For those that don't know, Joe Hisaishi is the composer for almost all of the Hayao Miyazaki Studio Ghibli films. The music is so simple, so direct, and just so childlike, it imbues the films with a certain old-world (or at least, not of this modern world anyway) innocence. The line between sickly-sweet and this is very fine indeed, but Joe Hisaishi always matches the mood and gets just the right amount of innocence in such a beautifully restrained way. To say the music of Giulio Fagiolini strongly left me with the same feeling as Hisaishi-san's music, says as much as you need to know hopefully. In an age of innate greediness and willingness to use an instrument or genre of music to soullessly pilfer, this album is really incredibly refreshing. So simple, pure, direct, and innocent. The power of music to remind one that there is something so pure, despite all the grime, is a bit of a revelation really.
