Sergio Alvarez - Naturalezas Disonantes (2006)

Artista: Sergio Alvarez
Álbum: Naturalezas Disonantes
Año: 2006
Género: Rock sinfónico
Nacionalidad: Argentina

Lista de Temas:
01. Saliendo del territorio urbano
02. Despertemos Ya
03. Promesas absurdas
04. Viaje por Oriente
05. Cuando a la distancia esta el camino
06. El paisaje de la sensibilidad
07. Sin tiempo
08. La fragancia del buen aire
09. Naturalezas Disonantes
10. El fin de la revelacion

Alineación:
- Sergio Alvarez / All instruments

Esto me lo habían pedido hace mucho mucho tiempo y por suerte está Sandy cuidando nuestras espaldas. El más puro rock sinfónico argentino con un proyecto que es digno de dar a conocer, no solamente por su calidad sino también porque ha cosechado elogios donde ha ido. Al más puro estilo Wakeman, y desde el sur argentino con amor, viene Sergio Alvarez al blog a traernos su maravillosa música. Y desde Ucrania viene Sandy a reponer los links...

Como comentamos en otro post, Sergio Alvarez es oriundo de la ciudad de Necochea, provincia de Buenos Aires y proviene de una familia de músicos. A los 18 años, comienza a incursionar con su propia banda, con un sonido marcadamente de rock sinfónico con algunos pocos tintes de pop. Sus influencias son marcadamente Rick Wakeman y Keith Emerson, por lo que su música invariablemente agradará a los seguidores de Yes y ELP. De él se ha dicho lo siguiente: "El virtuosismo desplegado por Sergio Alvarez lo ha colocado, según la crítica internacional, como uno de los mejores tecladistas de rock progresivo sinfónico del mundo, junto a celebridades como Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, Patrick Moraz y Jordan Rudess". Este elogio al tecladista fue escrito por el periodista y crítico de rock progresivo Roger Baldwin, de la revista estadounidense ArtProgZine. Cabe destacar también que Alvarez ha sido el único en la historia del Festival BajaProg en "repetirse el plato" en sus actuaciones.
Este disco que les presentamos ahora confirma los elogios vertidos sobre este músico de prog sinfónico. Los primeros temas del disco son quizás lo más flojo del mismo; pero luego todo va de menos a más, para terminar en un éxtasis que simplemente dan ganas de pararse y aplaudirlo.

Inspired by Rick WAKEMAN and Keith EMERSON, the Argentinean multi-instrumentalist Sergio ALVAREZ displays a sound similar to that of Lito VITALE's. "Pasaje A La Revelacion" (1999) is a very sophisticated album. "Escenas De Ficcion" is his second work, containing a great 30 minutes-finale suite.
After the great keyboardwork by Seventies Argentinian progrock bands Crusis and MIA, here’s the current Latin-American answer to Seventies Symphonic Rock keyboard wizards like Tony Banks, Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman: Sergio Alvarez. He was born in the Argentine city Necochea in 1967 and grew up in a musical family, his father was a bandonion player and conductor of his own Tango Orchestra in the Fifties. In his early childhood he started to play piano, together with his elder brothers. In 1987 he founded the formation In Extremis that existed 10 years and produced one album entitled Solo Seduccion (1995), a blend of rock, pop and progressive. In the late Nineties Sergio his music is firmly rooted into the Classic Symphonic Rock tradition like Genesis, Yes and ELP, to be heard on his acclaimed first solo CD Pasaje A La Revelación in 1999. It was voted as the best Argentine release in that year and received lots of positive reviews by the progrock press in many different countries, from Progression Magazine and Exposé (both USA) to Progressive Newsletter (Germany), Wonderous Stories (Italy), Background Magazine (Holland) and Mellotron(Argentina). In 2000 Sergio made his second album called Escenas De Ficción. At the same time Sergio made a live show as support-act of the legendary English keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman in the Gran Rex Theatre in Buenos Aires, in front of 4000 spectators on the occasion that Wakeman was touring South America. In 2003 he performed a small tour in Europe playing in different stages in Barcelona (Spain), Metz and Paris (France) and Amsterdam (Holland) and three years later Sergio released his third solo album called Naturalezas Disonantes, in the same year he performed on the annual Baja Prog Festival in Mexico. In January 2007 Sergio released a DVD entilted Sergio Alvarez Live At Auditorium Theatre Necochea and recently he is working in a micro musical project for television and beginning to compose his next album, organizing future shows in Argentina and preparing international concerts for 2009.
On his third solo album entitled Naturalezas Disonantes, Sergio half of the ten compositions (7 instrumentals, running time 55 minutes) contains tradional keyboard driven symphonic rock (often obviously inspired by Banks but also Emerson and Wakeman) with flowing shifting moods like in the tracks Leaving Of The Urban Territory (fluent synthesizer flights, strong break with a guitar solo – produced by his keyboards - and swinging piano and a slow synthesizer solo, culminating in a compelling atmosphere), Absurd Promises (great keyboards, from tender or sparkling piano to pleasant synthesizer work and moving guitar runs), When The Road Is Far Ahead (bombastic organ and synthesizers), Without Time (powerful organ sound, classically inspired synthesizer work and wonderful interplay between electric guitar and piano) and the titletrack (tasteful jazzy Fender Rhodes electric piano sound, a swirling organ solo and fluent synthesizer flights). But in comparison with his two previous efforts, Sergio has broaden his musical horizon, the other half of this album contains a lot of varied songs: a dreamy ballad with warm vocals and pleasant synthesizer runs (but a bit irritating rhythm box sound) in Let’s Wake Up Now, a sultry climate with ominous keyboards, the sound of Indian tablas and a captivating Morish sounding synthesizer solo in Travel From Orient, New Age oriented atmosphere with dreamy piano and soaring keyboards in the a bit smooth The Landscape Of The Sensibility, a beautiful solo piece featuring Grand piano (from tender to sparkling) in The Fragrance Of The Good Air and majestic classical orchestrations in the final track The End Of The Revalation.
My conclusion: I prefer Sergio to make interesting musical experiments like Travel From Orient rather than smooth New Age but in general I am very pleased with Sergio his accessible sounding keyboard driven album. This Argentine keyboard virtuoso knows how to arrange tasteful and varied songs with a good balance between the keyboards and the rest of the instruments.
http://www.dprp.net/specials/2009_quest/latinamerica.php

Un trabajo digno de elogios de periodistas y críticos musicales internacionales.
En su tercer disco "Naturalezas disonantes", editado en 2006, Sergio amplía su espectro musical incursionando por caminos paralelos al rock sinfónico y enriqueciendo aún más su música.
Cuando se ve a Sergio Alvarez en vivo nadie queda indiferente ante tanto despliegue de talento e imaginación. Él solo se basta para dominar en el escenario media docena de teclados con su manos mágicas y dejar asombrados a todos.
http://notasyconciertos.blogspot.com/2009/06/sergio-alvarez-las-manos-magicas.html