I was confronted with the contrasts of cultural baggage we
all carry with this release. Not having heard of Egberto Gismonti
before now, I was caught by surprise when an Argentinean conductor/guitarist
friend spotted it lying on my desk at work. His effusive reaction
revealed to me something of the regard with which Egberto Gismonti
is held in South America, amongst intelligent and well-informed
musicians at the very least. Such minor confrontations with
the wider world in music expose one’s parochial experience with
a sense of sharp contrast, while at the same time justifying
the challenge of discovery all music-lovers possess – not just
us mad reviewers. With a number of ECM albums already under
his belt, Gismonti is at home as much amongst jazz musicians
as classical, and his work combining ‘popular’ and ‘serious’ idioms
has done much to remove the barriers between the more traditional
music of his own cultural background and the weight
of Western musical history.
This is most apparent on disc 1 of this set, with the Sertões
Veredas for string orchestra. This is a suite of seven
pieces which, as Lilian Dias remarks in the booklet notes, “takes a
musical journey through Brazil, revealing, in a diffuse way,
the different faces of its people, culture and history. It’s
a journey through time and space, in a permanent exchange between
music, literature and cinema, where nothing is left untouched
and everything goes through a deep transformation. However,
the translation of this scenery of dreams in the language of
music, leads us through a maze of memories and allusions, voices
and colours, sounds and images”. Gismonti allows plenty of the
Western use of strings and the string orchestra to come through,
with hints of Vivaldi and Stravinsky, even Mahler in the short
rising motif of the second piece, which may remind listeners
of the Scherzo second movement of Mahler’s 9th Symphony.
There are also plenty of folk influences, coming through in
rhythms from the ‘choro’ style and Brazilian Xingu Indian ritual.
These are described and quoted in musical notation in the booklet,
which goes a long way towards helping us poor Europeans to
appreciate
much of what is going on in the music.
This is not to say there are any difficulties here. Anyone who
appreciates Villa-Lobos or the richly composed tangos of Astor
Piazzolla will have an easy path into what Gismonti is doing
here. There is some emotional sentiment, but most of the pieces
express a sense of joy and optimism, even where more serious
modernistic elements and more abstract compositional techniques
are employed. Even when the music appears to meander, it does
so with intent. The slow, rather static development of the fifth
movement represents the sound of a wheel of a horse cart, the
one from a film called Vidas Secas. Specific references
such as this will be unfamiliar to many of us in the West, but
show a constant wealth of cultural reference and provide us
not only with some excellent music, but also a springboard for
discovering more.
The orchestra playing here is also worth a mention. This is
the Camerata Romeu from Cuba, an intriguing young chamber orchestra
made up entirely of female musicians under the direction of
conductor Zenaida Romeu. The orchestra is devoted exclusively
to the performance of South American music, and their commitment
to the music on this disc is clear. If the string refinement
is marginally less than with some European examples I find
they
win in the far more important elements of absolute rhythmic
empathy with the music, and a kind of southern-hemisphere resonance
which has an unmistakable character. I applaud this individualism.
We don’t need more clones of already established orchestras,
and Zenaida Romeu’s mission is one which can plough its own
furrow on the international scene.
While I have very much enjoyed the Sertões Veredas,
putting on disc 2’s Duetos de Violões reminded me of
the difference between Keith Jarrett’s own best solo recordings,
and his more effortful composed work on ‘In the Light’. While
such music is effective enough, there is an entirely different
feel when really creative players are involved with their own
instrument, and the vibrancy and sheer joie de vivre in the
Duetos de Violões makes for compulsive listening. In
these duos for two guitars, Egberto Gismonti plays alongside
his son Alexandre (b.1981). The synergy and snappy inspirational
spark between these two make for one of those rare recordings
which leap out of the speakers at you and make you want to hear
nothing else for days. Critics have been known to moan about
the two-guitar combination, but this duo and these pieces transcend
such considerations. The depth of sound, range of articulation
and textural colour make for fascinating listening, all driven
along by infectious rhythms which dance and sing like water
cascading through sunlight. There are no notes on the pieces
in the booklet, but there is no real need for explanation. The
music ranges from sheer exuberant fun in something like the
second piece, Mestiño & Caboclo, through explorations
of harmonic layers of sonority in Zig Zag and the quasi-jazz
melodic twists and turns of Alexandre Gismonti’s own solo Chora
Antónia. The final piece of the set is the gritty but festive
solo Saudações, the title Egberto Gismonti explains,
meaning ‘greetings, salutations, saludos, saluti’. Looking for
comparisons within the ECM stable the name Ralph Towner is the
closest I can think of by way of a reference, through this is
more in terms of the absolute natural ease these artist share
with the guitar and the accessibility of their music rather
than in terms of style.
The wide difference between the two discs in this double CD
release may make you wonder why they weren’t brought out separately,
but I think they complement each other very well. Like a one-stop
entertainment centre, you always have the choice between the
more searching heft of the string orchestra or the vital energy
and virtuoso wit of the guitars. These discs are recorded to
ECM’s usual superlative high standards, and neither is given
any noticeably artificial acoustic resonance, sounding healthily
natural in both instances. If you are feeling blue, Egberto
Gismonti’s musical greetings are at least more than half guaranteed
to lift you above the clouds.
Dominy Clements
Camerata
Romeu/Zenaida Romeu (Sertoes)
