CONCERTO FOR GUITAR & ORCHESTRA "THE MEDITERRANEAN"

The main focus of the album is The Mediterranean, McLaughlin's concerto for guitar and orchestra. McLaughlin's primary influence to my ear is not the obvious Rodrigo, but Aaron Copland. McLaughlin's compositional style here often features sweeping grandiose crescendos, giving much of the piece an epic movie soundtrack feel. The first movement, Rhythmic is easily the best, rivalling the last movement of Keith Emerson's piano concerto for energetic orchestration. The second movement, Slow & Sad, defies it's title with a cool Stravinsky-like diversion toward the end. Only the last movement, Animato, disappoints. It's not bad, but the title suggests something more animated than what we are given.

And McLaughlin's guitar playing is just astounding throughout the piece.

4 stars for the concerto.

The remainder of the album is filled up with duets between McLauglin on guitar and Katia Lebeque's piano. And filler it is. The five pieces are by no means classical. Perhaps they could be called jazz. But really, they most closely resemble new age. While McLaughlin provides some nice guitar work from time to time, the compositions, if they are such, are so drab as to bore this listener completely. It's too bad Montana isn't about dental floss farming with a pygmy pony.

2 stars (at most) for the duets.

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