PORTMAN: Vianne Sets Up Shop; Guillaume’s Confession; Party Preparations; Opening Titles; Other Possibilities: EINAUDI: Questa Notte: CHOPIN: Gran Valse Brillante: LAUREL: 45 Degrees: GNATTALI: Pixinguinha (Choro); Ernesto Nazareth (Valse) ; Anacleto De Medeiros (Schottisch); Chinquinha Gonzaga ( Corta Jaca): ROSSINI: Ouverture from ‘La Gazza Ladra’. McVIE: Don’t Stop.
CARisMA Guitar Duo (Magdalena Kaltcheva and Carlo Correiri)
Almud : 7730 006
Husband and Wife duo CARisMA have a wonderful reputation, and listening to the opening track here, deservedly so. The capitals in their name are of course named after their two Christian names of CARlo and MAGdalena and here they play a very varied set of pieces going from film music (the first five pieces from Rachel Portman, including themes from Chocolat), all interesting, friendly pieces quite varied and outstandingly played by this wonderful duo.
Einaudi’s Questa Notte is a piece that works very well indeed on two guitars. Ludovico Einaudi has become a very popular writer, largely owing to his very open, melodic style, which of course works superbly on two guitars in this fine arrangement. Chopin is next and his very swiftly performed Gran Valse Brillante, a melody that anyone who hears it will definitely recognize! With Chopin, he was never a writer to put three notes down if he could put 28 in its place, and this piece is one of those pieces where he most definitely doesn’t skimp on the notes he uses, which makes this very difficult on the guitar, and yet, when played like this just remarkable to hear. Laurel’s 45 Degrees is a piece I haven’t come across before , but after a slow introduction, its jazzy, jumpy style is catchy and again totally different from what has gone before, and again is a beautiful performance. Then we jump across to Latin America for 4 pieces by Radames Gnattali, very varied, lots of fun and wonderful to hear. I would love to SEE these two in concert now, they must be quite a sight to see and hear. Then there is another change of style in the Ouverture from Rossini’s La Gazza Ladra another superb arrangement, and nine minutes of superb music.Then nthe final track is yet another utterly different piece of music, Fleetwood Mac’s Don’t Stop, written by the much lamented late Christine McVie.
It is rare that one comes across such a huge variety of music from one duo, and yet that is what we have here, and when I say that the playing is better than I have ever heard from any other duo….ever!
Let’s pray that they come, one day, near to me, for I will be there in the front of the queue for tickets!
Chris Dumigan
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