Soundtrack to a Weekend in Lake Como
Soundtrack To…

Soundtrack to a Weekend in Lake Como

Twelve records for two days of water, cypress and doing considerably less than you planned.

15 August 2026

Como is not a party. It is a long lunch that becomes a long evening, conducted mostly outdoors, at the speed of a boat with the engine off. The music has to behave accordingly.

The mistake is to programme Como like a holiday. It is not a holiday; it is a rhythm. Mornings belong to the water and to whoever is making the coffee. Afternoons belong to nobody. Evenings belong to the terrace, and by then the music should have grown a shade darker and a shade slower without anybody noticing it happen.

What follows moves in that order — from the first cup to the last glass. Play it in sequence and you will find the weekend organises itself.

The selections

  1. 01

    Águas de Março

    João Gilberto

    Nine in the morning, shutters open. Nothing louder is permitted before ten.

  2. 02

    Corcovado

    Stan Getz & João Gilberto

    The boat, the first hour, the water still like glass.

  3. 03

    Easy Lovers

    Piero Piccioni

    Late afternoon, engine off, a mile from the shore.

  4. 04

    The Shadow of Your Smile

    Astrud Gilberto

    Four o'clock, parasols down, heat coming off the stone.

  5. 05

    Un gelato al limon

    Paolo Conte

    Driving to Bellagio for no reason anybody could defend.

  6. 06

    Un anno d'amore

    Mina

    Dressing for dinner, badly, with a drink already poured.

  7. 07

    I Should Care

    Julie London

    Six o'clock. The ice. The first proper silence of the day.

  8. 08

    Stardust

    Nat King Cole

    Eight-thirty, the table laid outside, the lake going black.

  9. 09

    Notturno

    Nino Rota

    Between courses, when the conversation finds its second wind.

  10. 10

    Time After Time

    Chet Baker

    The plates cleared, nobody moving indoors.

  11. 11

    Nocturne in D-flat, Op. 27 No. 2

    Arthur Rubinstein

    Eleven o'clock. Four people left. Cognac.

  12. 12

    In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning

    Frank Sinatra

    The last record of the night, played too quietly for anyone but you.

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