Hristo Vitchev / Weber Iago: Heartmony (2012)

C. MICHAEL BAILEY,

C. Michael Bailey

Senior Contributor since 1997

...wants to know if Gene Harris is playing "Summertime" in Heaven...

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Published: March 14, 2012

Track review of "Prelude to Crepuscular Rays/Crepuscular Rays"

Guitarist Hristo Vitchev is a musician of a rare type: one who makes music composition sound easy. As evidenced by his intricately complex The Perperikon Suite (First Orbit Sounds, 2011), it isn't as easy as it seems. On Heartmony, Vitchev teams with his regular collaborator, pianist Weber Iago, for a suite of duets that are as challenging as they are sumptuous and beautiful.

"Prelude to Crepuscular Rays/Crepuscular Rays" does not so much blur the genre lines between jazz, world and new age as render such categorization inconsequential. It is music for music's sake, delivered with quiet, even delicate, aplomb that can serve as ambient music, or melody fully engaged. Vitchev and Iago reveal the intimacy of their musical vision through the hand-in-glove simpatico they share. Vitchev's gentle guitar tone melds with Iago's light, percussive playing, making one golden tone. With "Prelude to Crepuscular Rays/Crepuscular Rays," potential goes kinetic in an organized cascade of harmony and melody.

Track Listing: Prelude to Crepuscular Rays/Crepuscular Rays

Personnel: Hristo Vitchev: guitar; Weber Iago: piano.

Record Label: First Orbit Sounds