Horace SALGÁN
A Fuego Lento (1955) (arr. Daniel Binelli) [4:58]
Milonga casi Candombe [2:53]
A Don Agustín Bardi (1950) (arr. Daniel Binelli) [3:07]
Daniel BINELLI
Preludio Y Candombe [8:20]
Metropólis [3:40]
Imágenes de Buenos Aires [7:54]
Astor PIAZZOLLA (1921-1992)
Oblivión (1984) (arr. solo piano, Zunini - Consentino) [7:47]
Tres Tangos Sinfónicos [18:47]
Ariel RAMÍRES (1921-2010)
Alfonsina y el mar [4:34]
Binelli-Ferman Duo (Daniel Binbelli (bandoneon) and Polly Ferman (piano))
Montevideo Philharmonic/Federico Garcia Vigil
No recording details
4TAY CD-4039 [59:06]
Daniel Binelli, Argentinean bandoneon composer, arranger and performer
sits at the centre of this disc’s action in all three functions.
He is ably assisted by his duo colleague, American pianist Polly Ferman.
The repertoire consists of pieces by Binelli and Horacio Salgán
(three apiece), two by Piazzolla and one by Ariel Ramíres - or
Ramírez, if you prefer that spelling; 4Tay goes for Ramíres.
The theme is, inevitably, the luscious dance – whether tango, milonga,
candombe, or other evocative species. They are accompanied by the Montevideo
Philharmonic, directed by Federico Garcia Vigil.
Salgán’s A Fuego Lento is a catchy opus, offering
both solo instruments separate lines and then opportunities for one or
the other to take the lead, before the orchestral strings archly slide
in with a dense and rich contribution. Milonga casi Candombe
is a lighter textured affair, flightier, exceptionally catchy, and communicatively
played. The final of the three Salgán pieces is A Don Agustín
Bardi, composed back in 1950, with some deft piano writing to be
heard in this Binelli arrangement and plenty of rhythmic vitality too.
Binelli has absorbed the work of the great pioneers of the new models
in Latin-American music, not least Tango but the three pieces he has selected
from his own oeuvre offer ingenious contrasts. Ferman gives us a sensitive
piano introduction to Preludio Y Candombe – hers is the
Preludio – which leads on to more vigorous Latin percussion
and lacy strings which encapsulates both a catchy band section and a warmly
romantic string cantilever. Tauter is Metropólis which
offers more solidly in-the-groove music, whereas Imágenes de
Buenos Aires is a kind of tone poem which begins with string themes
of power and melancholy, piano, bandoneon and orchestral passages and
a gradual slowing down into intimate reverie. After bandoneon and piano
exchanges the music heats up getting rhythmically charged: hot and sweaty.
The piano solo introduction to Piazzolla’s Oblivión
(arranged by Zunini – Consentino) – it lasts half the song
– is very attractive and prefigures an orchestral presentation that
works pretty well, though lacking the last ounce in evocation, perhaps.
That’s not something that can be said of the longest work on the
disc, the three Tangos Sinfónicos, in which the first
is rhythmically vivid, the second largely the preserve of the bandoneon
and the last charged, vigorous and full of vitality. This is the most
performed and recorded of all the works. Ariel Ramirés’s
Alfonsina y el mar makes a delightful close. Some may remember
the vocal recording of it by Alfredo Kraus.
There are obviously competing versions of the Piazzolla pieces and of
the Salgán trio – a BIS disc has all three Salgán
pieces though the arrangements are different, so they are more complementary
than competing. This 4Tay disc manages to combine romance and yearning,
dance and melancholy nicely. Some may prefer less of an orchestral sheen
but I found it warmly collaborative for most of the time. Both soloists
are terrific players in their different ways.
Jonathan Woolf
Support
us financially by purchasing this disc from |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |