feel the sun on your skin as you listen to those continual hypnotic waves. After a rough day, I put the CD on, lay back on the sofa, close my eyes and I’m there.

Mmmmmmmmmm…….

The CD Le Onde is available from the usual places, including Amazon at £10.99. (It has a lovely photograph of a deserted beach at sunset on the cover). If you like Einaudi, there are several more CDs available, the latest one being Una Mattina. For newcomers to his music, you could try ‘Echoes’, a collection of pieces from four different albums (including Le Onde). He is still writing stunning music and hopefully will continue for years to come.
 

...less