Impressioni di settembre

Impressions of September

Authors: Mogol and Mauro Pagani (lyrics) - Franco Mussida (music)

Original performer: Premiata Forneria Marconi

Released in 1971 as a single combined with La carrozza di Hans, the song was the calling card of PFM, the first Italian rock band to gain international recognition by topping the Billboard chart and recording their own songs in English for the Anglo-Saxon market. The record climbed the charts to ninth place and stayed there for fifteen weeks, figuring in the first sixty songs of 1972. After a verse introduced by a folk-rock style guitar arpeggio, for the first time in Italy the refrain was performed with a Moog synthesizer, used earlier in classics by Procol Harum and King Crimson: the hypnotic crescendo takes six minutes, during which the electric guitar and the drums take the lead to build an epic sound that became a hit with audiences and critics alike. Over the years, the piece’s reputation has been enhanced by authorial interpretations by the likes of Franco Battiato and Angela Baraldi, as well as rock tributes by Marlene Kuntz and other lesser-known Italian progressive rock groups.