Assad Brothers Play With Assured Flair

Brazilian music, with its confluence of African and native American heritages, jazz and European classical influences, long has been a fertile fusion nexus for guitarists. The vitality of those mingled traditions was proven again Friday at Schoenberg Hall at UCLA by Sergio and Odair Assad, masters of the idiom.

The Assad brothers also rank high in the guitar pantheon as masters of the instrument. Their technical ease and interpretive interaction in Sergio’s daunting arrangements of Egberto Gismonti’s long-lined “Fala de Paixao” and hard-driving “Infa^ncia” proved a model of joyful, communicative musicality.

Hermeto Pascoal’s kaleidoscope of metrical gambits “Briguinha de Musicos,” and a group of short character pieces culled from two of the suites Marlos Nobre labeled “Ciclo nordestino” further demonstrated the duo’s rhythmic acuity; high precision and fluid inflection joined with great verve.

Two of Sergio’s own compositions, “Eterna” and “Samba,” revealed a penchant for rich streams of parallel chords and reveled in sonority and pure instrumental zest.

The Assads’ assured flair worked revivifying wonders with familiar works by Rodrigo, Albeniz and Sor. For example, where others emphasize the warmer and fuzzier aspects of Rodrigo’s style of neo-anachronism, the Assads shaped their phrasing around his little harmonic spikes and rhythmic dislocations, making the composer’s Tonadilla sound like important music, particularly in a darkly urgent opening movement.

To this Hispano-Brazilian mix they added a Piazzolla piece and the novelty of Milhaud’s “Scaramouche” suite in Sergio’s deft transcription. Their first encore was the Pascoal number and their second was “a little joke’ --a one-guitar, four-hands version of Patapio Silva’s “Primeiro Amor,” the humor as much physical as musical.