Customer Reviews

Piazzolla: Tangazo

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

 

 

Recently, I attended a concert by a chamber orchestra on tour. The printed program for the concert was largely "standard fare." There were then two encores, one of which I knew had to have been the work of Astor Piazzolla, but a Piazzolla work I hadn't recalled ever hearing. (I can't claim to have a particularly large library of Piazzolla works, but the library had already included the more popular successes by the Kronos Quartet, Gidon Kremer, Daniel Barenboim and Yo-Yo Ma.) Summoning up my courage after the concert, I went backstage to ask one of the musicians what the Piazzolla encore was. The answer was "Oblivion" (and I was, fortunately, not embarrassed by having to ask who the composer was; the absence of the near-obligatory bandoneon in this chamber orchestra did not "throw me off-track").

Well, I just had to have a recording of "Oblivion" after hearing that encore. And an Amazon search led me to this superb recording by Charles Dutoit and the Montréal Symphony Orchestra, with "Oblivion" smack-dab in the middle of things (track 6 of 11); a centerpiece of sorts.

If there is a sadder, more wistful and languorous work than this brief piece, I have yet to hear it. (Some of the piano works of Eric Satie may come close, but they still miss by the proverbial mile.) "Oblivion" has a way of insinuating itself under your skin, and one wants to hear it again and again; I listened to it three times in succession before I played the entire CD. Scored (by Piazzolla) for strings, oboe solo and bandoneon obbligato, it is simply magical. And quite addictive.

While the attention paid to Piazzolla always seems to be in the context of his tangos, he was nonetheless a trained serious composer, studying with Alberto Ginastera and Nadia Boulanger. The Ginastera connection comes through in a few of the selections here, most obviously in the "Danza criolla" and somewhat less obviously in others (such as the third movement of "Tres movimientos tanguisticos porteños").

The most famous work here - "Adiós Nonino" - was written by Piazzolla in memory of his father. About the work, Piazzolla wrote, "Perhaps I was surrounded by angels. I was able to write the the finest tune I have written. I don't know if I will ever do better. I doubt it." It is a fine and beautiful work indeed, and his abilities as an orchestrator of no mean skill show through clearly.

The remainder of the works are equally fine, and at nearly 76 minutes, this CD can be considered a bargain. Perhaps (to me, at least) the best part of these selections is that all were orchestrated by Piazzolla and that Dutoit respects this integrity by not only playing them as Piazzolla had arranged them, but with a truly idiomatic feel for the style as well.

Back to that performance of "Oblivion" that it was my pleasure to hear. It was an arrangement for string orchestra, and as a result it was with neither oboe nor bandoneon. In that respect, it was "special," and I passed this thought on to the chamber orchestra "powers that be." Perhaps one day it will show up at these Amazon product pages. In the meantime...

If your knowledge of the tango is limited to the ballroom dancing variety, or to the "required element" in ice dancing, this delicious Piazzolla album may not be for you. But it is surely a required element for anyone who enjoys Piazzolla's music.

Bob Zeidler

The reviewer above, Mr. González, is right in most observations. The only thing I would disagree with, in his sound assessment, is what he calls the "soupy" hall (or orchestra sound). This, along with the tonal balance and the resolution, are the only things that seem right to me in terms of the sound of this recording (which is quite a bit of good things). As a conductor, the reviewer is most likely accustomed to a very up-close sound and finds the more distant pickup of the orchestra below his expectations. As an avid concert-goer on a budget though, I beg to differ. That distant sound of the orchestra is exactly what puts me in the hall with the musicians (at least with surround sound, read below)... I agree with the reviewer in that I detest close-miked recordings and I believe it is the ego of the producers to try to deliver something "better than live" what drives too many commercial recordings. "Live" is fine with me and anything beyond that is artificial and hence, not "High Fidelity". In the context of classical music, the term does not refer to "fidelity" to the producer's vision, thank you very much, but to the live performance. All in all, I wouldn't go as far as calling this recording an "acoustical disaster" though. Believe me there are MUCH worse recordings out there. But here's some good news!!
Listen to this recording through a good surround sound system (for music, not a bombastic approach for Home Theater with dwarf speakers). With DTS NEO:6 simulated surround, for instance, most of the excessive presence of the bandoneón and the feeling that the soloists are not in the same room as the orchestra are greatly mitigated and blended in; this trick will make this a very enjoyable recording actually. I am not going to comment on the musical appreciations. I am sure Mr. González knows more about that.
Verdict: Yes the soloists are recorded way too close. In track #5, the guitarist is literally hiding inside your right speaker, at the same distance your speaker is from you! This is weird, but the worse part is that in a later track, the piano is also hiding inside there and it is physically impossible size-wise! It's so present and yet it doesn't fit the space...
The tonal balance is very, very good though, and the texture of the sound as well as the resolution of the recording are very clean, transparent, airy and lifelike which kind of rescues this recording.

This recording has been one of the greatest disappointments in my cd collector memory. Dutoit has NO idea about the proper style with which to play this music (music I have conducted in performance with professional orchestras) and the recording is an acoustical disaster.

Why did the engineers for this recording place microphones so close to the bandoneon (an accordion with buttons instead of keys, central to the performance of tango and Piazzolla's solo instrument) that one can hear every mechanical noise it makes -- even the valves opening and closing over the reeds??? Worse still, the orchestra sounds like the microphones were hung in one very soupy room and the musicians were recorded distantly. In essence the orchestra and the bandoneon do not sound in the proper sonic perspective -- much less in the same room!

The glissandos in the strings in the TANGAZO are wrong! They are way too slow and sloppy. Dutoit could have listened to any number of tango recordings and found the proper style. What a shame!

I can hardly wait for these engineers to do a recording of John Field's Nocturnes played on a celesta with REALLY close microphones so we can hear the inner clunky life of that instrument, as well!

On 02.02.2002 Dutch Royal Prince Willem-Alexander married his Argentinian Maxima. During the church ceremony they played Piazola's Adios Nonino which caused many sentimental tears.
Moreover a special choice while Maxima's father was not allowed to attend this royal wedding due to his participation on the Junta Regime.
( bye, bye pappa is the translation of Adios Nonino....)
Music which goes straight to heart.