Chick Corea and Gary Burton helped create a sound and identity for themselves and the fledgling ECM record label when they entered the studio together back in 1973 to record an album of duets. That album, Crystal Silence, has remained a favorite of listeners for these 35 years, and evidently the duet approach remained favorable for Corea and Burton as well, because they have teamed up several times over the years to reprise and extend their work together, both onstage and in the studio.

Chick Corea and Gary Burton helped create a sound and identity for themselves and the fledgling ECM record label when they entered the studio together back in 1973 to record an album of duets. That album, Crystal Silence, has remained a favorite of listeners for these 35 years, and evidently the duet approach remained favorable for Corea and Burton as well, because they have teamed up several times over the years to reprise and extend their work together, both onstage and in the studio. For this occaision Burton and Corea accepted an invitation to perform with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, providing Tim Garland with five tunes to arrange for the orchestra as part of their set. The also performed as a duet at many concert halls and festivals. The resulting 2CD set, The New Crystal Silence, is comprised of the Sydney performance with orchestra as well as a disc of duet performances recorded at the Molde Jazz Festival in Normay, with one track, “Senor Mouse” from a performance in the Canary Islands.

The five tunes arranged for the symphony orchestra are all Corea compositions, and provide nice settings for the two musicians to share space, moving lightly through the orchestrations and finding plenty of room for improvisation as well. It speaks volumes that Corea and Burton can fill a concert hall with their duet performances and have no need of further instrumental backing, but Garland’s orchestrations offer additional texture and the chance to hear Corea’s compositions and the duo in a different context. That is welcome both for the listener and, one imagines, for the performers as well. The opening piece, “Duende” is a new Corea compositon, one that utilizes his penchant for neo-classical composition and is therefore an excellent choice for Garland’s orchestration. “Love Castle” is redolent with Corea’s gift for melodic romanticism, a quality that is emphasized by the orchestral passages. The two longest performances with the orchestra are the title song “Crystal Silence” and Corea’s beloved “La Fiesta.” The former features a lengthy introduction that finds the strings in a melancholoy mode, with splashes of sonic color reminiscent of a beautiful sunset. Corea then sets the stage for Burton, who plays the simple, haunting melody, his bright vibraphone underscored by Corea in the piano’s low range. The strings and lower woodwinds resound along with Corea’s left hand to create a mystical atmosphere. “La Fiesta,” performed by and arranged for many different size groups lends itself well to Garland’s Falla-esque arrangements. It’s a bit less kinetic and rough-and-ready than the duet version contained on CD 2, but it is an interesting and, overall, a successful performance.

As delightful as the performance with the symphony is, the bread and butter of this disc is still in the duet performances. Here the duo performs five Corea tunes (including the reprise of ‘La Fiesta”) and three standards. There is nothing new to say about these performances, which is truly meant as a complimentary phrase. It’s been said many times, by many writers and listeners, that Corea and Burton possess near-telepathic skills as a duet, and one has only to listen to this group of performances to hear that. From the happy, bouncy strains of “Bud Powell” through the gorgeous Bill Evans piece “Waltz for Debby” and on to Corea classics such as “No Mystery” and “Senor Mouse,” it’s easy to see why Corea and Burton continue to enjoy performing together after 35 years of such periodic collaborations: they are extremely simpatico as performers and they obviously have a great deal of fun playing together. How could that possibly not be cause for celebration? The New Crystal Silence will find very pleased listeners among both long time fans of these two wonderful musicians as well as providing a solid introduction to their work together for newcomers.