THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “ChromaDuo perform some creatively inspiried musical mathematics with their masterful and beautiful new album What I Saw In The Water — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
On this ambitous work, Canadian guitarists Tracy Anne Smith and Rob MacDonald turn 16 pieces by five composers into a singular work that handily balances talent, technique and taste. Perfomed with flowing grace and a reflective nature in keeping with its title, the renowned pair’s latest full-length collaboration finds them greatly expanding their range and repertoire through their friendships with like-minded artists.
The works featured on this album — the bulk of which were written specifically for ChromaDuo — are all composed by renowned classical guitarists, who were in turn inspired by a variety of sources and media. Simone Iannarelli contributes a promenade to seven iconic pictures by the groudbreaking artist Frida Kahlo, whereas visionary Canadian writer Margaret Atwood offers the creative spur to Leo Brouwer. Dušan Bogdanović has created a stylistic hybrid in his Sonata No. 2, Dale Kavanagh has fashioned a marine ghost story, and Sérgio Assad fuses Brazilian and French elements in his moving tribute to Roland Dyens.
For their part, ChromaDuo continue their practice of sharing uncommonly beautiful music with audiences throughout the world. Over the past 15 years, Smith and MacDonald have given concerts across Canada and the United States, as well as in Mexico, England and Germany. Passionate advocates for their art form, their deep creative connection allows audiences to immerse themselves fully into the music.
They are the dedicatees of works by top composers, including Cuban legend Brouwer, Brazilian guitar duo icon Assad, French classical-jazz virtuoso Dyens, British iconoclast Stephen Goss, Canadian composers Kavanagh and Amy Brandon, and musical polyglot Bogdanović.
Smith and MacDonald have performed, taught and adjudicated competitions at major festivals of the guitar world, including the Guitar Foundation of America, Boston’s Festival 21, the Iserlohn International Guitar Festival and Festival Internacional de Guitarra Sinaloa, Culiacán.”
