CONCERTO FOR PIANO AND ELECTRIC ENSEMBLE

I don't really remember how I got to this album, but I can't really say that I ain't glad for this discovery. It is a magnificent album, spanning 61 minutes of almost pure perfection. It is made of 4 pieces. The first one is the concerto itself, while the next three are much shorter and not even nearly as good. I mean their great and all, but? not like the concerto.

The concerto itself opens with Adagio Maestoso, beginning with an amazing Hammond before the grand piano enters. A little bit darker and it could have been extracted from a Univers Zero album. 56 seconds and the guitar enters. It sounds ethereal, like a soundtrack for a very grim original Grimm fairy-tale. 1:30 and it picks a pace, growing rockier and a bit happier. It even grows warm. The piano in here is amazing, and then the electric guitar answers, before they're starting to "talk" with each other. The synths join as well. A short bass line leads to a new section, reminiscent a bit of the earlier ones, and yet completely new. 2:46 and we are getting a bit melancholic, like something real bad has just happened, but then we get over it and the band picks up the pace again. The grand piano in here does no less than wonders, especially while dialoging with the guitar. So many ideas are explored during those moments, playing with rhythms while doing so. The ending section of this first part is amazing, so emotional that it hurts. What a great opener!

Lento Cantabile opens with a sorrowful piano line. The bass that accompanies the piano is no less magnificent, and that says a lot during those early moments of the track. The synths join in, and a nice fingerstyle guitar is showing underneath. We're building towards something, and around the 2:20 marks we're presented with a great motive from the first part, explored a little bit differently. The electric guitar shows some sparks of genius from the 4 minutes mark onward, before the pianos- electric and grand- answer together. 5:36 and we're getting back to the opening section of this second part, almost finishing a full circle. Something has changed, something has been explored without us noticing it. We're drawing to a close.

Vivo Scherzando opens so differently. It opens quickly, with the entire band, already picking the pace, already utilizing the ability of the musicians to create and maintain suspense. The bass line is great, and the electric guitar that plays over it is wonderful. 1:55 and the grand piano takes the lead from the guitar, showcasing some other abilities, before clearing the stage a bit for some bridges. The electric keyboards, the grand piano and the electric guitar just build on each other amazingly. 2:54 takes us to a different station along our journey in this concerto. The next sections travel a bit between exploring motives from earlier parts to presenting some new ones, moving from place to place with such fluidity.

Allegro Moderato opens the way one expects Spanish classical music to begin, with some quirky transitions and wicked passages. The music in here is energetic, jumpy, and even joyful. 2:28 and we're back to the moments of sadness, with the grand piano taking the lead, and the other instruments answering the grand piano's call. 3:17 and it picks itself a rhythm and everything starts to seem brighter. The guitar solo is amazing, and the synth's answer is even more so. The grand piano takes third place, granting them a great base and a magnificent stage to talk, before everything goes a little bit Gentle-Giant-like. Around the 6th minute it changes again. Around the 9th minute we go rock-ish again. But something can be felt, though- we're beginning to wrap up, we're beginning to close the circle. 12:20 and the real wrapping begin- with the pace slowing down and long-emotional cries come out of the instruments. The concerto ends.

And then comes the next 3 pieces, and as much as I'd like to talk about them, to say how wonderful and great they are (and they truly are), for me they feel a little bit out of place, like adding the song Wish You Were Here to the end of Dark Side- the song is amazing, but it is just out of place, making the whole less good because of that. All I can say is that for me, I always give myself a break between the concerto and the next pieces, in order to fully enjoy them.

So, how should I rate this album? I don't really know, as the concerto itself is a five star piece for me, but the next pieces just detract from everything. So, I'll go for the 4/5, rounded up because of the amazing concerto, but with some doubts about it all.