What is a Cello Professor at Berklee College of Music doing in a traditional Brazilian music ensemble? In truth, the combination is not so strange, if you think that Catherine Bent, coming out frequently from the fences of cultured music, has collaborated in the past with pop musicians, with artists from the jazz scene or world music. In the ten traces of his 'Ideal' the cellist manages to make the Brazilian choro tradition meet with enthusiasm and freshness with its own compositional skills, giving rise to a story that is mostly lighthearted. But the pattern is repetitive in the long run: the exuberance of guitars, wind instruments and percussion is held back every so often to make room for the cello, whose elegant timbre inserts an element of novelty but seems always on the verge of being overwhelmed. The opening of Mãos Albertas stands out, in which the cello explores the serious register and then leads the dance, which sees in good balance guitar, bass and percussion. The best results are when you decide not to beat the 'characteristic' and 'carioca' path ( Valsa por Francisco , Som do Seilerei ).