In the case of this duo, the emotion is a red thread that accompanies and crosses the music of two great virtuosos through the histrionic notes of the clarinet and the embroideries interwoven by the guitar. Gabriele Mirabassi and Roberto Taufic know how to stir with boldness through original themes and very famous passages, among suggestions coming from different musical worlds that meet each others in the impassioned interpretation, in the complete adhesion of the music to the emotion. Instrumental music to the search of the voice, of the secret that turns inactive subject (woods and metals) into song, but also in cry, whisper, hiccup, laughed.
Musicians who have been united by runs that cross the jazz and the classical music, the winding rhythmics of the Brazilian music and the music of author. Soloists, interpreters, composers that give life to a formed repertoire in prevalence from original compositions and that put their virtuosity and energy of the improvising music to a disposition for the search of a new rhythmic dimension of the piece.
“How much music is there here? A glance at the timer dial on your hi-fi will give you the strict and literal answer, but it’s tempting to ignore that and say that the real duration is a hundred years. Here are two masters, just turned into their 50s, both of them having absorbed music pretty much since birth, through their ears, but also eyes and bodies, because there is a good deal of dance involved in these sounds as well. That alternative answer might lead you to expect a dense, laden sound, as the playing partners try to pack as much information as possible into each track, but of course the reality is very different.
As both Gabriele Mirabassi and Roberto Taufic have recognised, there is a more to be said in a single, gracefully positioned note, than there is in virtuosic flurries of sound. What might, at first hearing, seem like a rather gentle and unhurried performance, continues to yield new layers and impressions with each successive visit. The chase elements of the title track are entirely in the service of a tune that will stay with your forever, even if you can’t whistle that fast. It would be redundant to speculate which man brings what to the music.
Taufic’s Honduran/Brazilian background (which is actually more culturally complex than that) suggests he might be behind the choro elements, but Mirabassi understands that language just as well and intuitively. The two men previously shared their common ground on a record called Um Brasil diferente, a title that nicely sums up what you’re holding here as well”.
(Brian Morton)