The violin figured prominently in many of Astor Piazzolla's ensembles, and recordings of his work by classical violinists do not distort the music's spirit. One of the first to demonstrate that was Gidon Kremer, who used a small, percussive-spirited ensemble that Piazzolla would have found congenial and familiar. There's room for the alternative, more "classical" direction in which violinist Karen Gomyo goes here, beginning with the Leonid Desyatnikov version of the Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas ("Buenos Aires Four Seasons") ...
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The violin figured prominently in many of Astor Piazzolla's ensembles, and recordings of his work by classical violinists do not distort the music's spirit. One of the first to demonstrate that was Gidon Kremer, who used a small, percussive-spirited ensemble that Piazzolla would have found congenial and familiar. There's room for the alternative, more "classical" direction in which violinist Karen Gomyo goes here, beginning with the Leonid Desyatnikov version of the Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas ("Buenos Aires Four Seasons") that she performs. This is often described as an arrangement of Piazzolla's work, but it might better be called a fantasy on the music of Piazzolla and Vivaldi, bits of whose own Four Seasons violin concertos are worked into the three-section structures Desyatnikov creates. (He even flips the seasons to account for the hemisphere shift.) Gomyo achieves a lively, brilliant performance of this curious fusion, herself conducting the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire during the coronavirus pandemic; the social distancing of the players here gives the music a big, spacious quality that's in tune with Desyatnikov's ambitions. Gomyo's Piazzolla Trilogy ends with smaller works, the Histoire du Tango (originally for flute and guitar but certainly reasonable on violin and guitar) and three of the Six Tango Etudes, originally for solo flute. The acoustics here are not quite as successful; the church space muddles the music, but Gomyo's rather flashy readings, with her sharp attacks standing in for the percussive quality of Piazzolla's ensembles, complement the Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas well. Fans of Piazzolla on classical instruments will want to add this enthusiastic album to their collections. ~ James Manheim, Rovi
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