MARE ET TERRA

There is a six-year long gap between Raimundo Rodulfo's second and third official works, but the man was far from inactive during this period.Besides two live bootlegs surfacing and related to his ambitious work on ''The dreams concerto'', he worked for some 3-4 years on his next effort ''Mare et Terra'', which was mainly recorded at his own studio in Miami, Florida, where he had settled for good, but several parts of guest musicians were recorded also in Spain and Venezuela.In the meantime he was discovered by Musea Records and got involved in the Dante series of multi-artist projects.In 2008 Musea was also the label to eventually release his third album.

The album is divided in two sections, ''Marre'' and ''Terra'', the first of which contains Rodulfo's more intricate effort thus far, the 36-min. suite ''Naufrago''.An excellent attempt on Brazilian-like Prog ala BACAMARTE and RECORDANDO O VALE DAS MACAS meet PREMIATA FORNERIA MARCONI with a more convincing and cohesive style compared to Rodulfo's previous compositions.Besides his long runs on folky, jazzy and Classical tastes, this piece offers also a beautiful atmospheric diversity, passing through several dreamy, romantic, dramatic and optimistic segments.A nice combination of Symphonic and Folk Rock with lots of Spanish guitar thrown in and some superb guitar/keyboard interplays in a GENESIS/P.F.M. vein, highlighted by symphonic grandieur and electroacoustic majesty.There are some vocals to be found also, but these are the less interesting parts of this epic, as the music is impressive to say the least.Most keyboards are analog and the flute parts along with the wind instruments are excellent, inspired additions.''Libertad'' is the other piece of ''Marre'', 9 minutes of dreamy Symph/Folk with some Neo Prog-like synths added for good measure and lots of violin, piano and acoustic explorations.

''Terra'' opens with the 11-min. ''Blue'', propably the most jazzy cut on the album, featuring also some Fusion, bluesy and symphonic orientations, but performed rather in a soft Prog/Jazz Rock manner with a slight Canterbury feel, plenty of sax and synths in this one with Rodulfo's smooth electric guitar shining through.Second part is another long epic composition, the 19-min. ''Thoughts'', which sees Rodulfo revisiting the qualities of the opening piece.Additionally this is the more modern-sounding part of ''Marre et terra'', focusing more on the contemporary Symphonic Rock stylings and featuring English lyrics.This is pretty weird of a listening experience, when you are get used to Rodulfo's rural and Classical soundscapes.Even so, this is a convincing effort on Progressive Rock with dominant symphonic arrangements and light jazzy interludes, great keyboard work, mostly on Hammond organ and synthesizers, lovely flute lines and Rodulfo's alternating electric and acoustic textures offering a variety of moods.

At this point I would compare Rodulfo with Brazilians BACAMARTE or the more recent POCOS E NUVENS.Great folky Symphonic Rock, intricate, captivating with lots of instrumental interactions and stylistical variety.He seems to have abandoned these odd moments of Chamber-Folk pastiche and the sound here is definitely more focused on the progressive fundamentals.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.