Having been myself involved in the creation of some of these compositions by Alfio Sgalambro, I initially felt some embarrassment, but was at the same time honoured , when he asked me to present his work in words. However it was enough to listen to these 13 compositions to feel transported into high and rarefied sense of existence. "Journey", as the author suggests in the album title is the theme of this compositional work. It is a journey that goes beyond every dimension of our reality that Alfio admirably describes in his notebook (Cahier de Voyages) on which evokes different images, scattered over a period that seems to have no chronological sequence. The album opens with Canto Notturno, a palpitating composition for the oboe whose suggestive power and intense sound, expressing such intensity of feelings, introduces us into the unique multifaceted compositional world of Alfio Sgalambro. The overlap between the figure of the artist and his music stands out, imbued with an austere and mysterious rigor (In the Mirror, Contrasti, Elegìa for Violin, Thinking in Clarinet) but at the same time there is a vague and intangible emotion of melancholy, not always hiding the tenderness of romance (Nomos). Compositions such as Karma Violento, Enfin la Lumière or the acrobatic march, Karma Fuga, offer in themselves a very rich and varied image of Sgalambro’s poetics. The concreteness and inventive freshness which he creates, with different players, a sort of instrumental theatre, is always able to engage, stimulate and captivate the listener through the stratified variety of sounds that characterize each piece. His music can be perceived as a painting to which, at different points, other colours which are added that change the way it is seen, highlighting its hidden properties. Sgalambro, who repeatedly has been able to conduct the meaning and characters underlying his project to the varied musicians, belongs to that the vocation of composers who allow a work grow through a process or a central line, with articulated structures and overlays of complex layers of sound (Estroso 2; How Many Worlds Inside Us?). To the notes of his pilgrimage Sgalambro is able, at the end, to embed a challenging and well articulated Suite per Chitarra and also a surreal and elegant tribute to the poetry of Ungaretti (San Martino del Carso). Certainly Alfio Sgalambro will travel further and will have still more notebooks to fill, but for now let him transport us to a time in which music is adventure and so his personal journey becomes ours. Antonio Moncada Translated by Philip Anthony Drury The musicians Marzia Catania, soprano Carlo Cattano, flute, alto flute, baritone sax Gaetano Cristofaro, bass clarinet Cunegonda De Cicco, piano Giovanni Di Mauro, oboe Serena Drago, clarinet Marcello Inserra, piano Marisa La Bruna, flute Valentina Lombardo, clarinet Giuseppe Mangiameli, double bass Antonio Moncada, drums, percussion Giovanni Pattavina, guitar Giuseppina Sipala, violin Domenico Testaì, flute Alfio Sgalambro, clarinet & conducting With the sponsorship of Radio Abracadabra Associazione CIMA Distanze -Community Festival of Sound Arts Radio Cemat LAB PSL -Laboratorio Musicale P.zza Scienze e Lavoro