Review by BEAR, host of New Age Sampler. Virtual Landscapes by Adriano Defreitas This is Synchestral Orchasizer music on the grandest scale, of the type which are written or composed for television/film soundtracks. Entitled Virtual Landscapes and having only the disc insert for visual clues makes me wonder if Virtual Soundscapes wouldn't be a more appropriate title. But on to the music... U.K. is most definitely what comes to mind as an influence for the tracks contained within. The timbre balances of the voicings used throughout the disc are well matched and compliment each very well. There is a thinness or a veil, if you will, which keeps the full richness or body of the voicings from escaping from the speakers. Maybe my studio trained ears are hearing compression or limiters at work or there may be some dynamic squashing from the mastering but the music keeps crying to be let out of the constraints that are present. Believe it or not I found myself constantly grasping for the familiar melody that is always so elusive in each of Adriano's compositions. Track two drove me to my CD collection to ferret out the Sally Oldfield disc that it so reminded me of. Turned out to be her first release entitled "Water Bearer" which is a fantasy tale in the Tolkein fashion. Oasis contains marvelous percussion that keeps the track burbling along. For the life of me I kept seeing flashes of the musical Oklahoma during this entire track. So at this point I would have to say that the Virtual portion of the title is aptly used in that there are continual hints to the Classic Musicals of our time. A previous post suggested action adventure films as a vehicle for this music and I concur with that assessment. Think Indiana Jones, think MacGyver as many of the tracks run pell mell, full tilt for a glorious segment and then return to the main theme. Orthastrated Synthestra. There methinks mayhap that is more appropriate. Here we are on "The Trail" and the military drumming has returned, once again making this a grand scale work. Oh great and now "The Natives Are Restless" as we get a full-bore dose of Electronic Synthestration. The EM tweaks the ears as the soundtrack punctuation's are in full swing. Harrumph... and then the swing strut music begins as our hero parks the car and begins to saunter down the lane in search of that clue which will lead us onto the next merry chase scene. Yep these natives got soul and Adriano is in full strut here. Okay I just changed the title again as this is a Virtual AdventureScape and I am the hero in full flight so I may live to fight another day. For some reason "Resplendent Contemplation" makes me feel like I am rushing to complete a scholarly paper in the library of an Ivy League School. Okay here we are visiting the "Red Stars" and if this was sent to me by a promoter this is the track number that would have been referred to on the attached sticker that said going for adds Nov. 22. For those not in the know, and why should you, a radio DJ actually gets hints and pleas like this blatantly asking for adds and reports to the industry magazines. This is the "New Age" showpiece track for Virtual Landscapes. Honest I mean this next snippet as a compliment as the next track is the one that ends the concert and plays out as the credits roll for the Adriano Live at the Acropolis PBS Special. Another signature piece featuring his penchant for the dramatic, dynamic ever morphing works. This one truly is a "Scenic Walk". Track 11 And NO! I did not even try to count it and find out if the title was the actual time signature :) 1/137 or One One Hundred Thirty Seventh as that is how I would be reading it for a back sell of what just aired is the Classic New Age track on the disc. I am going to air this one on NAS sometime next month. Okay I typed and daydreamed right through Epsilon Cross Forest..... whoops. SO now you know this is a real time review from the second listen. First one was on my big system and this one is through my Stax Electrostatic Headphones while at the computer. And lastly "Virtual Landscapes". This is the most likely choice for the opening and closing titles and credits soundtrack. This is also the definitive UK EM influence of all of the tracks. A classic synth piece that is also the most removed from the other pieces on the disc. And another that will air on NAS along with the Coyote Ridge. So personal favorite tracks are 1 "Coyote Ridge", 11 "1/137" and 12, the title track "Virtual Landscapes". I am not even going to try to slot this one for the readers here on the NG. However from my experiences here in the past few months I would recommend it to those that are very open to Large Scale, rapidly evolving soundtrack epics. The music is BIG, involved, dynamically articulated and structurally diverse. I guess that is why my hang up in the constant reference to "Soundtrack" as the landscape invoked by the music swirls and whirls past you, it is constantly changing and evolving into something different and always adventurous as if the subdued portions cannot wait to race to the climax or find out what lies just ahead on the landscapes horizon. Groundbreaking? No. Highly musical and an adventure in listening? Yes. Recommended? Yes. Did I like it? Yes. Adriano, thank you for the opportunity to listen to this disc, I truly appreciate it and really did enjoy the experience. So there... I listened to it twice, I like three tracks in particular and am going to give them airplay on the New Age Sampler, and wrote the requested impressions/review. I think I got the better end of the deal but as one who has had music in his life since a very early age, reads and writes and plays music, participated in three Musicals in H.S. and listens to and appreciates all types except for (well insert your 3 least favorites and that will be fine with me.. no flame wars or stepping on toes) I can relate to what is on this discs and my life is richer for the listening experience. Again I thank you for this expansion of my musical horizons, your musical diversity is refreshing and rewarding. -- BEAR http://www.coredcs.com/~mrbear/NasHome.htm	Review by Craig Chambers: Let me begin by saying that I received this CD “Virtual Landscapes” about 3 weeks ago. I travel extensively with my work, so I have had many hours to listen deeply to Adriano’s music on airplanes, in rental cars and in hotel rooms. This CD has seen at least 30-40 rotations. Upon first receiving the package from Adriano, I opened the CD to see the titles of songs which instantly hit me as being one of those endless streams of Native American flavored, Southwestern desert, ambient chaff which have appeared to been vogue for the past couple of years. I had, by merely reading the song titles, “judged a book by its cover.” Fortunately, my instincts were not only wrong, but WAY wrong. 1. Coyote Ridge The music starts off with a nice flute melody, and some timpanic beats in the background. Then add in the snare layer, the horns, the strings, oh man, this is good! The music gets so multi-layered and begins to sound like a March ;it builds into a wonderful mini-crescendo ;then quiets down for the introspective melody again. As the music continues to weave in and out of this beautiful melody, the intensity begins to slowly creep back in keeping the theme vibrantly “alive’ until it suddenly fades ; Okay, I think, that was nice, no, that was unexpectedly beautiful, intense, wonderful ;but can Adriano maintain this degree of complexity and beauty? 2. Into the Valley The next track starts again with a brief whisper from the piano, then it jumps right into a magnificent melody theme that sounds like a ballet for the stars. This is not simple synth modules ;these are fully developed, multi-layered symphonic passages. The song continues to evolve around variations of this beautiful theme in full majesty ;Adriano has command of his orchestra, and he manages it well indeed. This is music to dream by ;this is music to absorb you. This is MUSIC! Beautiful music ;think Vangelis’ masterful blending of classical and electronic ;dare I even think that after only two songs? 3. Oasis Track 3 starts off kinda mellow with a nice percussive melody, then comes the clarinets sliding gracefully in. The melody takes on a “Western” flavor as it evolves and fills in rather nicely. Okay, thinking Copland here, but this thing is evolving nicely ;then a bit of Mediterranean feel creeps in. The percussion is first class through out. The Mediterranean feel begins to mutate back into the ‘western’ theme for the wonderfully anticlimactic finish. The finish mutates to a nice unexpected piano-bar styling which too quickly fades away. Adriano, certainly shows rather quickly how much range he has in his compositional skills. 4. Daybreak at Furnace Creek Track 4 starts again with a nice piano melody which quickly consumes both ends of the ivory board as he shows some nice piano playing capabilities. This however is short-lived, as we dive straight into a powerful theme, full blown in it’s majestic symphonic styling. The swirling nature of this song as it keeps us intertwined through various twists and turns. The timpani is roaring, the symphony is swirling. 5. The Trail Timpanis lead us into the next wonderful melody which wavers between soft beautiful floating passages and full frontal attacks of orchestral fire. Music, does not get much more simultaneously beautiful and intense than this. Think Tchaikovsky. 6. The Natives are Restless Okay ;some spacey synths open up the next track and kind a bubble up throughout from the background. This is more rock symphonic in its early approach but quickly morphs into another full blown multi-layered sonic blitz. A jazzy rhythm/melody gets going in the middle section ;kinda reminds me of Keith Emerson in his funky occasional jazz excursions. This gives way to the main theme which returns with a flourish, gradually builds in intensity, catches a groove and holds it as we slide home to a nice finish. (In other words, homerun, Adriano!) 7. Resplendent Contemplation Track 7 begins as sort of Rondo thing on the piano with the occasional symphonic flourish. It continues in this fashion building on this wonderful theme, moving away from and returning back again. The middle section abruptly goes into a sort of melancholic wonder theme, which slowly begins to build back up to the original Rondo-like theme. Adriano is definitely on a roll. 8. Red Stars Okay, we begin into the next track in a rather mellow western sounding theme that nicely begins to pick up stylings from what sound like a genre blend of Mozart and Americana. Add some decent “angelic” voicings, some nice synth leads (ala John Dyson), and some unintrusive percussion and you realize this is more than just filler. 9. Scenic Walk Beautiful, mellow, floating melodies immediately capture my attention as we move into the next track. These begin to evolve into a more menacing synth lead with full backup. This is another one of those songs which unexpectedly slowly changes shape until it has become a distant cousin of its early self, yet becoming more mature and full as it grows. Again, I think Vangelis ; 10. 1/137 Atmospherics immediately permeate the beginning of the next track, kind of a slow, haunting melody which starts off darkly but begins to come to life as Adriano’s beautiful flute lead and drumming begins to lift the track up. It kind of hangs in mid-air for a while ;moving gracefully from here to there, until gradually it begins to climb higher reaches a plateau, drifts a little more, then peacefully fades. Kind of reminds me of an ascent to Heaven. 11. Epsilon Cross Forest The 11th track again takes us on a beautiful piano/symphonic journey that begins to pickup steam then slides back to an equilibrium which is sustained for a while as we catch our breaths from such a tremendous aural journey that we have been subjected to throughout this wonderful collection of songs. We are now back home. 12. Virtual Landscapes But, then Track 12 takes off again for new destinations ;I don’t know if this is a leftover from the past or a new direction for the future ;but this one goes completely off the course that we have just become accustomed to. Here we find Berlin school sequencer phrases some very structured electronic stylings which more or less neglect the magnificent organic symphonic approach of the rest of the album. However, this is not a bad thing ;it is rather quite nice and offers hope for me that Adriano has such a breadth to his influences and capabilities that wherever he goes from here will definitely be a ride that I want to accompany him on. So, now after fully becoming involved with this wonderful music I can only say, check out this CD. It may not be for everyone, but if you (like me) enjoy extremely complex, melodic, multi-layered symphonic music, performed by a wonderfully talented musician/composer/conductor (yes, he conducts his available tools to perform magnificently), I honestly think you will find something of value on this release that will keep you coming back for more. Adriano shows his talent goes far beyond his ability to incredibly develop variations on his wonderful themes, and to surround those themes and variations with a rich blend of wonderful instrument sounds and some rather intriguing percussion rhythms. Yes, Adriano is a true rarity, and has created a distinct piece of work that will keep this CD getting heavy rotation in my player. Thanks, sir, for the wonderful music.
Review of "Virtual Landscapes" by Tim P Scott (tims45@aol.com) _Virtual Landscapes_ is an instrumental work created in toto by Adriano Defreitas. Although I presume the instrumentation is by synths and samplers rather than acoustic instruments, this is not what is currently thought of as an "electronic" record, i.e., "electronica." This is music truly "composed" in the classical sense, using primarily the tonalities and structures of concert music. This is a wonderfully orchestrated music and he uses drums and electric/synthetic timbres when appropriate as well. His style reminds me to a degree of Robert John Godfrey (The Enid) and "the Greeks", Vangelis and ("Optimystique"-era) Yanni. The first impression I had, and still get when I listen to the disc, is that this would make a superb soundtrack album. Without resorting to musical cliches, the music clearly evokes mental images and emotional states. I found myself starting to construct movie scenes in my mind based on the music. His arrangements and sense of dynamics, and the overall way the pieces flow, are very good. + Tim Scott + Crow Caw Music Works	Review by Carlos M. Villa I'd rather wait until I listen to this one another couple of times, but it's going to be a while before that happens and I suppose a 'first impression' review is helpful too. This album sounds a lot (to me) like the soundtrack for an adventure movie, something in the style of Indiana Jones. It isn't a soundtrack in the "Children of the Amazon" way though. Listening to Kudzu's is like floating on a river and watching the story develop in front of you. I don't get that same feeling of continuity from "Virtual Landscapes" since each track seems to be a separate story on its own... not that there's anything wrong with that. The songs are dynamic, with lots of crescendos (sorry if I'm using the wrong term here - I'm not a music reviewer) and some quiet parts, and it reminds me of another album that it isn't like, "Fluxus Quo". Many of the sounds I hear in Greg Klamt's are alien to me; in 'Ruminations of a Pensive Camel', for example, I can't even imagine what that camel will look like. In "Virtual Landscapes", on the other hand, the sounds are more familiar, thanks to the strings perhaps. So, did I like it? Yes. Not enough to have it in that very small group of albums that blew me away on a first listen, like the two mentioned here, but enough to play it many more times and to give it a chance to grow on me. Again, there's nothing wrong with this, I had to warm up to many albums and they're among my favorites now (TD's "Oasis" for example). I have the feeling that people who like music with a grand, orchestral touch, will like this one. BTW, I enjoyed the album more towards the end than at the beginning. Perhaps it was already growing on me. Carlos
I was expecting a more Mark Rownd or John Huling type feel, so the vigorous-ness of this music sort of took me by surprise. Perhaps the stark desert landscape on the cover led me to expect more meditative or expansive sound consciousness type of music, not melodic symphonic. Maybe my preconception got in the way to some extent. I too will give the album more of a chance to grow on me, first couple listens had me feeling vaguely like I had heard it all before somewhere. Very talented musician. It's heartening to see that such talent is out there, waiting to be uncovered (or discovered). Gives me hope for the future of music, for I am tough to please. Dave Reade