Ludovico Einaudi Returns with Emotionally Resonant Album 'The Summer Portraits'

Groundbreaking composer and pianist Ludovico Einaudi returns with his new album The Summer Portraits, due out on January 31 via Decca Records. The most streamed classical artist of all time, averaging 9 billion streams a year, Einaudi found inspiration for The Summer Portraits through a cascade of personal memories triggered by sun, summer, and family holidays,

The Summer Portraits, Einaudi’s 17th studio album, is a song cycle in 13 tracks. Part of the album was recorded at Abbey Road, with baroque violin contribution from Théotime Langlois de Swarte and orchestral parts performed by the strings of The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Robert Ames. The musicians with whom he has cultivated a lasting collaboration over many years — Federico Mecozzi on violin and viola, Redi Hasa on cello, and multi-instrumentalist Francesco Arcuri — recorded on almost all the tracks of the album. However, many songs better suited the intimacy of Einaudi's home studio in the countryside far better, where the whole experience was more personal, capturing the essence of The Summer Portraits.

Last year, Einaudi took a villa on a Mediterranean island and found the house to be decorated with 30 or 40 beautiful oil paintings, clearly made by the same hand. Upon investigation, he discovered the story of a woman who owned the house and spent every summer there with her family. She used to create new paintings every summer and leave them in the house. Einaudi says, “I started to think about my summers, the time where my life was strictly connected with all my senses, where the days felt like months and months like years, and I was free from morning to night, and every day was a new discovery of life, and nature was a fundamental part of it, we were nature. And I thought that everyone has their own version of the summer portraits. A beautiful season connected with the best moments of our lives. So I started to make my own paintings with music. This album is dedicated to all our endless summer memories, all our beautiful moments.”

Album highlights include the Eastern-flavored “Jay,” the swelling “Punta Bianca,” the uplifting “Pathos” and the meditative “Rose Bay,” which takes its name from the suburb of Sydney where Einaudi's grandfather, Wando Aldrovandi, emigrated to in Australia in the 1930s. A top conductor who performed in front of Puccini, he refused to play for Italy's fascist government and left in protest – but his departure, when Einaudi's mother was just 12, left a hole at the center of the family. Aldrovandi wrote letters to his children, sent coats and shoes in the winter, but didn’t see them again. "I grew up with the image of this person that I never saw," shares Einaudi. "My mother missed her father all her life. Music became a place where she could connect to him.” In 2023, before a gig at the Sydney Opera House (during a sold-out residency at the prestigious venue), Ludovico composed “Rose Bay” spontaneously. Strings breathe over a chord that rises and falls repeatedly – a musical version of sun sparkling on water.

His last single “Adieux,” released in January 2024, broke all records with 2.5 million streams in a single day and became the fastest-streamed classical track of all time. Einaudi transcends generations and has now surpassed 39 billion global streams across all platforms, reaffirming the widespread appeal of his music globally. Listen to it below.

Photo Credit: Mary McCartney

To post a comment, you must register and login.