Brian Eno meets Peter Gabriel in the ambitious artistry and optimistic humanism of modern Italian Renaissance man Franco Battiato. From his early-'70s debut as a minimalist composer with prog rock leanings, Battiato developed into a reflective pop star. "Il Maestro", as he's known, studied with composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, blended Krautrock with sci-fi psychedelia in his earliest albums and delivered a perfect pop album with 1981's beautiful, deeply layered La voce del padrone (His Master's Voice).