Let's Tango. Tangos Argentinos (1992)

This panoramic survey of Argentine tangos shows the genre in all its rich variety of moods and virtuosity. It salutes Ángel Villoldo, the father of tango, whose El choclo (‘The Corncob’) is one of the most famous tangos of all time, and charts the music’s evolution towards the romanticism and lush harmonies of Augustín Bardi. Improvisatory styles, syncopation and jazz harmonies were introduced by such great composers as José Pascual and Orlando Goñi, whilst Enrique Francini developed his personal qualities of dissonance and rhythmic flair into the 1960s. This survey is the first in a series that will document around one hundred rare and classic tangos, all performed by the Argentine pianist Mirian Conti.

Astor Piazzolla’s tangos, beloved around the world for their pathos, passion, longing and sensibility, are here given fresh interpretations in arrangements for piano by the Argentinean-born, Brussels-based pianist Aquiles Delle-Vigne. A disciple of Claudio Arrau and winner of the Grand Prix ‘Alberto Williams’, the most prestigious competition in South America, he has been hailed by Le Figaro as a ‘fantastic, incomparable pianist and artist’, while The New York Times characterized his playing as ‘aristocratic, sophisticated and charming’. Piazzolla’s earthy yet highly developed music gains a new dimension of intimacy but also of power in the hands of this master of the keyboard.

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.

The "Tango Sentimentale" ensemble - Maximilian Spenger, Susanne Gargerle (First Violin), Isolde Lehrmann (Second Violin), David Ott, Silvia Cempiny (Violoncello), Thomas Jauch, Manuel Lopez, Hermann Weindorf (Piano & Percussion) - succeeds in fusing classical and modern music in one project. Tango… play between passion and melancholy dance of seduction, devotion and distance lure of fascination and eroticism Moments in the style of traditional tangos by Astor Piazzolla and Sebastian Piana meet modern compositions of the present. In such encounters of a very special kind, familiar elements of a bygone era combine with the forever enduring wishes, dreams and desires in the here and now. Played with abandon with accordion and string quintet, "Tango Sentimentale" takes us into a world of sound full of emotions and fantasy.

Despite the deceptive titling format on the CD, this is a CD by Latvian violinist Gidon Kramer, not featuring the playing of Astor Piazzolla. All but four of the songs on the album are compositions by Piazzolla, but performed by Kremer and his group, along with Piazzolla's guitarists Sergio and Odair Assad. The album is definitely in tribute to the leader of the nuevo tango, as the lengthy liner notes describe in three languages.

Friedrich Kleinhapl was immediately impressed by Astor Piazzolla's Le Grand Tango, his only original composition for cello and piano. The idea of combining South American temperament with European depth and a classical conception of sound ultimately resulted in the album program Pasion Tango for cello and piano (ARS38161). The next step was a logical continuation: tangos again with cello, but this time with a classical orchestra, in order to explore the tonal and emotional potential even more deeply - the result is a Gran Pasion 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".