Music by Ernesto Lecuana, Agustin Lara, Jorge Cardoso, Eduardo Martin and others

Duo Coincidencia
Martha Salado & Carlos Diaz Guitar

Cugate Clasicos Latinos CL004
Full Price

The Review

This disc is becoming something of a guilty pleasure for me. I keep putting it on when I should be reviewing something more serious. In truth there is nothing in the nine pieces on it that can be described as anything other than easy listening, though that does not mean they are bad or trivial. There is an abundance of gentle melody, as in the wistful title track, Veracruz by Lara, and an irresistible lilt to the music. Milongo by Jorge Cardoso, an Argentinian doctor as well as composer now in his seventies, is especially lovely.

The Duo Coincidencia, based in Mexico, present each piece with great sympathy, though there are moments when the tuning could be more precise for the classical ear. This habit of veering either side of the note is something of a Latin American tradition, however, and it does lend the interpretations a sense of expressive flexibility (similar to Portuguese fado) that is very beguiling. Salado and Diaz have been performing together for over twenty years and that experience gives their blending cohesion that by now is almost intuitive.

Salado, Cuban by birth but living in Veracruz (founded by Cortes on the Gulf coast of Mexico) and Diaz both list Leo Brouwer among their teachers and his free but incisive style is in the background. They play Falla’s La Vida Breve, the best known classical work on the disc, with nonchalance that is much more Latin American than Spanish. This is a collection to accompany the first cocktail of the evening and in much the same spirit.

SM