Fantastic Collaboration....
I am often criticized for skipping tracks on player to browse ( call it any disorder) and then listen to a nice 'section' of a song and then skip again. But once, i was doing my taxes on my laptop and i just popped this in the CD player, the whole album just was so dreamy and the music was sublime, i just let it play on like an 8 track! It helped me do my taxes without slitting my wrists :)

I then listened to it again without giving it the 'background music' tag with serious intent. I found the music to be lush and beautiful. This is a great session between two gifted musicians and i hope to discover more of their work and collaboration.

Definitely recommend to check out.

Subpar Rava/Bollani
A few years ago Enrico Rava and Stefano Bollani released a duo CD on the Italian label Philology called Rava Plays Rava. It is one of my favorite duo recitals--just a brilliant colloboration among two superb artists, completely in tune with one another. I was hoping for great things from this new ECM CD, but was generally disappointed. It has none of the energy and spark of that earlier meeting. It is further hampered by a cavernous cathedral-like sound that does ECM no credit. A disappointing release. Try to get ahold of Rava Plays Rava if you can---perhaps Cadence still has it in stock.

joy after listening several times...
mediterranean and latin songs melt down in lyricism. but it's not a joyful meeting at the first stance; it's modal.

then, after listening several times, you can feel the "joy" in some sense. that's the secret behind rava's modality and a perfect duet... it's the joy of discovery, interplay and intensity. (unfortunately, not joy of swinging.)

after listening "retrato em branca y preto" composed by jobim and "birth of a butterfly" composed by rava, listening them again as last tracks, you'll notice making variations on the same theme is a joy of music in and for itself...