This seems to me an unusually successful example of a crossover CD, with Denyce Graves applying the sultry mezzo of a Carmen to songs that demand precisely that Latin heat and passion. Piazzolla is the starting point of the collection, in the shape of the heroine’s sensual song from María de Buenos Aires; but the tone for the CD is set by its arranger, Pablo Ziegler. One of Piazzolla’s most faithful disciples, Ziegler is responsible also for the arrangements of songs by another leading 20th-century Argentinian composer, Carlos Guastavino. Though a veteran of the Buenos Aires jazz scene, Ziegler is classically trained, and it is classical textures that are the most striking feature of his instrumentally varied arrangements for four or five musicians.

Perhaps the jazziest number in the whole collection is Villa-Lobos’s Estrella é lua nóva, arranged by the composer’s New York-based fellow Brazilian Eliane Elias. She uses a trio comprising piano, acoustic bass and percussion. For performances of their own works by two Cuban musicians, José María Vitier has a quintet, while Chucho Valdés simply accompanies at the piano.

The original challenge was to synthesise classic, jazz and Latin music, to present graceful melodies in uncluttered arrangements. This has been achieved extraordinarily successfully. Nothing conspires to destroy the atmosphere of relaxed sensuality and eroticism that pervades the whole collection. Piazzolla’s Milonga sin Palabras, performed as a wordless vocalise with piano, bandoneon, bass and flute, is perhaps the most haunting item in an altogether beguiling collection.

-- Andrew Lamb, Gramophone

Legendary tango performer and composer Astor Piazzolla gained experience of jazz in New York and classical form and technique through studies with Alberto Ginastera. His work lends itself perfectly to arrangement for all kinds of ensemble, and this is the first recording with solo trombone. These popular pieces showcase the stunning playing of multi-award winning soloist Achilles Liarmakopoulos in a variety of moods, including the famous Oblivion, and Le Grand Tango, a virtuoso show-stopper originally written for cellist Mstislav Rostropovich.

'I haven't sat right through a CD of tangos until this one. Greek trombonist Achilles Liarmakopoulos, who plays with Canadian Brass, is an astonishing player, a musician of extraordinary subtlety and understatement. With the sweetest, most seductive tone imaginable, he glides through the Piazzolla classics, including the full Histoire du Tango, all three movements of the beautiful Serie del Angel, Michelangelo, Oblivion and a heart-wrenching, soulful rendition of Soledad. His group, including the great bandoneon player Hector del Curto, is superlative. An outstanding disc.' (Herald Scotland)