Two Miles High Music

Egberto Gismonti s first new ECM recording in 14 years isa double-album that indicates the range of his artistry.Disc one features Gismonti the composer on a 70 minutejourney through Brazil: Sertoes Veredas: Tribute toMiscegenation . It is a work that takes account of Brazil s culture and history, landscapes and cityscapes, vividly evoked by Cuba s all-women orchestra the Camerta Romeu, under the leadership of Zenaida Romeu. Disc two features Gismonti the guitarist in an exciting duo recital with his similarly-gifted son Alexandre, romping througha programme that includes such well-known pieces as Zig Zag , Lundú and Dança dos escravos .

Egberto Gismonti is a musician of extraordinary facility--a guitarist with a highly evolved, personal technique, as well as a fine pianist. But his work is further distinguished by its emotional depths, its grace, its sense of drama, and its extraordinary sonic beauty. On this solo recording, he creates unusually intimate music, integrating folk instruments and songs with his 8-string guitar and piano. On the 20-minute opening track, he presents a long polyphonic guitar piece, followed by the beautiful "Pau Rolou," which combines his voice with "cooking bells" for sustained metallic tones. "And Zero" and "Frevo" are piano pieces imbued with a unique lyricism. The former has a light Debuss y-like touch that seems to dance across water; the latter is a modal piece performed with percussive force. "Salvador" has him returning to the guitar, the piece suggesting the richness of the Spanish guitar tradition. The final "Ciranda Nordestina" combines piano with more of the cooking bells, which resemble the bells used in some Asian ceremonies. Gismonti sets out to capture the breadth of his Brazilian experience, but in so doing, he touches on much of the music of the world, from Mediterranean dance music to the scales and rhythms of the Middle East and Moorish Spain to the resonant space of temple and rain forest. --Stuart Broomer