<<  -- 2 --  David Wilkins    EXULTANT FREEDOM

There's no doubting the authenticity of Feidman's feel for the music. He was born in Argentina and grew up in a family Tango and Klezmer tradition before joining the Teatro Colon orchestra and then moving to the Israel Philharmonic. The sultriness, the melancholy and the rhythmic astuteness of the Tristango, for example, are miles distant from the ersatz Piazzolla playing of many lesser (if highly glamorous) discs. They are, in fact, exactly where they ought to be -- earthed in the 'big village' suburbs of Buenos Aires, sparked by a connection with New York jazz, illuminating Piazzolla's sophisticated familiarity with classical styles [listen -- track 4, 4:50-5.53].

The arrangement of the Milonga del Angel by the disc's bandoneon soloist, Raul Jaurena, delivers all the 'smile of hope, sob of passion' that encapsulates the underworld song of Buenos Aires [listen -- track 6, 4.31:5:40]

Jaurena's bandoneon skills are displayed to great effect in the haughty scurrying of the Fracanapa [listen -- track 7, 3:04-3:55] and his own Hommage (the only non-Piazzolla piece on the disc) is a virtuoso pastiche of the master's style with the addition of an individual wit of its own.

Continue >>

For help listening to the sound extracts here, please refer to our questions & answers page.