We Speak Music
I Musici Gemelli Takes on Sacred Narrative
I Musici Gemelli’s “Jesus of Nazareth” arrives as an ambitious project that asks a lot of two violins and the listeners willing to follow along. Francesco Pio and Giuseppe Pio Bertozzi have taken on composer Emanuele Stracchi’s twelve movement work that traces the life of Christ from birth to resurrection, and the result is a recording that succeeds more often than it stumbles.
The concept itself is demanding. Condensing the entire Gospel narrative into roughly 50 minutes using only two violins means every note carries weight, and there’s nowhere to hide when the writing doesn’t quite land. Fortunately, Emanuele’s compositional approach provides enough variety to keep nearly an hour of violin duet from becoming monotonous. His references to Gregorian chant and Renaissance polyphony give the work a foundation that feels appropriate for the subject matter without becoming overly reverential.
The brothers handle the technical demands with obvious competence. Their training shows in how they balance their sound, particularly in moments where the score requires them to mirror or chase each other through complex canonic passages. The “canon per tonos” that accompanies Christ’s entry into Jerusalem works well on paper, with each voice rising a tone to suggest ascent, though whether listeners will catch that detail without the liner notes is questionable.
What’s most interesting about this recording is what it doesn’t try to do. There’s no attempt at grand drama or sweeping emotional manipulation. Instead, Francesco Pio and Giuseppe Pio have opted for something more contemplative, letting the intimate format create its own kind of space. That restraint serves some movements better than others. “Nativitas Christi” benefits from the quieter approach, while later sections dealing with the passion and crucifixion occasionally feel like they’re straining against the limitations of just two instruments.
At nearly 50 minutes, the album requires commitment. It’s not background music, and it’s not structured for casual listening. The movements flow into each other with a logic that makes more sense when experienced as a complete work rather than individual tracks, which is both a strength and a potential barrier.
Francesco Pio and Giuseppe Pio have accumulated impressive credentials and performance experience at major venues, and that preparation is evident in how cleanly they execute Emanuele’s score. What’s less clear is whether this particular project will find an audience beyond those already inclined toward sacred classical music. The recording quality is solid, the performances are assured, but the concept itself occupies a specific niche.
“Jesus of Nazareth” is a serious work that takes its subject seriously. It doesn’t pander or simplify, and it assumes listeners will bring their own patience and attention to the listening experience. For those willing to meet it on those terms, there’s genuine substance here. For others, it may feel more like an academic exercise than an emotional journey.
You can listen here.
Michele Ducci has unveiled the second single, ‘Woman Like You’, from his forthcoming album and animated film ‘Snail in the Clouds’.
‘Woman Like You’ pairs bright distorted electric guitar with an electronic drumbeat, adding in Ducci’s soulful vocals and a catchy uplifting chorus with Letizia Mandoleisi’s sweet vocal harmonies. A vintage organ pedalboard operated by Ducci simultaneously generates chords, bass and rhythm, like a one-man band. Shane Kennedy (Girl in the Year Above) joins in on guitar. Simon Milner (Is Tropical, Ysing) recorded and produced the track at his 4am Studios in London.
The album and film tell the story of a planet called ‘Snail’, inhabited by hybrids – primarily a mixture between scorpions, snails and humans – who lead a life according to the style of Pythagoras, devoted to music. There is also a cloud man named Agostos, a writer of musical operettas, who together with a talking smoke machine called Doctor Subtilis, begins to kill all hybrids, targeting in particular the hybrid musician Diodoros and his band, in an effort to steal the ark of melodies, an ancient ship that allows the whole planet to survive with music and joy.
The video for the single, created and animated by Ducci and Mandoleisi, delves further into the realm of planet ‘Snail’:
Says Ducci, “The ark of melodies, after various attempts, finally starts to work and fly in the planet Snail, while the shady Doc. Sub. and Agostos, with their platoon of soldiers made of foggy smoke, spy the miracle, planning to steal the ark for their evil and tyrannical purposes.”
About the track, Michele says, “I wrote this song for my love Letizia. Love seen from the mind is the sound we make. Sound is the love of matter.
We used a Technics synthesizer organ from a flea market. I tried to find a mood that was right for the song and I started using the bass of the pedal board together with the synth and the drums, and it was magical to hear the song reveal itself all coming from a single instrument. Leti was singing with me and we recorded everything live in one shot. Then we made Shane do the guitar flight, as if he came out of the window. The idea was to maintain disproportions, guitar thrust and synth drum thinness a la Haroumi Hosono, so as to create an estrangement, but naturally: it’s about how I listen, with close up something that captures me in its nuance as element of a larger orchestra somewhere. I’m glad we decided in the studio with Simon to use the layers of arrangement as the close-ups in the cinema; they look like strange enlargements that perch on parts of a mutated orchestra. I’m happy to come back with this love song at a time when everything seems to opt, even my labor in managing the flows of selfishness that have poured out on me while doing this album, for the sound of war. I’m here happy to be able to say that the sound of love always wins as did for me. Snail in the clouds is one of the most important works in my life and I am glad to start from pure love for this album that is my son.”
The album and full-length film will be released on the 5th of June on Monotreme Records.
Michele and Letizia’s previous musical short film, ‘The Great Book of Nature’, is an official selection for the 2026 Venice Shorts Film Festival.
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