Cancionrs DE Tango

Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla (March 11, 1921 – July 4, 1992) was an Argentine tango composer, bandoneon player, and arranger. His oeuvre revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music. A virtuoso bandoneonist, he regularly performed his own compositions with a variety of ensembles. In 1992, American music critic Stephen Holden described Piazzolla as "the world's foremost composer of tango music".

Who is María? Horacio Ferrer,librettist of this unconventional operita , said that she was a representation of Buenos Aires, embodying the spirit of tango itself. María de Buenos Aires lies outside any known genre. According to Ferrer, its highly poetic libretto was written not to be understood, but to create emotion and atmosphere .Piazzolla's music, too, offers a charged mix of classical forms and Argentinian traditions milonga, tango and the sparring spoken word of the traditional payada. In this,the first major recording since the 1980s, Delphian stalwarts Mr McFall's Chamber are joined by their long-term collaborators Valentina Montoya Martínez and Nicholas Mulroy, narrator Juanjo Lopez Vidal, and internationally acclaimed tango musicians Victor Villena and Cyril Garac.

Tango, Tango Nuevo and Cuban music mixed together by the quintett Las Sombras, enriched with German short stories from the Tango Cafe. “A delicious mélange of tango, jazz, classical and world music…You will enjoy it!” - Hugh Bebes. The artists write: “Our music tells what we heard. Typewriter, snapper, cajon provide the pulse, kalimba, mandolin and cymbal invite on a journey to countries far away. We have followed the tango, we are still on our way, and it may take some time until we are home again.”

Inspired by a general love of the tango, and more specifically the tango of Astor Piazzolla, on the part of Yo-Yo Ma, the Soul of the Tango album is a masterful work of the nuevo tango, played by Ma's cello and many of Piazzolla's former associates. Piazzolla's old guitarists Sergio and Odair Assad even showed up to work on a pair of tracks arranged by Sergio: the Tango Suite (consisting of Andante and Allegro). The sheer beauty of one of Piazzolla's tangos is generally enough to warrant the purchase of an album involving them. An album such as this one, where all of the songs (save one: Tango Remembrances, where Ma plays along with outtakes from Piazzolla's recording of The Rough Dancer and the Cyclical Night album) are compositions by Piazzolla is even better. Add to this the masterful playing of Ma, and the surprising facility in which the cello fits into the tango, and you've got what could become a classic album, if only it weren't on the classical label from Sony.