Customer Reviews

Piazzolla: Tango Ballet, Concierto Del Angel, Tres Piezas Para Orquesta De Camara / Kremer, Glorvigen, et al

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

thank you to kremer and friends for bringing us yet another remarkable recording on piazzolla. i'm not a fan of tango and have not listened to any of piazzolla's own recordings, but am already overwhelmed by these tango-fugues completely. with the transcriptions and playing at such a standard, i suspect even piazzolla would smile. speaking from the music itself, kremer and friends have brought every drop of emotion alive. the dynamics of the playing is so strong that it embrace everything from bach's structure to debussy's tone colour and schnittke's blood and sweat tension. i would recommend this cd to anyone who likes great music. once again, thank you to kremer and his energetic kremerata baltica!

After having reviewed in the recent past so many tango offerings, I winced when this TANGO BALLET arrived from Teldec's publicity person. First of all, I do not particularly like tangos; and that is why, perhaps, they all tend to sound alike. (Well so do Vivaldi concerti, which I do like! So what?) But from the very first bars of the first track of this disc, I found myself quite interested in what Piazzolla has to say, then I found myself enjoying the stringest rhythms and more subtle underscorings. There is a lot of De Falla and Rodgrigo here, not to mention Ravel; you will recall "Nights in the Gardens of Spain" in particular when you hear track 10. A thoroughly enjoyable item from Telarc.

this was my first piazzolla cd, and it made me fall in love with him immediately! The "angel" tracks are incredible...so mysterious in the beginning..but gradually builds up to such a desperate, romantic climax. Piazzolla is a genius for adding some life to classical music!!!!! the rest of the tracks in the beginning and end are funky...i can never ever get bored of the cd. i have been listening to it almost daily for a year! i hope that everyone will enjoy this cd as much as i did, because it converted me from a classical liker to a classical lover!!!!!!!!

No one can accuse Gidon Kremer of being musically timid. During his long career, he has put his own stamp on a lot of famous pieces. But none of his work fascinates me more than what he has done with the music of Astor Piazzolla. On the first several albums Kremer recorded of Piazzolla's music, the selections were eclectic yet mostly very familiar to Piazzolla enthusiasts. On Tango Ballet, Kremer tackles the familiar Concierto del Angel but also the much lesser-known Tango Ballet and Tres Piezas Para Orquesta de Camara. My guess is that whether or not this works for you depends highly on your familiarity with the music.
Personally, I don't find this effort nearly as appealing as earlier Kremer interpretations of Piazzolla. It begins very slowly and doesn't begin to gain traction until the introduction of the Concierto del Angel. Even then, only Milonga del Angel truly stands out.
On third segment of this recording, only the Preludio to the Tres Piezas trio of pieces spoke strongly to me.
I bought this CD nearly a decade ago and so have had ample time to listen and analyze the music. There is no doubt of the virtuosity of the play, its just that Kremer's choice of mostly very obscure pieces weakens what otherwise may have been a great album.
The CD comes attractively housed in digipak format and contains a very interesting booklet containing commentary about both Kremer and Piazzolla in four languages. Even though I give this only three stars, there is enough enjoyable here so that Tango Ballet is something to which I will return on occasion

I don't understand the hysteria about "the missing bandoneon" and what a true piece of "nuevo tango" sounds like. Piazzolla first and foremost was a composer. He didn't write tangos or music for bandoneon. He wrote M-U-S-I-C. Real, original, beautiful, exquisite MUSIC. And that's what you have on this disc. Music, stripped of accidental considerations, that glistens.

Tango Ballet features some breathtakingly beautiful pieces. The highlight of the disc is the Angel Concerto of course. A miniature masterpiece. I consider myself a very lucky person for ever having the chance of listening to it, because it is *divine*.

Gidon Kremer does not need an introduction. His performance is superb, as usual.

I've been a Piazzolla fan for almost 20 years now, I own tons of his recordings, but this CD is one of my favourites. Not to be missed.

The music on this CD sounds quite different than the music on Homage a Piazzola by Gidon Kremer and his ensemble, but I am fascinated by Piazzolla, his music, his life, I would like to know more about him. Is there a biography or stories about him? Also books by Gidon Kremer, I understand he has written several. I"m happy to hear that there is more of Piazzolla's music available. I own several pieces of his music for violin and piano. Thanks for letting us know about this new CD by Kremer re: Piazzolla.

Gidon Kremer's has "Tango Ballet" certainly raised the posthumous eyebrow of the album's composer and Kremer's idol, tango doyen Astor Piazzolla. True, Kremer's transcriptions of Piazzolla are well-played and well-passionate -- but even his inordinate amount of Argentinian amor cannot replace a missing bandoneon. And in that way, the stirring, exciting "Tango Ballet" fails: without the bandoneon, and with many of Kremer's distinctly European artistic liberties, "Tango Ballet" no longer sounds like "el nuevo tango." Instead, it's a hideous step closer to Andre Rien. "Tango Ballet" is a good listen, bearing much of the intensity so characteristic of Piazzolla. But it doesn't bear that bandoneon -- and in said shift of sound and timbre, Kremer has taken the tango god's music and made it his own. Some tribute.

I bought this cd because of the title, Tango-Ballet, expecting Tango music. Belive me this is not Tango music, it is cat-screeching. I would NOT recommend this cd to anyone.