Cavatina Duo: River of Fire
Cedille Records

With River of Fire, Bosnian guitarist Denis Azabagic and Spanish flutist Eugenia Moliner (aka Cavatina Duo) push beyond classical boundaries into Gypsy territory. That's not the only thing distinguishing the release: its set of world-premiere recordings of five original works augments the duo on three pieces with, separately, violinist Simin Ganatra, cellist Brandon Vamos, and Pacifica Quartet. Add to that riveting material composed for the married couple by Stacy Garrop, Clarice Assad, Matthew Dunne, Sérgio Assad, and Atanas Ourkouzounov, and you've got an eighty-minute recording that can't help but stand apart.

Thematically, the works constellate around issues of migration, displacement, and resilience and different facets of Romani culture are likewise addressed in works such as Garrop's Romani Songs and Clarice Assad's Four Scenes. In-depth notes by Kai Christiansen illuminate the music by providing historical background and context. She describes the semi-nomadic journey of the Romani people and the richness of Gypsy music that draws into its orbit elements of Spain, India, North Africa, Turkey, and the Middle East. The album title combines two concepts, flowing water referencing the movement associated with migration and fire symbolizing passion and romance. Though vocals aren't present on the release, the rhapsodic and melismatic qualities of Gypsy singing find their instrumental counterpart in the conviction with which the duo and their guests deliver the performances.

No flute-and-guitar unit would seem to be better equipped for the project than Cavatina Duo. Azabagic hails from the Balkans and growing up was surrounded by Gypsy music, while Moliner grew up in Valencia, Spain, where she was also exposed to the material. Further to that, during her studies at the Rotterdam conservatory, she heard Indian vocal ragas, Spanish Flamenco guitar, and Indian Bansuri flute music, a development that brought home to her the similarities between Indian classical music and the Gypsy music of Spain.

Garrop's Romani Songs considers Romani music prismatically through four distinct facets. Sadness, yearning, and mystery permeate the dramatic “Song from the twisting road,” which is distinguished by the sensitivity of the duo and cellist Brandon Vamos in their collective rendering. That aforementioned melismatic quality surfaces in the passion of the performance too, in Moliner's vocal-like voicings in particular. Whereas the music and playing turn breezy and unmoored for “Song of the restless wind,” a contemplative, almost dreamlike tone informs “Song for the coming spring.” Vamos elevates the movement with a heartfelt solo before unleashing his wilder side for the rousing “Song of the boundless soul,” replete with clapping and stomping.

Violinist Ganatra joins the duo for Sérgio Assad's Contos Ciganos, a standalone work that at more than sixteen minutes is an odyssey unto itself. As highlighted in notes for the piece, the instruments evoke the richness of Gypsy music in their ties to a number of different traditions, the guitar with its connection to flamenco music and violin and flute to Balkan and Gypsy forms, respectively. The stylistic lines blur during Contos Ciganos when all such dimensions work their way into the performance and make this adventurous travelogue a true illustration of “world” music. In a piece that oscillates between trio episodes and arresting cadenzas, Ganatra is as prominently featured as the duo partners and impresses as mightily.

With Raga Ibraima, Ourkouzounov pays tribute to the Bulgarian-Romani clarinetist Ivo Papazov, whose nickname, “Ibriama,” lends the work its title. Consistent with that, aspects of the traditional Indian raga emerge, though Balkan and Romani musical influences are woven into the fabric too. Among other things, the piece proves that the playing of Azabagic and Moliner is no less transfixing when presented alone than when heard alongside others. Similar to Ourkouzounov, Dunne wrote Three Artisans in memory of flutist Tal Perkes, its movements titled after three life passions. Moliner introduces “The Painter” alone and engages with a pensive turn; the music perks up, however, when Azabagic joins her. A more romantic character infuses “The Architect,” whose theme was inspired by a traditional Romani tune, while touches of flamenco seep into the whimsical closer “The Flute Player.” Arriving last in the programme is Clarice Assad's cinematic Four Scenes, which is enlivened by the coupling of the duo with the Pacifica Quartet. Written in homage to the Romani people, the work addresses the theme of human displacement with the restless urgency of “Migration,” considers the impact of instability on energetic youth via “Três Meninos,” turns inwardly reflective for “Um Sonho,” and concludes on a dynamic wave of hope and determination with “Sigamos, Sigamos.”

June 2025