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Piazzolla: Sinfonia Buenos Aires / Guerrero, Nashville Symphony
Naxos

Piazzolla: Sinfonia Buenos Aires / Guerrero, Nashville Symphony

$19.99

Details

Composer
PIAZZOLLA, ASTOR
Artist
Guerrero, Binelli, Yang
Format
CD
Label
Naxos
Released
Sep 28, 2010
Catalog #
8572271
UPC
747313227174

About


The works on this disc span much of Astor Piazzolla's compositional career, from the Sinfonia Buenos Aires of 1951 to the Concerto of 1979. The latter has a title, "Aconcagua", the highest peak in the Andes, but it was not given by the composer. All of this music is stunning, and it's marvelously performed here. The best-known work, naturally, is an arrangement: Las Cuatro Estaciones, here in the version for string orchestra by Leonid Desyatnikov.

I have to confess that I prefer a more varied scoring in this music, but it would be very hard to beat this performance for clarity and beauty of texture. Tianwa Yang handles the solo violin part with aplomb, digging into the "dirty" sounds--the glissandos and other effects--with relish, but without ever coarsening her tone as so many others routinely do. There's elegance here as well, and she finds it. The result is that the "Spring" fugato, for example, has amazing rhythmic definition but also a very welcome lightness and freshness.

The Bandoneón Concerto offers a perfect marriage of Piazzolla's tango-saturated melos with large-scale form. It's worth recalling that the composer spent several years studying with Alberto Ginastera, as well as Nadia Boulanger, and all of his music in whatever form betrays a very high level of compositional craft. Daniel Binelli plays the solo part extremely well, and he's perfectly balanced against the larger ensemble. He also participates (to a lesser degree) in the Sinfonía Buenos Aires, in which the influence of Ginastera is very evident (and entirely welcome).

This early work is thrilling: a blend of Latin rhythm, soulful melody, explosive percussion, and now and then a touch of Stravinsky. The finale will blow you away, and there are some haunting timbres in the slow movement featuring the combination of bandoneón and woodwinds. The Nashville Symphony under Giancarlo Guerrero plays all of this music with the necessary guts and also a welcome degree of polish. The players sound completely at home in the idiom, and Guerrero delivers bold, uninhibited interpretations across the board. This is just a great disc of colorful, distinctive orchestral music, and it belongs in every collection.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Tracklist 10 tracks

  1. 1 I. Moderato - Allegretto 08:36
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Moderato - Allegretto
    Duration
    08:36
    Composer
    Astor Piazzolla
    Performer
    Daniel Binelli
    Ensemble
    Nashville Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Giancarlo Guerrero
  2. 2 II. Lento, con anima 08:47
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. Lento, con anima
    Duration
    08:47
    Composer
    Astor Piazzolla
    Performer
    Daniel Binelli
    Ensemble
    Nashville Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Giancarlo Guerrero
  3. 3 III. Presto marcato 08:58
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. Presto marcato
    Duration
    08:58
    Composer
    Astor Piazzolla
    Performer
    Daniel Binelli
    Ensemble
    Nashville Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Giancarlo Guerrero
  4. 4 I. Allegro marcato 09:02
    Track
    4
    Title
    I. Allegro marcato
    Duration
    09:02
    Composer
    Astor Piazzolla
    Performer
    Daniel Binelli
    Ensemble
    Nashville Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Giancarlo Guerrero
  5. 5 II. Moderato 08:26
    Track
    5
    Title
    II. Moderato
    Duration
    08:26
    Composer
    Astor Piazzolla
    Performer
    Daniel Binelli
    Ensemble
    Nashville Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Giancarlo Guerrero
  6. 6 III. Presto 07:30
    Track
    6
    Title
    III. Presto
    Duration
    07:30
    Composer
    Astor Piazzolla
    Performer
    Daniel Binelli
    Ensemble
    Nashville Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Giancarlo Guerrero
  7. 7 Otono Porteno (Autumn) 07:28
    Track
    7
    Title
    Otono Porteno (Autumn)
    Duration
    07:28
    Composer
    Astor Piazzolla
    Performer
    Tianwa Yang
    Ensemble
    Nashville Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Giancarlo Guerrero
  8. 8 Invierno Porteno (Winter) 08:08
    Track
    8
    Title
    Invierno Porteno (Winter)
    Duration
    08:08
    Composer
    Astor Piazzolla
    Performer
    Tianwa Yang
    Ensemble
    Nashville Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Giancarlo Guerrero
  9. 9 Primavera Portena (Spring) 06:10
    Track
    9
    Title
    Primavera Portena (Spring)
    Duration
    06:10
    Composer
    Astor Piazzolla
    Performer
    Tianwa Yang
    Ensemble
    Nashville Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Giancarlo Guerrero
  10. 10 Verano Porteno (Summer) 06:34
    Track
    10
    Title
    Verano Porteno (Summer)
    Duration
    06:34
    Composer
    Astor Piazzolla
    Performer
    Tianwa Yang
    Ensemble
    Nashville Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Giancarlo Guerrero