In the words of the composer:
In this piece I am trying to capture trying and failing, improving...moving towards the light.
The opening 3 chord phrase is extended and re-harmonised, growing in length, density and volume each time. After several tonal tangents we eventually succeed in resolving to a home chord of D major in the final bar.

Fail Better

We are thrilled to welcome Alessandra Toni with her luminous new piece, "Glow" Performed on a Bösendorfer piano, Glow is an uplifting journey, delicately woven with cinematic beauty and expressive serenity. Each note shimmers with grace, inviting listeners into a world of refined nuances. Alessandra, an Italian pianist and composer based in Vienna, brings a unique voice to the neoclassical scene, merging melodic elegance with emotional depth. With a background in music, psychology, and neuroscience, her artistry reflects both intellectual richness and poetic sensitivity.

Woman Muse

Glow

Listen

"Refugio de Luz" by Italo-Argentinian pianist Bruno Sanfilippo is a radiant and uplifting composition that shines with warmth. Its gentle felted piano lines flow gracefully, evoking a sense of peace and hope, offering listeners a luminous sanctuary through sound. Released by the reflective neoclassical label ad21.

Refugio de Luz

Cocora

Neural

Scania

Participation mystique refers to the innate human connection to symbolic and imaginative experiences. This symbolic realm exists before or alongside our ability to think analytically or rationally. The idea is strongly linked to projection, as these symbolic or mythic elements naturally extend themselves into the world around us—into people, places, and things, just like how we unconsciously assign color to what we see.

Participation mystique is not just a psychological concept, but an aesthetic principle – a lens through which we perceive art as more than just something we observe; it becomes something inhabited.

In artistic terms, participation mystique can be thought of as a dissolving boundary between the self and the image. In this perspective, any manifestation of art can be perceived not just as an external object, but as an extension of the viewer’s unconscious. Colors, shapes, and atmosphere resonate with inner archetypes – mythical, primordial, emotional – before the mind can name them. This is why abstract compositions can seem hauntingly familiar, or why certain symbols – like a spiral, a doorway, or a shady forest – draw out something ancient, deep, and unconscious from us.

Produced and mixed by Dionis Afonichev (Dionisaf)
Mastered by Dionis Afonichev
Cover picture and design by Dionis Afonichev

Neural

Dmitry Evgrafov