The pop side of the classic: New Trolls “A night on MonteCalvo”
1974 New Trolls – A night on Bald Mountain
Historical group of Italian music, the Genoese New Trolls have however had a somewhat troubled path in their life. Born in 1966 as Trolls, after a few 45s in 1967 they took the name of New Trolls following a revolution in the lineup: alongside the founder, guitarist Vittorio De Scalzi, Nico Di Palo (guitar and vocals), Mauro Chiarugi (keyboards), Giorgio D’Adamo (bass) and Gianni Belleno (drums) joined the group. After several performances in the clubs of the Ligurian capital and some other singles between beat and psychedelia, in 1968 they released their first album, Without timetable without flagresulting from the collaboration between Fabrizio De André and the Genoese poet Riccardo Mannerini.
The album was released in 1970 New Trollsactually a collection of singles including hits Before my eyes And A minebut the decisive year for the band was 1971, when they created the album together with the musician Luis Bacalov Big concert for the New Trollsa progressive turning point for the New Trolls in which, with the support of an orchestra, they combine classical music with rock, with references to various English groups such as King Crimson and Jethro Tull. The album was enormously successful and sold over 800,000 copies, placing the group rightfully among the Italian progressive bands.
After two more albums, Searching for a Land And UTHowever, in 1973 the mechanism was already jammed and the various members of the group dedicated themselves to other projects: Nico Di Palo, Frank Laugelli, Maurizio Salvi and Gianni Belleno formed Ibis, with whom they released three albums, while Vittorio De Scalzi and Giorgio D’Adamo gave life to New Trolls Atomic System (initially NT Atomic System) – with Tullio De Piscopo on drums – who recorded two albums. Also worth mentioning is the “ghost” group Tritons, formed by Belleno with Di Palo, Laugelli and Salvi, which in 1973 reached the charts with one of (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones.
This proliferation of acronyms arises from legal disputes that arose after the dissolution of the group, over which of the ex-members had the right to still use the name “New Trolls”, so much so that – after getting back together in 1976, gradually orienting themselves towards a pop-rock that was now far from progressive – even after the definitive dissolution in 1997 various formations would arise: Il Mito New Trolls, La Leggenda New Trolls, UT Tempore – L’anima prog dei New Trolls (sic!), Of New Trolls…
In 1974 the group led by Vittorio De Scalzi, NT Atomic System, released a single under the ancient name New Trolls, containing on the A side a rereading of the first part of Mussorgsky’s symphonic poem “A night on Monte Calvo”. It is probably one of the best rock adaptations of the famous composition, and perhaps also one of the best modern reworkings of a classic song. The atmosphere of the original song is maintained and perfectly underlined by the rhythm section – after all De Piscopo is certainly not just anyone – and the central part with the electric piano and guitar solos is for once perfectly integrated into the song, as is the flute of Giorgio Baiocco, guest musician. It’s a shame that, given the brilliant result, the group no longer attempted other remakes of classic pieces. The opening bars from 1976 to 1994 were the theme song for RadioRai’s Giornale Radio 3.
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This sheet is taken from the book “Rock Me Amadeus. The pop side of classical music, the classic heart of rock. When Classical meets Pop, Rock and Disco” by Davide Pezzi (Youcanprint, 252 pages, €19.50, available here) courtesy of the author.
What happens when Mozart, Bach or Beethoven come down from the podium of great music and find themselves among electric guitars, synthesizers and disco lights? “Rock Me Amadeus” explores the fascinating (and sometimes surprising) universe of pop, rock and disco reinterpretations of famous classical songs.
The book offers a journey that is both historical and curious, spanning decades of experiments, contaminations and revisitations. There is no shortage of pages dedicated to the less successful versions – testimonies of an era and a taste – which help to understand even better the inexhaustible strength of classical music as a source of inspiration.
With an accessible and documented style, the author guides the reader through anecdotes, records, musicians and arrangements, showing how the dialogue between apparently distant musical worlds can generate new forms of creativity, between genius and (sometimes) naive clumsiness.
