<<  -- 2 --  Malcolm Tattersall    BEYOND PIAZZOLLA

Tango is as famous for its fire as for its sensuality but the latter dominates here. Some tracks, in fact, are rather sugary, especially (for whatever reason) the familiar older items such as Andaluza [listen -- track 5, 0:00-0:48]. More fire is evident in Varvelho's Tiempos Inciertos [listen -- track 7, 0:00-1:14] and Ziegler's Desde Otros Tiempos but Ginastera's Dance of the Graceful Girl [listen -- track 11, 5:00-6:09] is again sweet and dreamy.

More detached playing and stronger accentuation would have been enough to lift other items out the sedentary zone, but perhaps that was not Hunt's intention. As it is, the album is relaxing and eminently listenable without demanding the hearers' full attention.

Astor Piazzolla, with just three of the thirteen tracks, is not as heavily featured as one might have expected. The other composers are each represented by a single track; besides those I have already mentioned we hear Albeniz, Rodriguez, Gade (Jealousy), Bragato and Gardel. If this is a sign the tango fad has begun to move beyond Piazzolla, Gardel is a name to watch: a superstar in his time and still idolised in Argentina, he may begin to receive more recognition outside his homeland.

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