On 2011’s exquisite Barlande, 74-year-old flamenco guitarist Pedro Soler engages in a musical dialogue with his 29-year-old-son, cellist Gaspar Claus. The terms and tone of the conversation are somewhat surprising. Soler goes in for little of the percussive fire that we associate with flamenco playing, favoring instead a meditative, articulate and melancholic style of playing that is in some ways deeply traditional and in others more akin to contemporary Minimalism. Claus, for his part, often assaults the cello in ways that belong to no tradition.
It is music both rooted and rootless, negotiated in real time by father and son.
Enter Bryce Dessner, a member of the indie rock band the National, as well as an original chamber music ensemble called Clogs (Dessner studied classical guitar at Yale). Along with his brother Aaron, Dessner seems to be deemed “curator” of most everything artsy in Brooklyn these days. He recorded and produced Barlande at the National’s Brooklyn studio. And it is Dessner, not Gaspar Claus, who will be appearing with Pedro Soler at BSP in Kingston on Friday, August 23.
The night will be a duo of duos. Also on the bill is Parakeet, an improvisational ambient project belonging to guitarist Matthew Cullen and the legendary cellist Jane Scarpantoni, both of whom also play in the remarkable Duke McVinnie Band. The show begins at 8 p.m. with Parakeet. Soler and Dessner play at 9 p.m. Tickets cost $12 in advance, $15 on the day of the show. They are limited to 100 for this intimate performance and are available at Jack’s Rhythms n New Paltz, at Outdated: an Antique Café in Kingston and online at https://bspkingston.com. BSP is located at 323 Wall Street in Kingston. Call (845) 481-5158 for more info.
Join the family! 
