As time advances, the distinction between “art music” and “popular music” becomes increasingly blurred. In the case of the latter, if sophisticated, the ideological fractions that once camped music lovers on one side of the fence or the other disappear in favor of what Duke Ellington called the only real difference that exists: that between good and bad music. The New York-based Toomai String Quintet understands this thought perfectly, bringing together here all kinds of good music by Heitor Villa-Lobos, Gilberto Gil, Milton Nascimento, Léa Freire and Hermeto Pascoal, among others. Far from being just another crossover offering, Passos brasileiros is a fuller-than-average portrait of the intelligent, stimulating music of the country-continent of Brazil. The arrangements by Nascimento, Pascoal or Gil take on an air that blends well with the scores by Villa-Lobos and Freire, without distorting them. On the contrary, they seem to have always been designed that way. Toomai’s collective sound is full and rich, doing justice to the warmth of these pieces. One or two avant-garde composers would have offered a truly holistic panorama of Brazilian music, but be that as it may, Passos brasileiros is a very welcome proposition.
