Victor Cerullo – Ludus

5 reviews for Victor Cerullo – Ludus

1. 

   ert Strolenberg – 1998-11-22

   Victor Cerullo comes from Italy and is a brand-new artist on the famous Dutch Groove-label. Ludus” is a “rhapsody for synths & electronic effects” resulting in a ravishing electronic mixture with some very nice flavours of J.M. Jarre’s 2nd album “Equinoxe” (sequences

2. 

   avid Hassell Wind & Wire – 1999-11-22

   Describing an artist as a ‘clone’ or as imitating a more popular musician might seem like an insult. Within the realm of electronic music, I think it can be a blessing. Most of the more influential synthesizer pioneers (Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, etc.) have changed their styles so much over the years that they leave behind musical ideas just dying to be exploited more fully. Jean-Michel Jarre, who showed so much promise with Oxygene and Equinoxe, became more erratic and bombastic in his subsequent releases (though he has done some wonderful music). Fortunately, Jarre’s early style has re-emerged in a more mature and fully developed work by Victor Cerullo called Ludus. Victor cites Hermann Hesse’s Das Glasperlenspiel (translates to The Game of the Glass Pearls, I think) as its inspiration, but I’m not familiar enough with that work to make comparisons. I am familiar enough with Jarre’s Oxygene to drop everything I was doing when I heard Ludus’ wind-swept introduction. Ludus is divided into three ‘episodes,’ each subdivided into smaller movements. The first episode, featuring the Oxygene-like breeze, makes a surprising jolt into a vastly different style of another synthesizer pioneer: Wendy Carlos. While inconsistent in tone with the rest of the album, it does make a superb overture. If you’re going to depart from an album’s main theme, it’s almost always best to do it at either the beginning or end, as it’s done here. The second episode clocks in at a bit over twenty minutes and brings in the Jarre-like synth melodies and dance rhythms. Another surprise: there’s an electric guitar solo that brings to mind Pink Floyd’s ‘Shine on You Crazy Diamond’ in the midst of this. The final episode is slightly over eighteen minutes and is actually a continuation of the second episode. Again, it has a strong Jarre influence, and the second movement provides the album’s ‘single.’ In fact, this infectious piece of dance music is also included at the very end as a more extended three minute bonus single.
   It seems that Jean-Michel Jarre could learn a few things from Victor Cerullo.

   1999 David Hassell Wind & Wire

3. 

   -Mix – 1999-11-22

   This is a strange album, described as a rhapsody for synthesizers and electronic effects freely inspired by Hermann Hesse’s Das Glasperlenspiel” and created on the most limited equipment (Korg 01/w and PolySix

4. 

   ONTSE ANDREU (Amazing Sounds) – 2022-11-22

   This album, divided into three parts or episodes by the author, consists in a musical narration of a very free nature, inspired by Hermann Hesse’s work, Das Glasperlenspiel” (“The Game of the Glass Pearls”). The music

5. 

   Jim Brenholts, author of Tracks Across the Universe”” – 2022-11-22

   Several months ago I received an e-mail from Victor Cerullo regarding Ludus