Latin Jazz Music

Of all the Piazzolla album I have, this is possibly the best recorded one. The instruments literally jump at your face. Audiophiles might consider this album on the bright side, but it works really well for this live concert album. The players were all excellent, as usual. The violin, in particular, sends a shiver down your spine. Yo-Yo Ma once said that no one can listen to Piazzolla without weeping. There's no better example than this album.

Also, Piazzolla's little speech at the end of disc 1 is a nice touch, and brought me even closer to his music. All in all, if you're a Piazzolla fan, get this.

During 40 years I have been loved Maestro Astor Piazzolla who has
tried musical revolution in Tango Argentina.
Our one of Tango Musician who can play "Bandoneon" as Piazzolla
written Piazzolla's History and especially his composed music
along the historically.
I think that he was a kind of genious for melody not only Tango Argentina but Movie Title music also.
When he said that Live Concert in Japan around 1979-1980 it was
fantastic one and all member consists of Quinteto were excellent.
However,unfortunatelly these live concert did not recorded.
Therefore, I have decided to collect as much as possible especially,Piazzolla's Live Concert Album.
This time I can add new his album for my collection it will be
wonderful moment.
Isao Ozaki,Tokyo,Japan.

During 40 years I have been loved Maestro Astor Piazzolla who has
tried musical revolution in Tango Argentina.
Our one of Tango Musician who can play "Bandoneon" as Piazzolla
written Piazzolla's History and especially his composed music
along the historically.
I think that he was a kind of genious for melody not only Tango Argentina but Movie Title music also.
When he said that Live Concert in Japan around 1979-1980 it was
fantastic one and all member consists of Quinteto were excellent.
However,unfortunatelly these live concert did not recorded.
Therefore, I have decided to collect as much as possible especially,Piazzolla's Live Concert Album.
This time I can add new his album for my collection it will be
wonderful moment.
Isao Ozaki,Tokyo,Japan.

I've never been an aficionado of Piazzolla's "live" albums, most are far too drawn out and repetitive. But as a loyal fan, I give every recording a chance to speak to me. When I bought Concierto de Nacar, I was initially ambivalent towards it; I liked the songs I was familiar with but wasn't so sure about the two conciertos offered here for the first time. Recently I put it back on while doing paperwork in the office and couldn't get enough of it. Piazzolla didn't record much with his Conjunto 9, so this is a very important CD for those following his musical odyssey. The performance here is inspired, the execution is tight. While the entire album can be considered a highlight, the peaks are a spellbinding rendition of Fuga y Misterio, yet another take on Verano Porteno, the dreamy Vardarito, and the CD's showpieces, the two concerts composed especially for this event. Concierto de Nacar is yet another command performance by Astor Piazzolla and as such deserves a place in every Piazzolla fan's CD rotation.

This is a superb cd of Piazzolla and his famed Cojunto 9. He has his usual instrumental lineup from his quintet--Pablo Ziegler on piano and Fernando Suarez Paz on violin, then adds another violin, viola, cello and percussion.

Buenos Aires Hora Cero is the first track, and is extended and opened up to more ideas--the bass line isn't exactly the same throughout the piece, and the main themes return in different voices. The intro to Adios Nonino is done by Piazzolla himself, rather than the usual intro by Ziegler.

Both the concierto's on the disc are really amazing and superbly written--hold you're breath, they're full of unbelievable passion and energy. They are now among my favorite Piazzolla pieces. This disc is well worth the money--definitely on par with his Central Park concert and Tango:Zero Hour. A must have for any Piazzolla fan. BUY IT!

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.

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

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!

La versión de las cuatro estaciones porteñas de este disco guardan una fidelidad impresionante con las versiones originales de las cuatro estaciones porteñas de buenos aires. A pesar de que son una adaptación para una orquesta de camara, es bastante agradable escucharlas. LE Grand Tango, es bastante buena, incluso mucho mejor (DEFINITIVAMENTE) que la que aparece en el disco de yo-yo MA "soul of the tango". A cada persona que le he mostrado este disco (personas que ya conocen la obra de Astor Piazzolla), ha querido comprarlo, pero es una lástima que esté "fuera de stock" muy a menudo. Este disco se hizo con motivo del 25 aniversario de la musica camerata de montreal.