by Jason Victor Serinus | hometheaterhifi.com

Performance:   Sound:

Just back from Cuba, where I participated in the 40th Anniversary Venceremos Brigade, I can’t get the Beatles out of my mind. There’s no easy way to explain Cuba’s fascination with the Fabulous Four, but 40 years after Spanish renditions of Beatles songs were blasted between sugarcane cutting excursions on the first Venceremos Brigade, the country remains under the Beatles’ spell. You may fall under it (again) as well, when you hear these lovely, arrangements of Beatles tunes for the flute, viola, and harp of the Aureole Trio. The intros to the 15 songs are quite inventive, the music approached with uncommon gentleness.

No, you won’t hear the Beatles’ most rocking tunes. But in these women’s hands and hearts, “Here Comes the Sun,” “Norwegian Wood,” “A Day in the Life” (with Gil Goldstein on accordion), “Let It Be” (with its intro from Pachelbel’s Canon), “Yesterday,” and ten other melodies captivate anew. Categories of old/new, classical/pop, and all the rest fall away, as the trio named for “a halo; a light or luminous area surrounding a celestial body” takes you on a voyage of airy enchantment. Beatles lovers who think rearrangements of Beatles tunes for a classical trio of this nature could not possibly succeed will be pleasantly surprised.