The Brasil Guitar Duo

Verve and passion combined with the highest levels of musicianship were on display as The Brasil Guitar Duo closed out the sixth annual Bermuda Guitar Festival on Saturday night.

A decent crowd packed into the St. Andrew's Church in Church Street, included Bermuda's own most famous musician Heather Nova.

They enjoyed a treat, even if the opening was far from auspicious.

This reviewer found the opening French Suite, Bwv 817, by Bach, uninspiring to say the least.

Indeed it threatened to be a long night. But thankfully their Bach was worse than their... well everything else frankly because the rest of the set was nothing less than superb.

Jean Phillipe Rameau's Gavotte and Variations began with some finger-crunching high notes as the duo sounded more like a trio and the place began to hum.

Blazing staccato gave away to mellow passages a glance at organiser Steve Crawford revealed the host seemingly open-mouthed in awe at what he was witnessing.

A three-piece set featuring work preludes and fugues by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco followed.

The opening section in B Major featured some unconventional passages, nonetheless very enjoyable, the C Minor section which followed was the most lyrical with the men in purple hitting a purple patch, while the E Major finished the pieces with its plucked harmonics sounding like patters of rain.

Douglas Lora then showed off is composing skills with the Valsa and Posludio before he and partner Joao Luiz gave a nimble and witting version of Claude Debussy's Golliwogg's Calkwalk which closed the opening half.

The second section began at a breakneck pace with a jazzy number which resembled sections of Summertime and Sonny.

Brazilian fare was the order of the day for the rest of the set. Gismonte's Don Quixote for me was the standout moment, wistful and melodic, parts of it were little short of perfection.

The following number (sorry to not identify it but they had long since torn up their set list) was equally gentle and rolling despite an angular mid section.

As well as talented the pair came across as extremely likeable – exuding the contentedness you'd hope to find in people excelling at their craft.

A couple of jazzy numbers, just right for a perfect summer night's evening followed, before they left to a standing ovation, returning for a rousing encore.

It was the The Brasil Guitar Duo's third visit to Bermuda. If you missed them then YouTube will give a clue to their rising popularity.

You only have to get as far as 'Brasil g' before the duo comes up as the top suggestion.

If you missed them this time around I suggest you look them up. They are destined for great things.