High-minded readers who may be predisposed to look askance at a composer for whom the tango was an almost constant basis for his music should put aside any such qualms and approach this disc with a readiness to greet a very individual voice with a highly developed technique; and they need fear no vulgarity from the bandoneon (a button-type accordion). Astor Piazzolla, a former pupil of Nadia Boulanger, is practically unique in creating a sophisticated bridge between popular and ‘intellectual’ styles; and this disc will come as an eye-opener to those so far unacquainted with his music.
Try beginning with the separate tangos, from the attractively jazzy Decarissimo through the melancholy Milonga del angel and the miniature tone-poem of Invierno porteno (“Winter in Buenos Aires”) to the agitated fugato of the strongly syncopated Muerte del angel. There is then a big step to the Tres movimientos tanguisticos portenos (“Three Buenos Aires movements”), which present radical sublimations of the tango, the first in a very free harmonic idiom, the second with a deeply poetic opening but becoming increasingly diverse in character and pace, and the third notable for its irregular rhythms and contrapuntal texture. If the Bandoneon Concerto is ultimately less than totally convincing, it is due to its mixture of styles, ranging from something like a cross between Copland and Villa-Lobos to Ponce-like sentimentality, and to a disappointingly diffuse finale; but the slow movement contains some genuinely moving moments. Performance and recording throughout are of the highest standard.'