Serci – Davies Guitar Duo : Lo Scenario : CD

Lo Scenario Song and Dance ; Song ( For Nicky) ; Dance; Previous Future; Cornish Landscape; African Thunderstorm ; Bembe; Duo in Three Movements; Scottish Landscape; A Tale from Venda ; Lebis.

Giorgio Serci and Simon Davies

CD: Home Produced.

This album starts with a warm and slightly unusual piece that nevertheless is full of complex rhythms above the second guitar’s waltz like accompaniment. This is a nice start, and is well recorded and very clear too.

Song (for Nicky) is indeed very song – like with a lovely melody, and some great harmonic work. These are nice duets and I’m sure they should (if they haven’t done so already) think of making the sheet music available!

Dance, similarly is another emotional piece, and to be honest, not particularly dance – like, but nice nonetheless!

Previous Future is slow and thoughtful with plenty of points where the music momentarily stops, as is Cornish Landscape, which is another thoughtful and emotional piece of playing.

African Thunderstorm is definitely faster and more musically involved in both parts., whilst Bembe has again slightly more happening in the parts that makes the piece more active and here includes a number of percussive slaps to just bring that home!

The three movements of Duo  are firstly very active rhythmically, secondly full of long slightly dissonant chords and lastly , very fast and again full of rhythmically diverse parts.

Scottish Landscape returns us to the slow, emotive and thoughtful moments that one finds in many of the earlier pieces, whilst A Tale from Venda  is another with a  gentle waltz feel to it, and very pleasant it is.

The final work Lebis is another percussion – driven piece that sounds vaguely Latin in its rhythms and harmonies, and is a pleasant and rhythmically interesting conclusion to what is an album full of music that you won’t know. However it is generally friendly, if a touch unusual in its harmonies and structure at times, but that will not stop the huge majority of you from enjoying what is essentially a beautifully recorded, and superbly played album of lovely pieces of writing.

Chris Dumigan