Search - Astor Piazzolla, Quatuor Caliente :: Astor Piazzolla: Libertango

Piazzolla Shines Sur La Main Parisienne

thattherepaul | Boston, MA United States | 02/18/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Classical music often leaves me drowsy or distracted, but this is something different. Like tango partners, Paris and Argentina have long been sinuously intertwined, the Spanish artist being drawn into the arms of the French city, which seduces and renews him: one example being Julio Cortazar's book "Hopscotch," another being this CD. In this rich tradition, the young, ambitious, but little-known Quatuor Caliente, a quartet of five Parisians (a quartet of a bandeonist, pianist, violinist, and double-bassist augmented by a guest vibraphonist) has taken Piazzolla's masterpiece and spun it rapidly around, showing off its sparkling classical and jazz-infused ornament and leaving the listener ravished and fulfilled. The Quartet's playing is impeccable, sumptous, yet alert to Piazolla's subversive cleverness, and like after any good tango, both partners, the great Piazzolla and the radiant Quatour, are left much the better."