Egberto Gismonti’s first new ECM recording in 14 years is a double-album that indicates the range of his artistry. Disc one features Gismonti the composer on a 70-minute journey through Brazil: “Sertões Veredas – tribute to miscegenation”. 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 through a programme that includes such well-known pieces as “Zig Zag”, “Lundú” and “Dança dos Escravos”.
Saudações
Egberto Gismonti
- CD 1
- Sertões Veredas - Tributo à Miscigenação
- 1Sertões Veredas I
13:27 - 2Sertões Veredas II
12:34 - 3Sertões Veredas III
09:03 - 4Sertões Veredas IV
10:44 - 5Sertões Veredas V
10:43 - 6Sertões Veredas VI
09:54 - 7Sertões Veredas VII - Palhaço na Caravela
08:56 - CD 2
- Duetos de Violões
- 1Lundú
04:00 - 2Mestiço & Caboclo
13:03 - 3Dois Violões
05:15 - 4Palhaço
06:52 - 5Dança dos Escravos
08:12 - 6Chora Antônio
06:17 - 7Zig Zag
10:05 - 8Carmen
04:56 - 9Águas & Dança
06:31 - 10Saudações
04:32
The “Sertões Veredas” suite, as Lilian Dias remarks in the liner 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 colors, sounds and images”.
In Gismonti’s writing here, influence from the European tradition, from Vivaldi to Stravinsky, takes its place alongside influences from folk forms, Xingu Indian ritual, film music, choro, Villa Lobos and more. Elements are contrasted, juxtaposed, interwoven and the demarcation lines between so-called serious and popular genres blurred. “All European cultures, and other cultures, are part of ours” Gismonti told one journalist when “Meeting Point” was released, and the new suite’s subtitle, “Tribute to Miscegenation” makes it plain that Gismonti is once again celebrating the cultural and ethnic mix that is unique to Latin America and to Brazil in particular.
Cuba’s Camerata Romeu, an intriguing young chamber orchestra staffed entirely by female musicians under the direction of conductor Zenaida Romeu is devoted exclusively to the performance of South American music. In the film “Cuba Mia”, a documentary about the orchestra, the conductor talks about her mission, focusing on the specific qualities -rhythmic, philosophical, poetic – that make south American composers a force apart in the music world. Romeu’s interpretation of Gismonti’s music is characteristically committed, “accompanying our long paths with joy all the way from Havana.”
The suite was recorded in Havana’s Teatro Amadeo Roldán in August 2006. In April and May of the following year, in Rio de Janeiro Gismonti recorded a further programme “Duetos de Violões” with his talented son Alexandre .This selection includes new arrangements of a number of Gismonti favourites including “Lundú”, “ZigZag” and “Dança dos Escravos”. There are seven duets. Additionally, Alexandre plays solo on “Palhaço” and his own “Choro Antônio”, and Egberto solos on the title track, “Saudações”.
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