Salvatore Accardo Astor Piazzolla: Le Grand Tango (2009)

Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla was an Argentine tango composer and bandoneon player. This stunning audiophile album features the great violin virtuoso Salvatore Accaro leading Italy's Orchestra da Camera Italiana through new transcriptions of Astor Piazolla's work.

…Le Grand Tango sounds in a version that was arranged by Sofia Gubaidullina for violin and piano. The substitute of violin by cello only emphasizes the sensuality of the music…
This CD presents some of most representative Piazzolla's compositions

This album from the Katona Twins fully sustains the standards set by their previous three releases for Channel Classic. Highly recommended.

This album from the Katona Twins fully sustains the standards set by their previous three releases for Channel Classic. Highly recommended.

"Legs intertwine, gazes merge, bodies fuse in a firulete and succumb to its charm. Giving the impression that tango is a great magical embrace hard to break off. Because there is something suggestive, something sensual and, at the same time, something tremendously emotional in it". Jorge Luis Borges used these words to describe the infinite universe of Argentine tango, capturing the physical and sensual twine, the corporeality and magic permeating every move and note.

"Legs intertwine, gazes merge, bodies fuse in a firulete and succumb to its charm. Giving the impression that tango is a great magical embrace hard to break off. Because there is something suggestive, something sensual and, at the same time, something tremendously emotional in it". Jorge Luis Borges used these words to describe the infinite universe of Argentine tango, capturing the physical and sensual twine, the corporeality and magic permeating every move and note. The use of the term firulete is not a coincidence: it refers to the embellishment and to the many decorative possibilities which can be applied to the dance. To underline the dancers' virtuosities and moves, tracing figures with their feet well planted on the floor, their hearts reaching out for pure emotion. The same emotion flowing while listening to this exquisite album, in which Astor Piazzolla's Nuevo Tango (1921-1992) is magnificently displayed. Given its style of composition in which the dance roots can be taken towards new shores (and making them evolve).

In the 1950s, when Astor Piazzolla went to Paris to study classical composition, the tango of his native Argentina was not considered fit for the concert stages of Europe; these were the sultry sounds of the street; the music of the demimonde. Luckily, the formidable composition teacher Nadia Boulanger encouraged her Argentinian pupil to draw precisely on those roots. Piazzolla at last found his true voice as a composer and bandoneon virtuoso. Today, he is considered the father of tango as we know it today, blending rhythmic vitality with orchestral textures. This LP compilation confirms that the founder of Tango Nuevo left as his legacy a unique style of music that sounds just as fresh and vibrant today.

Astor Piazzolla’s greatest masterpieces are given a fresh new interpretation in transcriptions for Violin, Horn, and Piano by three acclaimed artists - Grammy®-nominated violinist Elmira Darvarova (former Concertmaster, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), hornist Howard Wall (New York Philharmonic) and pianist Thomas Weaver. After performing their Piazzolla tribute program internationally at prestigious venues in Europe and America (including Carnegie Hall), the artists have now also recorded it for a double-CD album presenting 14 world-premiere recordings (14 out of 17 tracks). “Astor Piazzolla - Genius of Tango” introduces the artists’ transcriptions from Piazzolla’s original scores. The inclusion of horn brings a new dimension and richly rewarding symphonic sonorities. Several of the arrangements are by the late great tango pianist Octavio Brunetti (named by the New York Philharmonic “the inheritor of Piazzolla’s mantle”), with whom violinist Elmira Darvarova performed and recorded for several years.

Astor Piazzolla’s greatest masterpieces are given a fresh new interpretation in transcriptions for Violin, Horn, and Piano by three acclaimed artists - Grammy®-nominated violinist Elmira Darvarova (former Concertmaster, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), hornist Howard Wall (New York Philharmonic) and pianist Thomas Weaver.