PIAZZOLLA FOREVER SEPTET
20TH
ANNIVERSARY TOUR
Richard Galliano,
Accordion
Esplanade Concert Hall
Tuesday (11 September 2012 )
This review was published in The Straits Times on 13 September 2012 with the title "Playing Piazzolla with Pizzazz".
The tangos of Argentine bandoneon player and
composer Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992, below) have travelled so far and wide that the
music is now available in every conceivable instrumental arrangement thought
possible. Every classical artist or ensemble is thought cool and progressive if
Piazzolla featured in their repertoire. His revolutionary Tango Nuevo (literally New Tango) was however conceived for quintet
or octet, led by the bandoneon (Argentine folk accordion).
French accordion virtuoso Richard Galliano’s
Piazzolla Forever Septet, assembled for the 20th anniversary of
Piazzolla’s death, comes closest to the original conception. Galliano was
himself mentored by Piazzolla and offered an instinctual view of this
infectiously rhythmic and often raunchy music.
The 90-minute concert, played without break,
began with the little Chiquilin de Bachin,
played on a harmonica-like instrument, its tiny sonorous pipes powered by lungs
rather than pulled bellows. This short prelude ushered in the group’s seven
members, and Galliano brought out the accordion for his Tango for Claude, which established the general tenor of
adrenaline-pumped exuberance of the evening.
The main work was the popular Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, beginning
with Spring and Summer, the unmistakeable ostinatos and whooping portamentos (slides)
making these favourites instantly recognisable. From deep within, a fount of
melody - usually melancholic by contrast - comes to the fore. One soon realises
that tango is not just a dance or art form, but an unspoken language, even a
way of life. Galliano’s passionate and deeply involved artistry was proof of
that.
He then swapped the heavy accordion for the more
diminutive bandoneon (above), which resembles a concertina, resting it on his upheld
thigh as he played. With its more intimate and sustained tones, soulful numbers
like Milonga del Angel, Oblivion, Michelangelo 70 and Soledad
The Seasons
were completed with Autumn and Winter, the latter being the only slow
movement of the four, and with good reason. As folks go indoors and nature
hibernates, the music darkens but not without a fanciful cadenza from pianist
Dimitri Naïditch.
Galliano’s own music, including Heavy Tango and New York Tango, were essentially tributes to the master. The latter
was particularly frenetic, with a startling sequence where the strings in
sequence simulated the inimitable inner city wail of sirens.
There were three generous encores, including
Matos Rodriguez’s La Cumparsita and
Piazzolla’s highly energised Libertango,
the latter seeing Galliano as a veritable one-man-band. There could not have
been anything else but a standing ovation after that.
 |
| There was no programme booklet provided for this concert, so I'm very grateful to Esplanade for providing me with this concert listing of works performed. |
No comments:
Post a Comment