Search MusicWeb Here Custom Search     International mailing Up to 40% off

Searching Musicweb Monthly index Recordings of the Year Label index Masterwork index Series index Search engines Review Archive Classical Downloads Jazz Concerts Nostalgia Books Film music Resources Composer pages National discographies Online books Piano Trio Survey Gerard Hoffnung Arthur Butterworth's columns Philip Scowcroft's British light music collection Interviews Programme notes Other material Articles Seen & Heard Jazz reviews Message Board Announcements About Musicweb About Musicweb Contact Musicweb Contributors What they say about us Visitor stats Site Map

Founder: Len Mullenger

Buy through MusicWeb for £12.49 postage paid World-wide. Immediate delivery Sales Link The bonus DVD is in the PAL format.

Tangos and Dances Jacob GADE (1879-1963) Jealousy (1925) [3.46] Astor PIAZZOLLA (1921-1992) Oblivion (1984) [5.51] Libertango [4.27] Chiquilin De Bachin (1968) [4.48] Gerardo RODRIGUEZ (1897-1948) La Cumparista (1917) [3.54] Enrique GRANADOS (1867-1916) Spanish Dances [Danzas Espanolas] – Andaluza (1892-1900) [4.32] Miguel VARVELLO (b.1943) Tiempos Inciertos [5.16] Carlos GARDEL (1890-1935) Tomo y Obligo [3.19] Isaac ALBÉNIZ (1860-1909) Tango Op.165 No.2 (1892) [4.36] Pablo ZIEGLER (b.1944) Desde Otros Tiempos  [4.59] Alberto GINASTERA (1916-1983) Danza De La Moza Donosa [6.16] José BRAGATO (b.1915) Graciela y Buenos Aires [7.45] Fionnuala HUNT Fino Irish Tango [2.22] Fionnuala Hunt (violin and director) RTE Concert Orchestra Recorded at Studio One, RTE, May 2004 Includes bonus DVD of filmed interview between Fionnuala Hunt and Sean Rafferty filmed at the Wigmore Hall in May 2005 [10’] AVIE AV2083 [61.57]

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     We are currently offering in excess of 51,000 reviews Advertising on Musicweb Donate and keep us afloat   New Releases Nimbus Podcast Obtain 10% discount Special offer 50% off 15CDs £83 incl. postage Musicweb sells the following labels Altus 10% off Atoll 10% off CRD 10% off Hallé 10% off Lyrita 10% off Nimbus 10% off Nimbus Alliance Prima voce 10% off Red Priest 10% off Retrospective 10% off Saydisc 10% off Sterling 10% off Follow us on Twitter Subscribe to our free weekly review listing sample Sample: See what you will get Editorial Board MusicWeb International Founding Editor    Rob Barnett Editor in Chief John Quinn Seen & Heard Editor Emeritus    Bill Kenny MusicWeb Webmaster    David Barker Postmaster Jonathan Woolf MusicWeb Founder    Len Mullenger

Return to Index

Reviews from previous months Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.