ENTRE UM SILENCIO E OUTRO

Marco Antonio Araujo is a brazilian guitarist who used to play instrumental music, blending rock with folk. On this album, he changed his usual formula by playing a more intimate music, close to classical chamber music. In fact, he is backed by 2 cellists, and one flautist, a completely different line-up than the previous one which formed the band Mantra. This album is dedicated to the memory of Araujo's teacher of composition, Esther Scliar, explaining the change of direction on this album and his will to showcase his composition skills. The music is truly beautiful, one could even wonder if it hadn't been composed by a most renowned classical composer, the level of complexity being so relevant in this record. The album consists of two tracks (three more on the reissued edition, in the same vein) crafted to form a suite. The overall feel to the music is very european, the cello giving a touch of romanticism and the flute a touch of classicism, only the guitar has the typical latine tone, reminding the solo works of Egberto Gismonti, to whom he was nevertheless compared. Fortunately, the album is not focusing on Araujo's guitar work, rather the quartet works as an ensemble, each of the musician contributing equally to this record. The music presented here should appeal more to the usual classical music listener, than the prog fan. However, when comparing this record to Araujo's other ones, I much prefer the classical texture of this music than the prog-rock Araujo played with Mantra. It just seems to be a more mature work. Unfortunately, the great Araujo died prematurely in 1986. This album will remain for me the best testimony of his art. NB : as this record belongs IMHO to the realm of classical music and is not a progressive rock piece of music, I didn't gave it the 5 stars it would deserve if progarchives were a site devoted to classical music !