Francesco Guerri x Nicola Guazzaloca - Keep Your Hands Free (The Angelica And Mavarta Concerts) [Aut Records 140]

Put out on the circuit via Aut Records on November 18th, 2k25 is "Keep Your Hands Free (The Angelica And Mavarta Concerts)", the latest collaboration album by cello player Francesco Guerri and pianist Nicola Guazzaloca which, and we think that's a first on the label, present excerpts from live shows they played as a duo on January of 2022 and February of 2025 respectively . With the 2k22 recordings of "Angelica I" and "Angelica II" the duo makes a rather dramatic and highly dynamic musical entrance before exploring a realm of surprisingly subtle and spatial minimalism turning into complex and intricate harmonic dialogue on the brink of thundering Free Improv and Avantgarde Jazz whilst certainly not being averse to even reference Modern Classical music in certain sequences. Furthermore this years live pieces "Mavarta I" and "Mavarta II" seem to start not less dramatic, yet more light-heartened and drawn to a certain romanticism expressed through yearning and sustained cello tones and, despite still running the fast lane in terms of sonic events per second, a seemingly more solemn tone followed by a short period of near silence and Free Avantgarde string experimentation placed at the very background of the mix, more hyperdetailed execution with a jazzy twist, whirling, spiralling crescendoes of sound and even - this goes especially for "Mavarta II" - timeless and enchanted vibes which wouldn't feel out of place being used as a score in a dark and mythical Fantasy flic of the future. Defo an album which unravels over time and might reveal many additional layers over the course of many focused listening sessions.