Astor Piazzolla’s much-loved tangos have been arranged for all manner of instrumental line-ups, this album presenting an exuberant selection specially arranged for the acclaimed Tuscan Brass and Percussion Quintet. The Quintet is joined by guest violinist Andrea Tacchi. The result is a thrilling new take on nuevo tango, passionate yet poised, sharp and shiny as a knife-blade. The centrepiece of this album, Piazzolla’s witty Four Seasons Suite takes Vivaldi’s famous violin concertos for a stroll through the docklands of Buenos Aires, the original home of tango itself.
Oleg Ledeniov
MusicWeb International, August 2011
Piazzolla’s music is all about passion. And what other instruments can convey passion better than a trumpet or a violin? Trumpet is the dark side of it: its raw force, its violence—but also its rapture and ecstasy. The violin is the sublime, tender, sensual voice of passion. Maybe that’s why Piazzolla’s music yielded surprisingly well to the arrangements that Donato De Sena made for his Quintetto di Ottoni e Percussion della Toscana—an ensemble of brass and percussion. In half of the numbers the violin was added as the leading instrument, with an excellent contribution from violinist Andrea Tacchi.
The tide of recordings of Piazzolla’s music does not retreat. Many of these discs repeat more or less the same program with minor variations: Piazzolla already has his “standards”. Some of the usual suspects can be found here as well—Libertango, Oblivion, La Muerte del Angel, all of The Four Seasons and one movement from Histoire du Tango. But Piazzolla’s output was huge, some say over 700 works. So, much more first-class music can be rediscovered and there’s some of it here—thank you!
Read more...
MusicWeb International, August 2011
Piazzolla’s music is all about passion. And what other instruments can convey passion better than a trumpet or a violin? Trumpet is the dark side of it: its raw force, its violence—but also its rapture and ecstasy. The violin is the sublime, tender, sensual voice of passion. Maybe that’s why Piazzolla’s music yielded surprisingly well to the arrangements that Donato De Sena made for his Quintetto di Ottoni e Percussion della Toscana—an ensemble of brass and percussion. In half of the numbers the violin was added as the leading instrument, with an excellent contribution from violinist Andrea Tacchi.
The tide of recordings of Piazzolla’s music does not retreat. Many of these discs repeat more or less the same program with minor variations: Piazzolla already has his “standards”. Some of the usual suspects can be found here as well—Libertango, Oblivion, La Muerte del Angel, all of The Four Seasons and one movement from Histoire du Tango. But Piazzolla’s output was huge, some say over 700 works. So, much more first-class music can be rediscovered and there’s some of it here—thank you!
Read more...
