Detailed Reviews [Corciolli - 2010 - "Lightwalk: Live at Auditorio Ibirapuera DVD"]

Prolusion. Brazilian keyboardist and composer CORCIOLLI has a career stretching back close to 20 years, and in that time he has established himself as something of a Brazilian answer to Vangelis in the field of easygoing atmospheric music with symphonic touches, with keyboard textures and piano motifs as the main features. His latest studio effort "Lightwalk" was issued in 2009, and in 2010 this was followed by a live CD and DVD of a concert held at Auditorio Ibirapuera in support of this disc.

Analysis. While I didn't find myself to be overly enthusiastic over Corciolli's latest studio effort myself, I have no problems acknowledging that he belongs in the upper echelon of performers active within the new age segment of music. And while a critical progressive rock-oriented crowd may snicker slightly at such a description, it does take a fair amount of skill and talent to craft successful ventures within this genre too. The ability to know what makes a melody engaging and what arrangements best suit the various motifs explored in a mainstream setting is perhaps even harder than creating music that breaks down boundaries between stylistic expressions or explores the borderlands between music, atonality and noise. The high number of mainstream-oriented acts that fail to achieve anything apart from getting heavily in debt to their record labels each year is certain testimony to just that. With total sales in Brazil alone that can be counted in millions, Corciolli is a successful entrepreneur within this sector. It was a puzzling experience seeing his live performance. He's got a large stage at his disposal on this occasion, but has chosen to employ it in a minimalist fashion. No backdrops at all, and apart from the majestic, but relatively simplistic, stage lights, there's not much to take away the focus from the man and his chosen rhythm section. And when the threesome place themselves away from the front, limited to a positional placement on top of slightly elevated platforms, there's really not much to look at. The musicians are able, with Corciolli himself a level or two above drummer Rocha and bassist Machado from what I can tell, and while their individual and collective performances are of good quality, there's nothing much added to it. There is no real chemistry between the musicians on stage that have been captured by the camera, and the description clinical performance seems appropriate on a number of different levels. Guest stars Vinogradova and Matos are put in front and in the limelight for their visits to the stage, which does provide this concert with an added dimension of variety. And as far as Matos goes, he also brings with him stage antics from the world of rock music, walking around the stage and actively connecting to his fellow musicians and audience alike. His appearances add a much needed vitality to the proceedings, and see to it that watching this live DVD does have its points of interest. When that is said, his vocals doesn't suit Corciolli's music that well I think, and the final number Who Wants to Live Forever documents that he probably should stay away from material originally performed by Freddie Mercury as well, unless it has been rearranged to suit his pipes in a better fashion than on this occasion. The technical parts of this production are more than satisfactory. The video footage is clear, with good colorization and saturation. I get the impression that the footage of the stage lights has been given somewhat of an emphasis over the musicians in post production, which for this venture appears to be a good choice, as they provide the majority of entertainment image-wise. The audio footage is well-balanced and without flaws, as far as I can tell, with a warm organic tinge that suits the material perfectly. What puzzles me somewhat is the need for a DVD production of this performance. Tastes do differ of course, and while I prefer to watch live footage of artists with more stage presence and audience contact, I guess others will be satisfied just to watch the musicians and stage lights. The extra material doesn't add much to the proceedings either, but at least the three-and-a-half-minute-long clip of preparations for the concert shows that there's much more of a personal chemistry between the musicians than what the stage performance implied.

Conclusion. Those fond of live DVDs of a more personal nature, of the kind that showcases band and audience chemistry, won't find much to please them on this production and should consider the CD version of this show instead. But if good quality video footage and crisp, well-balanced audio footage is what you desire, most of your needs will be met and most likely to your great satisfaction as well – as long as you enjoy this style of music, obviously. Dedicated fans of Corciolli, and most likely of Andre Matos as well, will want to get this DVD anyhow, and I'd estimate those to represent the greater majority of the buying public for this venture as well as the core audience it is aimed towards.

OMB=Olav M Bjornsen: October 17, 2010
The Rating Room