In 1990, Primrose Music released XXI Century: East Meets West – New Frontiers – The Ancestors, a library music album conceived and produced by Stefano Torossi that features contributions by musician-composers Ari Takahashi and Leonardo Svidercoschi, Claudio Gizzi, and Romolo Forlai. The CD (reissued as a digital download in 2008) is the second of eleven full length albums Torossi did in the role of producer for the Italian production music label between 1988 and 2009, in addition to appearing as a composer and/or producer on at least sixteen Primrose compilations and one promo.

XXI Century is divided into three parts. The first by Ari Takahashi and Leonardo Svidercoschi includes a dozen tracks grouped together in “East Meets West.” Claudio Gizzi contributes compositions in the “New Frontiers” section, while Romolo Forlai has four in “The Ancestors.” The opening tracks by Takahashi and Svidercoschi include “Rain,” “Tokyo Today,” “East Meets West,” “Meditation Mood,” “Forbidden City,” “Zen,” “Butterfly,” “Bamboo Garden,” “Sakyamuni,” “Buddah Cave,” “House Of Rising Sun,” and “Geisha.”

Ari Takahashi and Leonardo Svidercoschi’s “Bamboo Garden” has been used on a number of recent compilations including Ticket To Japan: Jewel of the Lotus, a digital release by Lounge Music Cocktail that also includes “Tokyo Today,” “Buddha Cave,” “Geisha,” and “Zen.”

Ari Takahashi and Leonardo Svidercoschi’s “Bamboo Garden,” produced by Stefano Torossi, was also licensed for use in several videos including this one by an art museum in Vienna in 2012:

When asked recently about the origin of the XXI Century album, Stefano Torossi commented:

“Takahashi, Svidercoschi and Gizzi were just colleagues with whom I kept meeting around Rai or other places. I certainly do not remember when we decided to work together, it just went along that way.”

Of course, Romolo Forlai and Stefano Torossi go back to the early 1960s when they both were members of The Flippers pop music group. Band members depicted on the RCA 45 sleeve below include Fabrizio Zampa, Max Catalano, Stefano Torossi, Franco Bracardi, and Romolo Forlai.

The New Frontiers compositions by Claudio Gizzi include “Legend,” “Windmill,” “Voices From Beyond,” “Whispering Soul,” “Silk Road,” “The Original Sin,” and “Spacelab.” At this time, it appears none of these tracks are available on YouTube or SoundCloud. However, two years earlier Claudio Gizzi’s “E la luce fu” was included on the Fonit Cetra-RAI album Atmosfere e suoni della natura, part of their Commenti Musicali series.

Claudio Gizzi’s “E la luce fu” has been recently uploaded to YouTube:

Claudio Gizzi and Stefano Torossi have worked together on numerous projects including Gizzi’s Strumentali: Un millione di anni fa in 1987, Strumentali: Il gran teatro del mondo, Vol. 1 and Strumentali: Il gran teatro del mondo, Vol. 2, both in 1988, all produced by Torossi for Fonit Cetra.

The two also have multiple selections on compilations on Commenti Musicali, Costanza Records, Deneb Records, Primrose Music, and several additional Fonit Cetra releases including Strumentali: La fatica di vivere and Strumentali: Grande immagini, with Leandro Piccioni, both from 1988. This includes seven tracks on the 1989 Fonit Cetra/RAI LP Commenti Musicali: Thrilling – tensione – terrore.

None of the four Romolo Forlai tracks in The Ancestors section, “Crystal Cave,” “Queen Of The Tribe,” “Temple Of The Moon,” and “White Forest,” is currently available online. However, the title track for Riti, magie nere e segrete nel Trecento (Black Magic Rites & the Secret Orgies of the 14th Century), a 1973 film by director Renato Polselli is on YouTube.

The piece composed by Gianfranco Reverberi and Romolo Forlai is done by a band formed by Maurizio Catalano, another ex-Flipper.

Gianfranco Reverberi and Romolo Forlai’s “Orgiastic Ritual,” performed by South African Combo, is here:

In 1960, Romolo Forlai and Stefano Torossi, as well as Maurizio Catalano, worked together on “Non gridar bambina,” a tune composed by Prosaico (an alias of Sergio Jacquier) and Torossi that features Forlai on vibraphone along with Massimo “Max” Catalano on trumpet, Maurizio Catalano on double bass, Jimmy Polosa on piano, and Fabrizio Zampa on drums.

The Flippers’ “Non gridar bambina,” featuring Romolo Forlai on vocals, is on SoundCloud:

In addition to XXI Century, Romolo Forlai and Stefano Torossi worked together on a second album in 1990, Forlai’s Strumentali: Si fa per ridere, produced by Torossi and released on Fonit Cetra.

Another album cut from XXI Century, Ari Takahashi and Leonardo Svidercoschi’s “Tokyo Today,” was selected for Music for Cooking: Delicious Recipes To Surprise, Vol. 11 – Japanese Cuisine, a 2015 compilation licensed by Lounge Music Cocktail.

Stefano Torossi and Ari Takahashi’s “Saigon” as well as Leonardo Svidercoschi and Torossi’s “Winter Moon” are also on the digital-only collection.

Ari Takahashi and Leonardo Svidercoschi’s “Tokyo Today,” produced by Stefano Torossi, is on YouTube:

In 1994, Leonardo Svidercoschi and Stefano Torossi collaborated on Svidercoschi’s People And Places: Travel Impressions Through Themes Inspired By People, Places And Experiences, produced by Torossi.

Initially released by Primrose Music in CD, the album was reissued as a digital download in 2009.

Torossi Audio Online 1993-2010

Four tracks found online from Stefano Torossi covering 1993 to 2010 including Sandro Brugnolini’s “La città sepolta” from Commenti musicali: Musica d’epoca – Prehistoria e storia antica (1993) on Fonit Cetra, produced by Torossi; “V.U.E.” from Luca Proietti’s Geoglot: Universal Language (1999) and “Dindana” from Proietti’s WM Global Music (2004), both Rai Trade albums produced by Torossi, and “Sun And Fun” from Federico Ferrandina and Torossi’s Guitarra (2010) on Primrose Music: