Search - Astor Piazzolla :: Hommage a Liege

Truly Essential

Kurt Harding | Boerne TX | 07/31/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Astor Piazzolla's canon is so vast and variegated that most of what he recorded can be said to be essential to the understanding of the man and his music. True connoisseurs of Piazzolla will want everything he did because every time he recorded an old work with a new group of musicians, the old work was given a new and usually wonderful sound. But for those who just want a representative sampling of his work, only a couple dozen CDs can be said to be truly essential. Hommage a Liege is one of those. Long out of print, the reissue of this important body of work brings rapturous joy to those who missed its initial release.

On this CD, Piazzolla had been invited to perform with Cuban master Leo Brouwer and famed Argentine guitarmeister Cacho Tirao at the International Guitar Festival of Liege. With the backing of the Liege Philharmonic Orchestra, the trio performed an outstanding rendition of Adios Nonino. Then they introduced Piazzolla's three part concierto Hommage a Liege which was written by him for the occasion. This is then followed by his four part Historia del Tango, which features some of the dreamiest music El Troesma has ever written. On this piece, the trio is joined by Guy Lukowski on guitar and by Mark Grawels, who offers a stunning performance on flute.

Historia del Tango is a grand project but is little known. Al DiMeola did a very worthy interpretation that is on his DiMeola Plays Piazzolla CD, but other than that recording it is difficult to find any artist who has even performed a piece of it.

I recommend Hommage a Liege to all Piazzolla fans. This is a performance that may be talked about centuries from now in music appreciation classes. Get it while it is still available."