Beyond Piazzolla Tangos and dances played by Fionnuala Hunt - reviewed by MALCOLM TATTERSALL '... relaxing and eminently listenable ...'

Tangos and Dances is very much Fionnuala Hunt's project. She is soloist and director and is also responsible for the arrangements and transcriptions. Her violin is eloquent -- flirtatious, languorous, romantic, reminiscent, passionate, pleading, and charming in turn -- but is not overbearingly centre-stage the whole time. The backings are competent and, for better or for worse, generally conventional.

The tangos themselves are varied in tempo and mood, and some simpatico extras broaden the range. The Spanish Dance (Andaluza) of Granados, perhaps best known as a guitar piece, is one. There is also a waltz by Piazzolla and, as a codetta to the 'genuine' items, Hunt's whimsical cross-cultural trifle. It does spend as much time introducing the tango to the Irish hornpipe as marrying them off, but it is fun.

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