El Tango

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Release Date
DescriptionExcerpt

Gidon Kremer revisits the work of Astor Piazzolla on this sequel to the acclaimed Hommage à Piazzolla, along with such guests as Caetano Veloso and the Assad brothers. Billboard declared: "It is hard to imagine his nuevo tango being interpreted with more emotive artistry than that of Gidon Kremer."

Description

Gidon Kremer's El Tango is evidence of the violinist’s ongoing admiration and affinity for the music of Argentinean composer and bandoneón master Astor Piazzolla. Kremer's 1996 Nonesuch recording Hommage à Piazzolla met with instant success, as well as critical acclaim: “For all the Piazzolla material out there," wrote the Boston Globe, "I’m not sure that anyone, except perhaps the composer himself, has made as convincing a case for the emotional depth of this music as Kremer.”

El Tango features Kremer with Vadim Sakharov (piano), Alois Posch (double bass), and Per Arne Glorvigen (bandoneón), an ensemble that was created expressly to perform Piazzolla’s music.

This volume of Astor Quartet arrangements of Piazzolla’s compositions also features arrangements by Sérgio Assad ("Revirado," "Che Tango Che," "Milonga per tre"), as well as compositions by Giya Kancheli ("Instead of a Tango"), Juan Carlos Cobian ("Los Mareados"), and Yefim E. Rosenfeld ("My Happiness"). The Astor Quartet is joined by Milva, the Italian singer most closely associated with Piazzolla; the Brazilian guitar duo Sérgio Assad and Odair Assad; and by the Brazilian composer, singer, and guitarist Caetano Veloso, who narrates the poem "El Tango," written by Jorge Luis Borges.

To many, Astor Piazzolla is synonymous with tango. Gidon Kremer is resolute in his regard of Piazzolla as a sophisticated composer, one who was able to reach a very large audience on an emotional level and not merely on an intellectual one. “In my view Astor’s music represents an enormous playing field in which the most divergent emotions are expressed in highly artistic yet simple ways," writes Kremer in the album's liner note. "Piazzolla was daring, honest and uncomplicated, all at the same time ... Piazzolla was a musician with the highest expectations, an excellent and unique composer, who succeeded in linking ideas of the past to the present.”

ProductionCredits

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced and Engineered by Peter Laenger, Tritonus Musikproduktion, Stuttgart
Recorded December 1996 at Studio Guilaume Tell, Paris
Assistant Engineer: Stephane Briand
Additional Recording on El Tango:
Produced by Jaques Morelenbaum
Recorded May 1997 at Studio Discover, Rio de Janeiro
Additional Recording Coordinator: Paulo Junqueiro, WEA Brazil
Nonesuch Production: Karina Beznicki
Executive Producer: Robert Hurwitz

Design by Barbara deWilde
Cover photograph: Tulip, 1985 by Robert Mapplethorpe

Nonesuch Selection Number

79462

Number of Discs in Set
1disc
ns_album_artistid
66
ns_album_id
193
ns_album_releasedate
ns_genre_1
0
ns_genre_2
0
Album Status
Artist Name
Gidon Kremer
Astor Piazzolla
MusicianDetails

MUSICIANS
The Astor Quartet:
Gidon Kremer, violin
Per Arne Glorvigen, bandoneón
Vadim Sakharov, piano
Alois Posch, double bass

Guest Artists:
Odair Assad, guitar (1, 10)
Sérgio Assad, guitar (1, 10)
Milva, vocals (3, 9)
Caetano Veloso, narrator (5)

Cover Art
UPC/Price
Label
CD+MP3
Price
0.00
UPC
075597946222BUN
Label
MP3
Price
9.00
UPC
603497187461
  • 79462

News & Reviews

  • Congratulations to all of the Nonesuch nominees for the 65th Grammy Awards: Molly Tuttle for Best New Artist and Best Bluegrass Album for Crooked Tree with Golden Highway; The Black Keys for Best Rock Album for Dropout Boogie and Best Rock Performance for "Wild Child"; Dan Auerbach for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical; Cécile McLorin Salvant for Best Jazz Vocal Album for Ghost Song and Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals for "Optimistic Voices / No Love Dying"; Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, and Brian Blade's LongGone for Best Instrumental Album; Brad Mehldau's Jacob's Ladder for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album; Punch Brothers' Hell on Church Street for Best Folk Album; Caroline Shaw & Attacca Quartet's Evergreen for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance; Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder's GET ON BOARD for Best Traditional Blues Album; Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition) for Best Historical Album and Best Album Notes for Bob Mehr; and Astor Piazzolla: The American Clavé Recordings. for Best Album Notes for Fernando González. 

  • Nonesuch Records will release a three-LP/three-CD box set of albums from the great Argentine composer, bandleader, and bandoneón player Astor Piazzolla—originally released by American Clavé Records in the 1980s and reissued by Nonesuch more than two decades ago—on May 6, 2022. Astor Piazzolla: The American Clavé Recordings marks the first time this landmark trio of albums—Tango: Zero Hour, La Camorra: The Solitude of Passionate Provocation, and The Rough Dancer and the Cyclical Night (Tango Apasionado)—is being issued as a set, now remastered, and is the first time the albums have been available on vinyl since their initial release on American Clavé. The set’s liner notes include original and new notes by the albums’ producer and American Clavé founder Kip Hanrahan and an essay from journalist Fernando González, who translated and annotated Piazzolla’s memoirs and wrote liner notes for four of his albums.

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  • About This Album

    Gidon Kremer's El Tango is evidence of the violinist’s ongoing admiration and affinity for the music of Argentinean composer and bandoneón master Astor Piazzolla. Kremer's 1996 Nonesuch recording Hommage à Piazzolla met with instant success, as well as critical acclaim: “For all the Piazzolla material out there," wrote the Boston Globe, "I’m not sure that anyone, except perhaps the composer himself, has made as convincing a case for the emotional depth of this music as Kremer.”

    El Tango features Kremer with Vadim Sakharov (piano), Alois Posch (double bass), and Per Arne Glorvigen (bandoneón), an ensemble that was created expressly to perform Piazzolla’s music.

    This volume of Astor Quartet arrangements of Piazzolla’s compositions also features arrangements by Sérgio Assad ("Revirado," "Che Tango Che," "Milonga per tre"), as well as compositions by Giya Kancheli ("Instead of a Tango"), Juan Carlos Cobian ("Los Mareados"), and Yefim E. Rosenfeld ("My Happiness"). The Astor Quartet is joined by Milva, the Italian singer most closely associated with Piazzolla; the Brazilian guitar duo Sérgio Assad and Odair Assad; and by the Brazilian composer, singer, and guitarist Caetano Veloso, who narrates the poem "El Tango," written by Jorge Luis Borges.

    To many, Astor Piazzolla is synonymous with tango. Gidon Kremer is resolute in his regard of Piazzolla as a sophisticated composer, one who was able to reach a very large audience on an emotional level and not merely on an intellectual one. “In my view Astor’s music represents an enormous playing field in which the most divergent emotions are expressed in highly artistic yet simple ways," writes Kremer in the album's liner note. "Piazzolla was daring, honest and uncomplicated, all at the same time ... Piazzolla was a musician with the highest expectations, an excellent and unique composer, who succeeded in linking ideas of the past to the present.”

    Credits

    MUSICIANS
    The Astor Quartet:
    Gidon Kremer, violin
    Per Arne Glorvigen, bandoneón
    Vadim Sakharov, piano
    Alois Posch, double bass

    Guest Artists:
    Odair Assad, guitar (1, 10)
    Sérgio Assad, guitar (1, 10)
    Milva, vocals (3, 9)
    Caetano Veloso, narrator (5)

    PRODUCTION CREDITS
    Produced and Engineered by Peter Laenger, Tritonus Musikproduktion, Stuttgart
    Recorded December 1996 at Studio Guilaume Tell, Paris
    Assistant Engineer: Stephane Briand
    Additional Recording on El Tango:
    Produced by Jaques Morelenbaum
    Recorded May 1997 at Studio Discover, Rio de Janeiro
    Additional Recording Coordinator: Paulo Junqueiro, WEA Brazil
    Nonesuch Production: Karina Beznicki
    Executive Producer: Robert Hurwitz

    Design by Barbara deWilde
    Cover photograph: Tulip, 1985 by Robert Mapplethorpe

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