As Fionnuala Hunt explains
in the brief bonus DVD that accompanies
the disc this project has been, over
the last three years, something of a
labour of love for her. She’s arranged
for orchestra some classic examples
of the tango genre as well as exploring
more contemporary trends – Varvello
and Ziegler amongst them – and finishes
with her own slyly Irish take on the
form.
Gade’s evergreen gets
off to a bold and vigorous start with
thwacking pizzicati and whilst the Danish
composer may not seem a likely tango
composer his Jealousy was an
international hit. It’s Piazzolla however
who stands at the crest of Nuevo
Tango and it’s right that three
of the works, the most by any single
composer, should be his. I was more
reconciled to Oblivion than is
usually the case – there’s something
about a melancholy leavened by sweetness
in this orchestration that makes it
less self-pitying than one generally
encounters. Then again maybe Libertango
is rather too static to communicate
fully.
The tango is
La Cumparista – you’ll know it
when you hear it, even if you think
you won’t – though here it sounds to
me, with the orchestral cushion behind
Hunt, rather amazingly like a Brahms
Hungarian Dance. She evokes nice violinistic
colour from the Granados, albeit with
a rather slow middle section and a touch
of the generic in the orchestral strings
and this applies to the Albéniz
as well.
There are examples
of a "band within a band"
approach when a small group of cello,
bass, percussion and variants thereof,
brings a certain acidic and resinously
tough rhythmic approach that the equably
orchestrated string patina can’t. You
can hear this in the Varvello and the
Ziegler, where there’s more sawdust
and sweat in the air than padded concert
seat. It’s good that Hunt lavishes affection
on the Gardel and it’s always grand
to hear Ginastera, in this case an orchestral
arrangement of the piano piece Danza
De La Moza Donosa which inevitably
loses a degree of intimacy but wears
a warm effusion well. She has usurped
the cello’s solo in the Bragato but
no matter, it was worth it, and Hunt’s
own tango makes for a saucy pendant.
The bonus DVD is an
engaging one as both she and Rafferty
are congenial company and articulate
speakers. She’s certainly paid tribute
to the song legacy of tango with care
and affection.
Jonathan Woolf