Quartetto Gelato is basically a Canadian string trio but each member offers something beyond the usual: voice, accordion, guitar, or mandolin. In addition, there is a fourth member who plays oboe and English horn. Surprisingly, given the number of combinations possible in the group, the music is mostly boring. One exception is their performance of "O Waly, Waly" (known in America as "The Water is Wide"). On this song, oboe, accordion, and guitar offer mild support to Peter de Sotto's "Irish" tenor styling. Another welcome relief to the pastoral tedium is a passacaglia by Handel, completed by Johan Halvorsen, ably arranged for violin and cello. And there is a nice pseudo-Gypsy air called "Czardas" that brings out the violin, accordion, mandolin, and cello to good effect.
You would expect that given the group's moniker they would offer up some musical wit á la P.D.Q. Bach, but most of the attempts at humor are saved for the liner notes, which are actually quite lame.
Rustic Chivalry has to be counted as an interesting failure by competent musicians who did not know how to channel their enthusiasm into a coherent or interesting album. ~ Kurt Keefner