TIDES is my open music diary. Here below you can listen to my stories. Enjoy.

I've always been intrigued by the idea of energy and resonating frequencies, where everything is vibration. Tides is connected to this idea of waves, ups and downs, this elastic rubber when sometimes you tune in with the world around you, sometimes with the world inside you and sometimes you are somehow disconnected. Acceptance is part of this, like staring at dawn at the seaside, without judging the shape and sound of those waves.
- Federico

FEATURED STORY :: Story #05 :: Butterfly Fluke (Sept 2026)

There is a specific kind of silence that occurs when a purpose is fulfilled. When I completed the writing for this suite, I experienced a physical reaction I had never felt before: a bone-deep realization that the journey was over and the goal was met, regardless of whether another soul ever heard the notes.
The inner research felt complete in that moment, and there was a quiet peace in that. Sharing this now is simply about letting go, a surrender to the present. I hope these notes might find a resonance with someone else, acknowledging the listener as a participant in the flow. It’s the hope that my "inner research" might help someone else with theirs, but whatever happens next is far beyond my control. The wing-beat has happened, and it belongs to the air now.

scrolling score with the audio from the orchestra

butterfly score
> SCORE & PARTS <
Bricasti auto

The mighty Bricasti M7! Strapped it in tight on day one. This sketch came out right after plugging it in. That beautiful reverb tail completely opened up the sense of space as I played.

Haagse Bos

Het Haagse Bos. Running here actually helped me solve a few challenges with this piece. See how beautiful is that orange dot there on top!

butterfly_tape

Mastered on tape: an act of love and crystallization. No way back after the tape print.

The Genesis
It began as a game. Just a piano and me testing a new (Bricasti M7 for the nerds) reverb unit, wandering without any goal, clue, or direction, effortlessly, like a kid playing in his playground. And then a fluke: a finger that slipped my pianist autopilot muscle memory (bar 25 - 01:05). A cluster: an apparently dissonant group of notes. An incomplete minor chord: suspended but stable. A tentative, uncertain chord. That was my hint; my chance as an artist to see the beauty of something apparently random.

I then decided to make that colour the foundational colour of the piece. In fact, from 01:00 until 03:14, the recording remains that first improvised piano take: untouched, unedited, and uncalculated, simply moving with the flow as an observer of the miracle.

The Structure
I. Caterpillar (The Search) | Start to 04:00
Looking for a way. The timing isn't locked; everything is possible. It is a pulse that hasn’t quite found its heartbeat yet, but the heart is there.

II. Chrysalis (The Point of No Return) | 04:00 to 05:12
Most people think the chrysalis is "resting." It isn’t. It is a violent, high-energy chemical breakdown. The caterpillar doesn’t just grow wings; it digests itself. Once that process starts, there is no "Plan B." If it stops, it dies. This is the "dissolving" of what you thought you knew to find your true voice, the chance to say no to what doesn't resonate and embrace the void.

III. Imago (The Gift of the Present) | 05:12 to End
At 05:14, a second fluke occurred: a major chord played against a minor hint. This sparked the birth of the butterfly. The first wing-beat. That movement might start a tornado somewhere else, far beyond your control, but you must do it anyway. It is a reminder that the gift is not the destination, but the messy, unintended present. The tornado is out there now. We can choose to love the present for exactly what it is, without the need to control any of it.

The Research
Nowadays, with all this non-human generated consumption, it’s even more important to have no fear of being yourself, of being authentic. This suite is the result of a completely non-efficient process; it is an act of love, a search of beauty rather than a search for a result. To me, that means following a gut feeling toward the unknown. If you follow your gut feelings, your heart, whatever move might create a tornado somewhere else: you should do it anyway, even if it will create a storm.

The Roots & Inspirations
Arvo Pärt and Ryuichi Sakamoto are two of my most significant influences. In this piece, I brought with me their balance between stillness and rumble, and that Bb minor hue from "Forbidden Colours" is something that has struck me since I was a kid.

Gratitude
They say it takes a village, and this music is the evidence. It is the result of me as a composer, but more importantly, as a human being interacting with the friends and collaborators whose presence is felt in the music, even if I cannot list everyone here:

- To Ceci, Celeste, and Francy: For your love.
- To Mees: For providing the opportunity with your enthusiasm.
- To Damiano: For suggesting the potential of random empty bars during the writing.
- To Dario, Tom, René, and Nikolaï: For your enthusiastic support.
- To Kenma, Buzz, Krešimir, and Stan: For your patience with my endless A/B choices during the mix.
- To Jonathan: For sharing the energy in the session.
- To Loris: For the lovely mix.
- To Davide: For your passion during the mastering phase and for gifting me that final, beautifully non-efficient tape pass.

Composed & Orchestrated by: Federico Solazzo © BUMA / STEMRA

Recorded by: The Budapest Art Orchestra, December 2025
Studio: OPERA Eiffel Art Studio (Budapest)
Piano: Federico Solazzo
Conductor: Peter Pejtsik
Orchestra Contractor: Miklós Lukács

Mixed by: Loris Bernot at Backyard Studios (Paris)
Mastered by: Davide Ruffini at Wisseloord Studios (Hilversum)

Cover Art: Tom Thomson, Northern Lights (detail, 1917)

Story #04 :: Reflections (April 2023)

This is another little story exploring the Yin and yang, the balance and interaction between water and air, shade and light, major and minor.
Recorded in the same iconic studio and room where Ennio Morricone made 'Nuovo Cinema Paradiso' and Nino Rota 'The Godfather', this piece is the teaser of a bigger 15-20 min (3-4 movements) piece I plan to write soon. Enjoy!
- - - UPDATE: that longer piece became another piece: Butterfly Fluke!

Video from the recording session

Composed, orchestrated and conducted by Federico Solazzo © BUMA / STEMRA

Recorded by the Kiev Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra in April 2023 at Forum Studios (Rome, IT)
Recording engineer: Fabio Patrignani

Rec engineer assistant: Davide Dell’Amore
Control room supervisors: Dario Vero and Tom Schipper
Orchestra contractor: David Barsotti
Mixed and mastered by Davide Ruffini at Splinter Studios (Utrecht)

Cover art: Tom Thomson, ‘Round Lake, Mud Bay’, 1915
Video footage by Mirko Fragalà

Thanks to: Cecilia and Celeste, my unlimited source of smiles, my family, Dario for being the honorary member of the Lydian fellowship, Tommy (summer of 2018, the first sketch in your studio!), the orchestra for putting all their heart into it, all my friends Barbad, René, Tom, Trian, Giacomo, Filippo Valentino, Marco, Damiano, Lucas, Davide and everybody else I’m forgetting now for your enthusiasm in supporting my music and to you all for the invaluable support!
This recording is the result of the lovely energy of all the good people with me (both physically and not) that day in the studio. This exists only thanks to you all.

Special thanks to Buma/Stemra for the support #investeringsfondsmuziek

Story #01 :: Tides (June 2021)

Where it all began: the piece that started this project.

scrolling score with the audio from the orchestra

THE INSPIRATION
I find a lot of beauty in silence. That particular quiet texture you find when nature is in its still state. That silence is really important to me. My music starts from there.
Among a lot of artists I love, there are a few composers I admire for their ability to making music that gives you space to breathe: Craig Armstrong, Thomas Newman, Joe Hisaishi, Arvo Pärt.

THE MUSIC
This piece was born sometime in June 2018 during one of my late afternoon jogging runs in a beautiful park right next to where I live. The sun was shining, and suddenly a little melody popped into my head.
I was hearing (and seeing as I have synaesthesia) also some interesting colours around it (harmonies), with some minor/major tensions overlapping (Eb major on top of Eb minor, resolving into C#11). They were not distracting from the very simple theme. They were just there, creating the mood/flavour.
I also remember it was in a weird signature, not in 4/4 but something always slightly moving/changing (probably a 5/4 and 7/4). When I had arrived home, I couldn’t clearly remember those weird bars - probably because of their ever-changing/movement nature - so I’ve just sketched it out as 4/4.

A couple of years passed by (new house, a daughter, no more real meetings and friends - you know about that part, right? XD) and while working under pressure for the music on a huge commercial campaign, a window for recording with the Budapest Film Orchestra opened up. So, I finally had a deadline to finish it! It was such a relief not having the time (and need) to go through an orchestral mockup and not requiring the approval from somebody else before recording it: this got me to writing the score you see here straight on paper (StaffPad on iPad), note by note. It always amazes me how much more creative you are when you have the clarity and freedom of writing for real players with a pencil rather than being limited to write for the sounds you have in your Tetris-DAW-computer. You are left with choosing the right brushes and colours and you are free to imagine how it’s gonna sound in your head - ready to be surprised by the great players at the recording session!

IMG_4716

Composed and orchestrated by Federico Solazzo - 2021 © BUMA / STEMRA

Recorded by the Budapest Film Orchestra in April 2021 at TomTom Studio (Budapest)
Orchestra conductor: Peter Pejtsik
Orchestra contractor: Kinga Lőkös

Mixed by Loris Bernot at Backyard Studios (Paris)
Mastered by Davide Ruffini at Splinter Studios (Utrecht)

Cover art: Jan Mankes, 'Avondlandschap met maan', 1912

Thanks to: Cecilia and Celeste, my source of joy, Frans and Seppl for somehow igniting this new adventure, Ziggi, Kenma, Dario, Tommy, Rogier, Giacomo, Luca for their enthusiasm, Loris and Davide for putting their passion in the details, the Budapest Film Orchestra (this is their 2nd take, in full!) and to you all for the invaluable support!

Story #02 :: Velvet Dawn (June 2022)

A slow dance between two lonely stars, until they can finally hug in a velvet dawn.

Video from the recording session

Composed by Federico Solazzo - 2022 © BUMA / STEMRA

Orchestrated by Federico Solazzo and Barbad Bayat
Conducted by Barbad Bayat Performed by Prague Metropolitan
Orchestra Contracted by Barbad Bayat & Radek Krizanovsky
Recorded in April 2022 at Czech TV Studio (Prague, CZ)
Mixed and mastered by Andrew Lawson at Fieldgate Studio (Cardiff, UK)

Thanks to: Cecilia and Celeste, the smile of my heart, my friend Barbad for his enthusiasm, the whole orchestra, Andy for the amazing mix (thanks Daan!) and Jonathan for sharing feelings and words.

Story #03 :: Breathe (January 2023)

Inspired by the beauty of nature (inside and outside us) in its hidden delicacy and majestic neverending evolution.

Breathe_WIP

THE STORY BEHIND BREATHE

This is a piece very close to me. It was recorded on a very special day, after a 2-months-crazy-intense job delivered that same morning. I felt completely gone, so much so that I was not able to tell the names of my own notes during the session (yes! that much). I smiled ☀️ (this is something I've got from my mum, whenever I feel in a tricky situation).
Breathe. ?

Happy to share this little piece with you all, whenever you'd feel like slowing down and smiling again. Enjoy! 

A few notes about the production: sketched sometime in 2019 (those 4 bars chords arrived to my hands on a late evening while on the phone with my friend Dario Vero, talking about a Swiss mountains TV pitch that we did at the same time).

A special thanks to René Merkelbach (that same morning he sent me a piece called "Breathing", and, by coincidence, the WIP title of this piece was also "Breathing").

Composed by Federico Solazzo - 2023 © BUMA / STEMRA

Orchestrated by Federico Solazzo and Barbad Bayat
Strings (Dutch String Collective) recorded in November 2022 at Groenland Studios (Hilversum)
by Hans Ravestein and Laurens Goedhart.
Violin solo: Cecilia Baesso

Mixed and mastered by Andrew Lawson at Fieldgate Studio (Cardiff, UK)

Special thanks to BCMM and Buma/Stemra (#investeringsfondsmuziek).

Copyright © 2026 - Federico Solazzo - VAT NL002471448B14 - KvK 62365479 - Portraits photos by Gregor Servais