Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)
Buenos Aires
Arrangements for Violin and String Orchestra
Chin Chin (1978-79)
Resurreccíon del Ángel (1965)
Mumuki (1984)
Soledad (1968)
Suite Troileana – II. Zita (1975)
Las cuatro estaciones porteñas (1965-70)
Celos (1979)
Fugata (1969)
All arrangements by Ken Selden, except Las cuatro estaciones (Leonid Desyatnikov)
Tomás Cotik (violin)
Martingale Ensemble/Ken Selden
rec. 2022, First Christian Church, Portland, USA
Naxos 8.574308 [62]
In recent years the music of Astor Piazzolla has become increasingly popular with performers, audiences and record companies. And with very good reason – Piazzolla belongs to that compositional elite who have created for themselves an instantly recognisable ‘voice’ which in his case is an amalgam of sinuous melody, infectious rhythms, rich harmonies and intriguing instrumental textures.
Piazzolla’s cultural and musical heritage is fascinating and well-detailed in Maria Susanna Azzi’s brief but highly informative liner note. Azzi co-wrote Le Grand Tango: The Life and Music of Astor Piazzolla. (New York: Oxford University Press), 2000. The 19th Century saw a huge influx of immigrants to Argentina and by 1869 24% of the inhabitants of Buenos Aires were of direct Italian descent – as were Piazzolla’s family. As with all cultures they brought their music with them of which tango became a defining element. Piazzolla’s direct musical heritage was a fusion of playing bandoneon in tango bands from his teens together with a more classically formal training with the likes of Alberto Ginastera and Nadia Boulanger. This resulted in him creating “New Tango” much to the outrage of traditionalists from both the Tango and Classical genres. Over the years Piazzolla led and composed for a series of ensembles of which the Quintets comprising bandoneon, violin, electric guitar, piano and string bass were the defining line-up.
That being the case it should be no surprise to realise that the vast majority of recent discs of his music are in fact of arrangements which is the case with all the music presented here. Las cuatro estaciones porteñas are performed in the popular and effective arrangement by Leonid Desyatnikov from 1999 while all the others are by Ken Selden who also directs this recording. Solo violinist Tomás Cotik is something of a Piazzolla specialist – he wrote a thesis on the composer and this is his third album dedicated to his music. Selden conducts the Martingale ensemble who are a Portland-based ensemble with a 4.4.4.3.3 playing strength. They play well although the acoustic of the recording venue, First Christian Church Portland, rather smoothes out Piazzolla’s jagged rhythms and acerbic harmonies – for me this is an instance when a dryer more analytical soundstage would suit the music better. With regard to the arrangements, Selden contributes a brief liner note. He makes the point that since many of these works originally existed as works for the skilled improvisers of the Quinteto Nuevo Tango the scores that existed were little more than melodic/harmonic and rhythmic outlines which the players then developed in rehearsal and further in performance. Hence these arrangements are a ‘fixed’ choice transcribed and fully notated for the string ensemble. Furthermore Desyatnikov took the four independent works that formed the cuatro estaciones porteñas and developed an new work – rather than simply transcribing live performances – that represents a hybrid piece which is Piazzolla but with acknowledgements towards the aesthetic of Vivaldi to the point where Desyatnikov interpolates phrases from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.
Key to the performing style is the approach of the solo violinist. When the work was first recorded by the quintet in 1970 the violinist was Antonio Agri who plays with all the necessary phenomenal technique but also oozing an earthy dynamic energy and slightly rough edged muscularity that suits the music so well. As an aside, listening to the original close-up forensic recording likewise works brilliantly. The many modern players who address these scores certainly have the technique but to my ear too many of them are so schooled in the modern ‘ideal’ of clean perfection that some of the essence of this tango music is lost. Given his immersion in the genre I am slightly surprised that Cotik does not go for the rougher authentic style. His playing is very poised and truly accomplished but I do not find myself gripped by it as I have been elsewhere.
Crudely speaking Piazzolla’s music occupies diametrically opposed expressive poles. On one hand he writes swooningly sentimental lyrical melodies represented here by Soledad [track 4] or Celos [track 10] or angular jagged virtuosic displays of dynamic rhythms and energy. My feeling is that both extremes – and they probably really do need to be extreme – are smoothed away here. So the sentiment is expressive and tasteful and the brilliant passages clean and accurate. Some of Piazzolla’s defining sounds – the whip glissandi and the behind the bridge ‘frog-croak’ – are present in these arrangements but rarely if ever impose. Likewise his characteristic stalking bass lines which give such compelling line and direction to the music lack the rosiny bite of the originals.
There are many versions of Las cuatro estaciones porteñas in the catalogue and many that I do not know such is its popularity. The popularity is completely understandable – even at first listen these are attractive and interesting pieces with the spirit of tango strongly present but fused with the essence of baroque concerto grosso. In lesser hands such a fusion or crossover might seem awkward – genuinely here the relationship is symbiotic and wholly effective. Interestingly also on Naxos the brilliant Tianwa Yang gives a performance with the Nashville that also is for my taste just a little too polite although no-one can doubt the sheer bravura technique on display. Of the versions I know two stand out; Karen Gomyo with the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire plays the Desyatnikov arrangement but really ‘pushes’ the classical envelope so that it is in the ‘super-clean’ style but at the same time Gomyo embraces the big glissandi and expressive wide vibrato of the original. For me this is an ideal fusion of the two styles. Then there is the remarkable and individual Pavel Šporcl who recreates the original quintet work on a disc coupled with the Vivaldi Four Seasons. Šporcl has more of a classical sensibility than Agri but he has a background in playing jazz and improvised music so again he finds a brilliant balance between the styles. One last alternative album worth a mention – the Yo-Yo Ma award-winning “Soul of the Tango” which features Agri as a guest musician. The programme there includes both Mumuki and Fugata. In both cases again I find the classical Ma to be just a bit too square for this music – but the other musicians around him including Agri are sensational.
Fugata receives a fine performance on this new disc too – it’s a bustling fugue which shows just how well the ensemble here can play and it brings the disc to an energetic conclusion although again less cloudy resonance could have given the performance even greater impact. One work I had not encountered at all before is Suite Troileana – II. Zita and it was a bit of a surprise to hear a very active drum kit in the original 1976 recording which I am not sure I liked very much at all so one up for the string transcription! Both in terms of the music and the playing there is much to admire here even if ultimately, I think Piazzolla is an edgier composer than this slightly polite collection suggests.
Nick Barnard
Buying this recording via a link below generates revenue for MWI, which helps the site remain free
