Live in Aspen

The Aspen Music Festival celebrates its 75th anniversary this year with the release of this live recording from 2022. Sharon Isbin is a Grammy-winning classical guitarist and she begins with a pleasant flamenco-inspired solo guitar piece by Francisco Tárrega. That’s a prelude to various improvisations and pieces played by Amjad Ali Khan on sarod with Isbin on guitar. Amjad Ali Khan’s sons Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash also duet with her. After an introductory alap, tabla player Amit Kavthekar also joins. To be honest, I don’t know what the point of this is. Isbin’s improvisations don’t really add anything and much of it feels rather aimless. Amjad plays a masterful sarod solo, ‘Raga Ganesh Kalyan’, which is the best track on the album although the Bengali song composed by Rabindranath Tagore is pleasant enough. All join together for the closing piece ‘Romancing Earth’ which also feels rather pedestrian. It may have been fun being there, but the concert doesn’t repay repeated listening. The same cheesy photo also graced the cover of their previous recital together.