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ORCHESTRE CELESTI

Crossover Prog • Italy


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Orchestre Celesti picture
Orchestre Celesti biography
ORCHESTRE CELESTI is the creative moniker of composer and keyboardist Federico Fantacone, which he use for his endeavours in the field of music. The project was born in 2006, and the idea was to blend the stylistic expressions of typical Italian prog artists with the English 70's variety, and to add innovation to this mixture by spicing it all up with contemporary electronic soundscapes. All compositions are instrumental, but sampled voices are used on occasion.

On a side note, the artist name - Celestial Orchestra - is a reference to an old Chinese art now alomost forgotten, in which doves were trained to follow specific flight patterns. Once the trajectories were all set, small flutes were attached to the legs of the birds, who then produced music according to the patterns they'd been trained to fly.

Discography:
1. Compi La Tua Magia (2007)
2. Black and Red (2009)
3. Transition Of Power (2011)
4. Quattro (2012)
5. The Court Of Miracles Vol.1 (2014)
6, The Court of Miracles Vol. 2 (2016)
7. The Big Carrot (and misuse of it) (2017)
8. Compi La Tua Magia - 10th anniversary orchestral edition (2017)
9. ContraXt (2020)
10. Anarchy (2022)

Also:
Sonic Landscape / Paesaggi di Suono (2014, with Lisa La Rue)

ORCHESTRE CELESTI Videos (YouTube and more)


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ORCHESTRE CELESTI discography


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ORCHESTRE CELESTI top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

4.33 | 3 ratings
Compi La Tua Magia
2007
2.90 | 11 ratings
Black and Red
2009
2.49 | 14 ratings
Transition of Power
2011
4.00 | 5 ratings
Quattro
2013
3.92 | 7 ratings
The Court of Miracles Vol. 1
2014
4.00 | 3 ratings
The Court of Miracles Vol. 2
2016
4.00 | 2 ratings
ContraXT
2020
4.00 | 3 ratings
Anarchy
2022
4.33 | 3 ratings
Cornwall !
2024

ORCHESTRE CELESTI Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

ORCHESTRE CELESTI Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

ORCHESTRE CELESTI Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

4.00 | 1 ratings
Suites - The Long Ones
2013
4.33 | 3 ratings
Retrospectives
2019

ORCHESTRE CELESTI Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

3.33 | 8 ratings
The Big Carrot (and Misuse of It)
2017
4.00 | 1 ratings
Cornubia
2023
4.00 | 1 ratings
The Battles of Lostwithiel
2023

ORCHESTRE CELESTI Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 The Big Carrot (and Misuse of It) by ORCHESTRE CELESTI album cover Singles/EPs/Fan Club/Promo, 2017
3.33 | 8 ratings

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The Big Carrot (and Misuse of It)
Orchestre Celesti Crossover Prog

Review by aapatsos
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

3 stars Nearly impossible to categorise this type of music, Orchestre Celesti (aka Federico Fantacone) go on an experimental free-improvisation ride on this ironically-named seventh release of theirs. Clocking at nearly 30-minutes this is a hefty dose of prog for an EP release.

At first listen the carrot may seem difficult to swallow but subsequent plays made me feel more at ease with the style. Below the sax and trumpet samples aiming to give a querky, eclectic and jazzy twist, there is a fairly atmospheric background, almost exclusively driven by keyboards that blend 70's British prog rock and RPI; the lack of guitars may not expose the connection at first. The keyboards and limited moog synths create a spacey atmosphere of Gryphon meets Gentle Giant, though keeping the majority of the album at reasonable levels of complexity. The ''crossover'' tag does sound limiting...

I have enjoyed the more electronica-biased tracks such as ''The Storyboard of Dreams'' where Vangelis meets Kraftwerk and especially the adventurous Genesis-like keyboard-playing in ''The Big Carrot'', probably the most interesting track. The drum samples give away that this is an indie production but don't become annoying. I would prefer the middle part of the EP to not go to slumber mode and add more variations to keep the interest at higher levels as the opening and closing tracks do, but even then this is a rather pleasant and intriguing release that would satisfy the more adventure-seeking proggers that love instrumental prog.

 The Court of Miracles Vol. 1 by ORCHESTRE CELESTI album cover Studio Album, 2014
3.92 | 7 ratings

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The Court of Miracles Vol. 1
Orchestre Celesti Crossover Prog

Review by LearsFool
Prog Reviewer

4 stars Some nice keyboard driven prog made to blend RPI and classic English styles. This is a wonderful collection of tracks, all presented with "Truth" style footnotes. Most notably, "Gentlemen" is inspired by Gentle Giant's classic "Three Friends", and "Repetita Juvant" by The Great Crimso's "Discipline". Fantacone also redoes his "Hiroshima Mon Amor" as a piano piece. The aforementioned tracks, as well as "Dirty and Electric #12" stand as the album's greats, with "#12" being a killer track with its keys and drums; very interesting, at times White Noise-esque, and head and shoulders above all the other tracks. It is said that it is a remastering of a 4-track recording; this is well done, and we should be quite thankful for that! Other than "#12", nothing is so much spectacular, but the album is still an enjoyable listen. Fantacone plays his keys beautifully, and has quite the ear to composition. He can do so much more as well, so I do have high hopes for Vol. 2. A great listen, recommended to prog key and symphonic fans.
 Transition of Power by ORCHESTRE CELESTI album cover Studio Album, 2011
2.49 | 14 ratings

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Transition of Power
Orchestre Celesti Crossover Prog

Review by Marty McFly
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

2 stars I can't help but feel that this album sounds cheap. I mean there are some great one-man projects, but album Transition of Power certainly ain't one of them. As it goes on forth, there is a clear sense of continuity - the music certainly flows, but it's not like a wild river, or a gentle stream, it's more like water being poured down from a tap - clean, technically flawless, but soulless and devoid of any passion. Nah, drum machine was never my favourite and even it alone wouldn't be reason for bad rating, the other elements are. Too long, too dreary and boring, I am not pleased. The positive side is that the album is for free, but why bother.
 Transition of Power by ORCHESTRE CELESTI album cover Studio Album, 2011
2.49 | 14 ratings

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Transition of Power
Orchestre Celesti Crossover Prog

Review by Evolver
Special Collaborator Crossover & JR/F/Canterbury Teams

3 stars Federico Fantacone, the keyboardist behind Orchestre Celesti is obviously quite talented. On this album he plays in a range of styles, from almost new age to close to full blown symphonic progressive. His keyboard playing is splendid, and his compositional skills are intriguing.

However, he falls into a trap that seems to entwine many solo artists. The instrumentation that he programs around his wonderful keyboard leads often doesn't match the intensity, and brings the music down. Particularly the drums. Few non-drummers seem to be able to reproduce with synthesizers the nuances of a human drummer. Fantacone's drums are way too mechanical, and usually too light for the music. The bass synths bug me a bit, too, but since I was a bass player, I'm especially sensitive to that.

Despite the problems above, I like the album.

 Black and Red by ORCHESTRE CELESTI album cover Studio Album, 2009
2.90 | 11 ratings

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Black and Red
Orchestre Celesti Crossover Prog

Review by toroddfuglesteg

2 stars Orcheste Celesti is a one man band from Italy. This is the second album from this combo.

It starts very beautiful with a couple of RPI compositions. Both the title track and the following track Abstraction From Reality is superb. The hopes of a good album takes of like a rocket towards the sky. The rocket comes down to earth in a rather chaotic fashion though after some more minutes.

After the two RPI tracks, the album heads onto....... well, everywhere. Jazz, some prog metal pastisjes, avant-garde, electronica, new age. You find it all here. Which is crossover prog. But quality is absent and most off the album ends up as background noise to whatever I do. There is nothing here which makes me drop the things I am doing and listen to the album instead. That goes for everything past the first ten minutes. I am sorry, but this is not for me.

2.5 stars

 Black and Red by ORCHESTRE CELESTI album cover Studio Album, 2009
2.90 | 11 ratings

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Black and Red
Orchestre Celesti Crossover Prog

Review by besotoxico

3 stars Drum Programming isn't horrible. When used in the right context it can be just as entertaining to listen to as with real drums. Many great electronic albums have memorable beats. The only time drum programming fails is when it attempts to replicate or replace real drums. As is the case with this album.

Fransisco is sick on the keys. There is no doubt to that. Two of a Kind being a perfect example of his badness. This man is definitely a force behind his instrument.

This music is ambient and album will definitely be played on my next road trip. However there isn't really anything memorable about this. Nothing really sets it apart. It could fit to be music for a good anime movie. The eastern twing part on Piano St N1 is interesting. In fact te two Piano Suites are the highlight of this album. Three stars for good keyboard work but overall this is just an average album.

 Transition of Power by ORCHESTRE CELESTI album cover Studio Album, 2011
2.49 | 14 ratings

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Transition of Power
Orchestre Celesti Crossover Prog

Review by Conor Fynes
Prog Reviewer

2 stars 'Orchestre Celesti' - Transition Of Power (4/10)

Orchestre Celesti is the solo project of Italian musician Federico Fantacone, and the newly released 'Transition Of Power' is the third album he has released under this pseudonym. As with the great majority of one-man bands, the sound revolves heavily around one instrument, being the keyboard. 'Transitions Of Power' feels like a part-time exploration of Fantacone's over the course of two years,as if he decided to get up and record simply when he felt the interest coming on, rather than investing himself in a full project. With that in mind, 'Transition Of Power' is both underwhelming and inconsistent, sometimes being quite impressive and even strong in its composition, but othertimes really falling into the curse of a work that feels more like a series of one man's indulgences rather than a balanced piece of music.

With a cropped image of a well known art-piece as the album cover, two loose sounding 'epic' pieces, Orchestre Celesti does not do anything to set itself aside from the legions of weekend warriors which seek to proclaim themselves as prog artists. The album's music can be described as almost entirely keyboard driven ambient rock music, with classical and jazz fusion elements weaved into it. Fantacone is indeed a skilled arranger when it comes to making music; many of his harmonies and use of modes is very skilled. Throughout nearly all of the album though, something important is missing. Although Fantacone clearly has potential to even arrange classical music at his will, his compositions lack melody, feel, or dynamic,

To Fantacone's credit, this general lack of feeling in the music is not a direct fault of his own, but rather the equipment and budget he has used for this album. There are no 'real' instruments here besides the keyboard, which takes the duties of virtually everything here besides the programmed drums, which sound fairly weak. While Fantacone is skiled enough with the keyboard, there are no human flourishes with the music that make it organic or truly interesting, save for some vocals. The vocals really save the middle of this album, especially the otherworldly 'Sound Of My Dreams', although I still find it unsettling to hear a prog lyricist telling me I should 'move to the beat' of the music.

As it stands, Orchestre Celesti is difficult to recommend. It is skilled yet uninspired; excellent in some cases yet dreadfully boring in others. A fairly disappointing piece of Italian prog.

Thanks to windhawk for the artist addition.

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