CD review: Stefano Bollani – Piano Variations On Jesus Christ Superstar 2020: Video, CD cover

Stefano Bollani’s solo album ‘Piano Variations on Jesus Christ Superstar’ will be released on 3rd April 2020, 50 years after Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s original concept album.

The 2-LP heavyweight 180g vinyl edition comes in an elegant high-quality Gatefold packaging with polylined innersleeves, and the CD edition in an exquisite 6-side DigiSleeve with an 8-page booklet. Both editions contain liner notes by John Higgs and photos and drawings by Valentina Cenni.

Bollani wanted his version of “JCS” to be completely different from whatever Broadway or London production: “I’ll choose the piano solo formula, because it’s a love affair between myself and this music.” He only sings one song, “Superstar”; the rest of the album is instrumental.

Bollani, grateful for the exceptional permission granted to him to re-interpret the cult opera, has freely but respectfully approached the original songs by following his own playful wit, informed by the musical traditions, genres, styles and encounters that have shaped what is considered his very own idiom.

For his version of Jesus Christ Superstar Bollani wanted a warm, mellow, profound, dense and clear piano sound. Hence the piano tuned at 432 Hz, which has allowed him to express the warmth and profundity of Lloyd Webber & Rice’s strong round film characters.

1. Prelude (1:42)
2. Heaven on Their Minds (4:59)
3. What’s the Buzz? (2:41)
4. Strange Thing, Mystifying (1:33)
5. Everything’s Alright (5:54)
6. This Jesus Must Die (3:34)
7. Hosanna (3:00)
8. Simon Zealotes (3:54)
9. Pilate’s Dream (2:56)
10. The Temple (4:10)
11. I Don’t Know How to Love Him (3:20)
12. Damned for All Time (1:43)
13. The Last Supper (4:01)
14. Gethsemane (I Only Want to Say) (7:26)
15. King Herod’s Song (3:46)
16. Trial Before Pilate (2:54)
17. Superstar (4:06)
18. John Nineteen: Forty-One (1:56)