Album

Composer, guitarist, and pianist Egberto Gismonti is one of the less celebrated but most interesting products of Brazil's progressive scene in the late '60s and early '70s. His music has been classified as rock, pop, jazz, and classical music, sometimes for the same album in different releases. The orchestral work on the first disc of this two-disc set tends toward the classical side, and it displays Gismonti's skills as an orchestrator. Those skills came down from Ravel through a French tradition represented by, among others, Nadia Boulanger, who had Gismonti as one of her later students. Hear the masterful use of the strings as percussive scrapers in the first of the seven movements of the attractively titled Sertões Veredas—Tributo à Miscigenação, meaning Backroads Paths—Tribute to Miscegenation. As the title implies, the music is something of a chamber-orchestra survey of Brazilian popular traditions, beginning where Villa-Lobos left off. Each movement is in three more or less well-defined sections, and Gismonti covers a lot of ground in his wanderings, giving the music a kaleidoscopic feel. It is all so concise and closely tied together, however, that it never feels like a fantasy. It's a crowd-pleasing yet rigorous piece of national music that could fit on any of the Latin-flavored orchestral programs that have become popular in both North America and Europe. Indeed, the performance by Cuba's all-female Camerata Romeu under director Zenaida Romeu leaves room for other versions; the group naturally plays with strong awareness of the rhythmic bases of Gismonti's writing, but the strings are at times less than sparkling. The Duetos de Violões or guitar duets on the second disc are performed by Gismonti and his son Alexandre. They would seem to fall more on the jazz side of the spectrum, but are often more dissonant harmonically than the seven Sertões Veredas. Recommended for anyone interested in the fertile and genre-crossing South American scene.

© James Manheim, All Music Guide

CD 1 of 2
Egberto Gismonti Composer Sertões Veredas (Tributo à miscigenação), for orchestra Work Recorded 2006 1:15:21 Camerata Romeu Orchestra, Zenaida Castro Romeu Conductor
1	Sertões Veredas 1	13:27			Album Only
2	Sertões Veredas 2	12:34			Album Only
3	Sertões Veredas 3	9:03			Album Only
4	Sertões Veredas 4	10:44			Album Only
5	Sertões Veredas 5	10:43			Album Only
6	Sertões Veredas	9:54			Album Only
7	Sertões Veredas 7 - Palhaço na Caravela	8:56			Album Only
CD 2 of 2
Egberto Gismonti Composer Lundú, for guitar Work Recorded 2007 Egberto Gismonti Guitar, Alexandre Gismonti Guitar
1	Lundú, for guitar	4:00			$0.99
Egberto Gismonti Composer Mestiço & Caboclo, for guitar Work Recorded 2007 Egberto Gismonti Guitar, Alexandre Gismonti Guitar
2	Mestiço & Caboclo, for guitar	13:04			Album Only
Egberto Gismonti Composer Dois Violões, for guitar Work Recorded 2007 Egberto Gismonti Guitar, Alexandre Gismonti Guitar
3	Dois Violões, for guitar	5:15			$0.99
Egberto Gismonti Composer Palhaço Work Recorded 2007 Egberto Gismonti Guitar, Alexandre Gismonti Soloist
4	Palhaço	6:52			$0.99
Egberto Gismonti Composer Dança dos Escravos, for guitar Work Recorded 2007 Egberto Gismonti Guitar, Alexandre Gismonti Guitar
5	Dança dos Escravos, for guitar	8:12			Album Only
Alexandre Gismonti Composer Chora Antônio, for guitar Work Recorded 2007 Egberto Gismonti Guitar, Alexandre Gismonti Soloist
6	Chora Antônio, for guitar	6:17			$0.99
Egberto Gismonti Composer Zig Zag, for guitar Work Recorded 2007 Egberto Gismonti Guitar, Alexandre Gismonti Guitar
7	Zig Zag, for guitar	10:05			Album Only
Egberto Gismonti Composer Carmen, for guitar Work Recorded 2007 Egberto Gismonti Guitar, Alexandre Gismonti Guitar
8	Carmen, for guitar	4:56			$0.99
Egberto Gismonti Composer Águas & Dança, for guitar Work Recorded 2007 Egberto Gismonti Guitar, Alexandre Gismonti Guitar
9	Águas & Dança, for guitar	6:31			$0.99
Egberto Gismonti Composer Saudações, for guitar Work Recorded 2007 Egberto Gismonti Soloist, Alexandre Gismonti Guitar
10	Saudações, for guitar	4:31			$0.99