Welsh pianist Gwilym Simcock and Russian bassist Yuri Goloubev clearly enjoy each other's company, sharing not only precocious technique (both have perfect pitch) but deep reserves of improvisational courage. Their latest meeting, recorded at the Schloss Elamu retreat in the Bavarian Alps, artfully blurs the lines between the written and the improvised, creating a sui generis music that sparkles with instrumental élan even as it tugs at the heartstrings. Some will be drawn to Simcock's bravura melodic invention, which bears traces of Keith Jarrett and some of the European pianists who have followed him. Others will enjoy the echoes of German 19th-century Romanticism in Goloubev's soaring, soulful arco playing. All will be engrossed by a duo in complete command of their instruments and their material. actmusic.com