Kong Pham

The Binelli-Ferman Duo and oboist Leanne Nicholls join City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong conducted by Germán Augusto Gutiérrez in this exhilarating compilation of tango arrangements by Daniel Binelli. Each work on this album holds a chapter in the evolution of the tango, from its waterfront roots in the night-time taverns of the Río de la Plata (Buenos Aires and Montevideo) to the concert halls of today.

David Atherton made a fine reputation for himself as a contemporary music conductor back in his salad days with the London Sinfonietta, nowhere more so than in his three-disc (now two-CD) set of music by Kurt Weill. He certainly hasn’t lost his magic touch in the intervening years. These performances of the two symphonies sweep the (not very full) board. Swift, lean, incisive, and always exciting, Atherton reveals all of this music’s anger, irony, and bittersweet lyricism without a trace of histrionics or self-indulgence. Indeed, a certain coolness is part of the point too. And so in the marvelous Second Symphony, Atherton catches the neo-classical temper of its outer movements with impeccable wit and grace, making the passionate intensity of the magnificent central slow movement all the more shocking as a result.