Search - Osvaldo Pugliese :: From Argentina to the World

Now I understand why the world loves Pugliese.

Richard Held | 10/01/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Anyone who has had any exposure to Argentine tango music is familiar with Pugliese. This album is an excellent representation of his long, influential career of composing and performing marvelously beautiful tango music. He is considered to be a romantic tango composer because his music is so richly expressive, and arouses one to dance with deep feeling, and expressive drama. His music is often played later in the evening when tango dancers are ready for slower, more romantic music. His music is characterized by frequent changes in tempo, often transitioning from dynamic rhythms pulsing from a bandoneon (the accordion-like instrument prevalent in all Argentine tango) to arrhythmic bridges dominated by the violin voice, and then returning to a more rhythmic passage.



Every one of the twenty pieces on this CD is gorgeous and could stand alone as a great piece of music that could be enjoyed for its intrinsic richness without one venturing onto the dance floor.



"A mis companeros" is a good example of one of his compositions in which the strongly accented beats may fall either on the one and three of each measure or on the upbeat of the one, which keeps one on one's toes. When the bandoneonist hits these accented beats they are so wonderfully dissonant that they draw you in to listen for the sweet harmonious resolution that follows.



"Nochero Soy" begins with a jarring, dissonant chord played by bandoneons, and then develops into a light, lively walking beat, which of course doesn't last long, because Pugliese, true to the style he is famous for creating, then dissolves it into a circular non-rhythmic passage that provokes dancers to move in circular patterns.



"Gente amiga" begins with repeated rising base notes that Pugliese, who is not only the composer but also the piano player hammers out with his left hand on the keyboard, and these are answered by light, bursts of laughter from the bandoneon section. It moves into sweet callings from the violins, behind which one can still hear the pulsing vamp of the bandoneons that gradually gains in strength until they are the dominant voice, at which time you flow from circular dance patterns to more rhythmic steps.



"Gallo Ciego" begins with the familiar tango syncopad rhythm (the short looooong short loooooong) rhythm that appears in one way or another in almost every piece of tango music) but it is played with such dramatic emphasis that you don't immediately recognize it as such. But it makes you want to start regally strutting all around the room with your partner.



I don't recommend you do this if you want to dance with this partner again in the near future, but I would strongly advise you to play this CD while alone in your bedroom so you can strut to your heart's content, and revel in the musical genius of Osvaldo Pugliese. This is, as the name of the album suggests, a priceless gift from Argentina to the world.

"