MUSIC REVIEWS : TRIO OF GUITARISTS AT AMBASSADOR

What do you get when you mix three guitarists--a prize-winning classical player, an innovative fusion artist and a pioneering Brazilian master? A virtuosic trio that puts on a program of unusual variety, right? Well, half right.

One could hardly doubt the proficiency of the individuals--Sharon Isbin, Larry Coryell and Laurindo Almeida--or of their ensemble, which remained tight and balanced throughout their appearance Saturday evening at Ambassador Auditorium. But one did wish for a wider stylistic spectrum.

Almeida was one of the first masters of bossa nova in this country, and the trio fittingly presented several selections in the style. His arrangements proved deft, the playing suave. Alas, Almeida seemed intent on working a bossa nova into every arrangement he wrote--including the classical pieces.

Isbin soloed in a pair of purely classical works. A purist would have objected to the amplification, but would no doubt concede that she delivered Barrios’ “Vaeja” and Lauro’s “Seis por Derecho” with great sensitivity and polish.

Isbin and Coryell proved an odd couple when they teamed up in four movements from Falla’s “Canciones Populares Espanolas” (as arranged by Coryell). At least one listener found Coryell’s muscular irreverence ill-suited to Isbin’s controlled and discrete subtlety.

Earlier, Coryell performed alone. Certainly the electric guitarist plays with dynamic virtuosity. But the discursive improvisatory episodes he inserted into his arrangement of Ravel’s “Bolero,” distressingly unoriginal and tiresomely repetitive, left one longing for the intermission.