Program:

Johann Strauss Jr.: The Blue Danube
Richard Wagner: Song to the Evening Star
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Waltz from The Sleeping Beauty
J.S. Bach/Charles Gounod: Ave Maria
Jacques Offenbach: Barcarolle
Albert Ketelbey: In a Persian Market
Pietro Mascagni: Intermezzo
Aram Khachaturian: Galop (from Masquerade Suite)
Isaac Albeniz: Granada
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Waltz of the Flowers
Gino Mescoli: Amore Scusami

Total Time: 59:36
released: 1997

label: BMG Records Africa (PTY) Ltd. - a unit of BMG Entertainment
Republic of South Africa

Review by Joe Natoli :

Just imagine that you are an invited guest at a very aristocratic function, with society's most elite attending. The champagne is flowing. The food is $100 a plate. There's plenty of talk about stock markets, and who got the most recent promotion to CEO of a large company. It's a black tie affair and all the waiters are even dressed in tuxedoes. In the background is this beautiful, lush music, every bit as sophisticated as the affair itself. You are hearing many of the classics in arrangements that are oddly authentic, with an entire string orchestra, horns, flutes, clarinets, basses, and even a smattering of bells and other percussion. You look over to see who is leading this fine orchestra, so that you may get their card for your own upcoming social function and you do a double and triple take! It's an accordionist and harpist making all this superb music (with just 4 hands) -- and their name is Duo 2000.

This is exactly the scenario and the types of performance venues that I am imagining Duo 2000 finds themselves quite frequently, since they are able to harness today's technology to produce a large orchestral sound without all of the associated orchestral costs. Therefore, I am betting that they are quite popular and probably playing for many of the wealthier functions in their geographical area, because of their big sound, their intelligent and sensitive arrangements, and a well-chosen, attractive repertoire. Even the name, Duo 2000 which accordionist Sergio Zampolli and harpist Amarillie Ackermann have chosen for themselves, is immediately memorable in relation to the technology they are using, and is also a great marketing ploy as we approach the new millennium.

Their latest CD, Song to the Evening Star, which is the subject of this review, is an excellent collection, and will most likely be of special interest to MIDI fanatics (like myself) who are excited about the possibilities and applications of MIDI in today's musical environments. One word of caution to the accordion "purists" out there who would be looking for a typical accordion sound....you won't find it on this CD. The accordion is simply used as a MIDI controller for other orchestral sound modules in order to produce these arrangements. So if you simply like artistic music, are not especially biased about the absence of "accordion" sounds, and are intrigued by the potential of an accordion controller (which unlike other MIDI controllers, has two separate and distinct sides to its sound producing capabilities), then you will thoroughly enjoy this CD.

The first track, The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss Jr., is a good opening selection, since it is one of the most universally recognized melodies in light classical music. This is the longest cut on the CD (at 10:25) and gives Sergio a chance to put his MIDI controller (the Excelsior Free Bass Convertor with digital Midivox III Series) completely through its paces. In addition to the Excelsior accordion, Sergio uses the Roland RA800 Real Time Sound Arranger to achieve most of his authentic orchestral sounds. One aspect of these arrangements that is immediately evident is that Sergio really understands MIDI orchestration (which involves not only instrument choices, but also how to best map out the RA800 program changes to combinations of various instruments to achieve maximum effect). There is a great deal of emphasis on balance and taste as well. Large orchestral tutti sections are complemented by smaller and lighter ensemble sections, so that the listener is never hit with constant wall of sound (a mistake which many lesser MIDI arrangers make quite frequently). And Ms. Ackermann's harp playing and arranging within the context of this and all the other MIDI arrangements on the CD is absolutely graceful, artistic, poignant, intelligent, and in a word, lovely.

The Blue Danube will quickly delight the listener with the opening french horns accompanied by string tremolos and delicately arpeggiated harp chords in the intro. Then some interplay between animated marcato strings and the harp lead into the first theme, where one gets a first glimpse of how the separation of the bass section via MIDI becomes so valuable. Sergio has the single note basses on the accordion mapped to a pizzicato or marcato string bass section, while the chord basses are mapped to bowed string chords. This is completely separate and distinct however from the right hand keyboard mappings to a full string orchestra announcing the first theme, so that the affect of a full orchestra is quite believable. An animated orchestral tutti section leads into the second theme where the harp gets a chance at the solo, while Sergio very nicely balances combinations of lighter ensemble accompaniment with larger orchestral responses in a tasteful dialog with the harp. Flutes are brought into the third theme, complemented by some beautiful harp glissandi and arpeggios, which in my opinion always puts the stamp of authenticity on a real orchestral sound. The fourth theme finds a very believable oboist as soloist with lighter ensemble accompaniment and the fifth theme finds the harpist a little out of tune, but there are some very nice string trills in the background. A more rubato section ensues where Sergio displays great use of either volume pedal or MIDI aftertouch capabilities to control an even more sensitive dialog with the harp, where the harp glissandi are especially effective and spectacular. Also, this and other sections of the arrangement display Sergio's very sensitive abilities to use the "Grand Pause" and other silences to achieve a good bit of drama and tension in the performance. The arrangement is rounded out with a few new themes and a re-visiting of the other themes in variation, with the harpist displaying even greater virtuosity. Finally a variation of the first theme reappears and another nice animated orchestral tutti with harp arpeggios brings the arrangement to a tasteful close.

I wanted to give you a play-by-play idea of how The Blue Danube arrangement is laid out in this first track, because the same type of care and sensitivity is applied to each of the other arrangements on the CD as well. This gives you a good idea of how the orchestrations are handled and how both the acoustic harp and the electronic symphony are put together as partners and protagonists. The rest of the arrangements are created in much the same way, so I will give the reader more of the highlights worth mentioning from those tracks.

Track #2, Song to the Evening Star, is by one of my least favorite composers, Richard Wagner. However, none of the other pieces on this CD have as much a programmatic inference to them, so it is understandable why this was chosen as the title track. Although the arrangement is still very good, it is one of the weaker compositions on the CD.

Waltz from the Sleeping Beauty, by Tchaikovsky is next and a little more animated and lively than the first two. However it is still rather subdued, easy listening music, and as you will see by the time the next track comes around with Ave Maria, the listener finds himself wanting to hear some livelier selections. In fact, one of the few negative comments I have about this CD is that there is too much emphasis on slow and subdued classics throughout. The only real upbeat selections are In A Persian Market and Galop (from Masquerade Suite) which occur much too late in the album. In fact, even Persian Market has many subdued sections in the middle. Consequently, I would certainly have welcomed a few more technically challenging arrangements earlier on in the program. Something like Dance of the Comedians by Kabalevski or Sabre Dance by Khachaturian, would have been in the same genre as the rest of the program, and would have been good orchestral vehicles to give the Duo a chance to "show their stuff", so to speak, and to make the programming a little more interesting.

In spite of the comments in the preceding paragraph, Ave Maria is still welcome on Track #4 and is one of the loveliest melodies ever written by Gounod, against the accompaniment of Bach's Prelude in C Major. This piece is a perfect setting for the instrumentation of Duo 2000 as well, since the synthesized strings provide a very velvety and non-obtrusive backdrop for the harp. When the strings enter in a more substantial fashion with the melody in the middle of the piece, the result is still very elegant and beautiful. Simply put, this is a nice performance and a great arrangement.

After another slow and subdued piece in Track #5 (Barcarolle), we finally get the livelier In A Persian Market. I love the synthesized wind effect in the opening as well as the upbeat oboe that follows, to lend a more exotic atmosphere to the rest of the arrangement. However, the bass accompaniment (which is supposed to be piano), shows how unrecognizable a sampled instrument sound becomes when touch sensitivity is missing. I am assuming Sergio plays this part with his left hand, where I am also assuming there is no touch sensitivity on the bass buttons. Consequently the listener is never quite sure if that is a piano or not. I'm not sure if a touch sensitive left hand MIDI accordion exists yet, but I would never try to perform a sampled instrument sound (like the piano) unless the controller possesses velocity and/or aftertouch sensitivity. A good alternative would have been to use a computer to sequence this part played by a normal piano-type keyboard controller or synth that would have possessed the required touch sensitivity. Although it is commendable that Sergio is attempting to do everything live, this is one instance, where some sequenced material would have helped immensely.

Another negative comment I have about this particular arrangement is the ineffectual use of brass and percussion. I realize that the Roland RA800 is not their top-of-the-line sound module. But just about everything Roland makes seems to have some pretty good brass sounds. Unfortunately, when the brass enter on this piece, it is a "cheesey" sounding sample which is very reminiscent of a stereotypical 1970s home organ entertainment system. Percussion also makes its first appearance here, and my guess is that the sound source is from the Excelsior system, with its very synthetic sounding drums and cymbals so typical of accordion MIDI units. This type of sound may be somewhat acceptable for a commercial playing "gig", but for a CD performance, Sergio would have been much better off buying or renting a more professional sound module which most likely would have possessed excellent brass and percussion sounds. These are personal tastes however, and the arrangement is still excellent and interesting, in spite of these minor comments.

You will also enjoy the Intermezzo where Sergio avoids the mistake made by so many other MIDI performers. He performs the flute parts with the idiosyncrasies of flutists, instead of a keyboardist playing a flute patch. Consequently he gets a very good flute duet sound. You will also enjoy the entrance of the authentic sounding clarinets in Galop (from Masquerade Suite). Again it was also refreshing to get a bonafide upbeat arrangement with a lot of inertia by Track #8. The only problem with this piece was that on the last orchestra hit chord, there was too much sound saturation, and a resulting distortion occurred. I'm surprised that the sound engineer didn't catch this overload.

The very familiar Waltz of the Flowers, by Tchaikovsky appears in Track #10, and is one of the best authentic-sounding orchestrations in the collection. The horns in the main theme, followed by the clarinet part are very much like the original score. The strings followed by flutes in the second theme, are just as authentic and faithful to the original. Very good orchestrating and very good performance.

Finally the last selection Amore Scusami is a more commercial Italian love song from the 60s, and is a nice change of pace for the closing of the program. Even the Excelsior shuffle beat percussion sounds are acceptable and effective in this context. Sergio also uses a nice upright string bass sound in the left hand with a wash of strings in the right hand to create a very fluid and professional kind of "Muzak" accompaniment for the harp solo. The whole arrangement is very reminiscent of the Montovani or Jackie Gleason orchestras of the 60s and 70s, and is a great easy-listening arrangement.

I apologize for the length of this review, but I believe it is a ground-breaking recording and therefore deserves some attention to the more salient points discussed. In general, I highly recommend this CD for lovers of the lighter classics. From a listening perspective, all the selections on the CD are accessible and enjoyable. In fact, the next time you have a more elegant party at your home, put this CD on in the background, and it will surely add a touch of elegance to the affair. From a technological perspective, MIDI enthusiasts will be excited about the possibilities of today's MIDI instruments, even though they sometimes have some minor tradeoffs. However, I think most will be amazed at the amount of sound just four hands have been able to produce on this recording. And in spite of the fact that two of those hands belong to Ms. Ackermann playing only one sound -- an acoustic harp -- one couldn't imagine this CD being a success without her artistry and complementing sound throughout.

Many congratulations to Duo 2000, and I am hoping to hear many more offerings from them in the upcoming millennium!