(++++) BEYOND THE ACCORDION

Ástor Piazzolla: Bandoneón Concerto “Aconcagua”; Tres Tangos Sinfónicos; Oblivion. Klaudiusz Baran, bandoneón; Czestochowa Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Adam Klocek. Brilliant Classics. $14.99. 

     Frequently mentioned in the same breath as the much more widely known and more frequently played accordion, the bandoneón shares the more-common instrument’s underlying hand-operated, free-reed design but is capable of a great deal more expressiveness and emotional versatility – as is apparent in the many works written for it by Ástor Piazzolla (1921-1992), including the fascinating selection on a new Brilliant Classics CD featuring Klaudiusz Baran and the Czestochowa Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra under Adam Klocek. Preeminent among these pieces and among bandoneón works in general is Piazzolla’s 1979 Bandoneón Concerto for solo instrument, strings and percussion, which provides many intriguing reminders of the fact that the bandoneón is actually of German origin: this button organ was invented by Heinrich Band in the 1840s and later brought to South America, with which it has ever since been associated. 

     Piazzolla’s thorough absorption of classical-music tropes into works for the bandoneón, an instrument previously thought of as more appropriate for folk and popular music, is everywhere apparent in the Bandoneón Concerto and helps explain why Piazzolla’s publisher, Aldo Pagani, attached the title “Aconcagua” to the work, acclaiming the concerto as the peak of Piazzolla’s oeuvre and therefore deserving of a title referring to the highest mountain peak in South America. The emotive range of the concerto is exceptional, and the integration of the solo instrument with various orchestral ones is handled with consummate skill and aural sensitivity that is as fascinating today as it was when the work was first performed. The dual-cadenza first movement juxtaposes dance-hall-like elements with concert-hall lyricism and impressive virtuosity throughout. The tonal blending and instrumental sensitivity of the second movement are highlights of the whole concerto, with the merging of bandoneón and harp especially noteworthy and sonically surprising in the reflective capabilities of each instrument for the other. And the finale, which explores the tango in multiple guises while demanding virtuosity even exceeding that needed for the first movement, is fascinating in displaying the variegated moods of which the tango form is capable, managing to sound danceable almost throughout while also delving into film-music-like material: the finale’s main theme was originally used by Piazzolla in music he wrote for a movie called Con alma y vida. Indeed, the tango – Piazzolla’s calling card – permeates the Bandoneón Concerto, but the work rises above the dance form, or rather displays, with considerable elegance, the transformative power that Piazzolla brings to the traditional dance, all the while showcasing the emotional range and virtuosic proclivities that he demands of the bandoneón and that Baran delivers from start to finish with assurance and consummate skill. 

     Piazzolla’s Tres Tangos Sinfónicos (1963) are less impressive than the concerto but serve a very different purpose. They are, collectively, a summation of the composer’s approach to what is now always called tango nuevo, a form with which Piazzolla is intimately identified and one that, in truth, he invented. Each of the three tangos blends traditional Argentine tango rhythms with European harmonic and chromatic elements well-known in the concert hall – and with some flavoring of American jazz thrown in for additional piquancy from time to time. The pervasive tango rhythm unites these three pieces, while their related but well-differentiated emotional compass distinguishes each of them from the others. And here too the intermingling of instruments – notably bandoneón with solo violin in several passages of surpassing beauty and emotional impact – is handled to very fine effect, both compositionally and in this performance. 

     This CD concludes with one of Piazzolla’s best-known works, and one that, like the theme of the third movement of the Bandoneón Concerto, is film-related: Oblivion, which Piazzolla wrote in 1982 and which was used in the 1984 Italian film Enrico IV. The piece is simple in structure, harmonically consistent (in C minor), and short (64 bars, about four minutes). Although nominally a tango (actually using the related milonga rhythm), Oblivion partakes of concert-hall (essentially French) Impressionism as well. Its slow pace, straightforward melodies, and yearning character tie it closely to the world of film music; its interesting orchestration (bandoneón, strings and bells) showcases Piazzolla’s skill at blending and contrasting instrumental sounds. Although it has been arranged for various instrumental groupings, Oblivion remains most effective in its original form, with the very finely balanced reading by Baran and Klocek likely making listeners wish the piece had gone on even longer. Or if not the piece, the CD: the biggest issue with this disc is that it lasts a mere 44 minutes, which is enough to showcase the composer’s and performers’ skills but scarcely sufficient time for a full display of the special world of the bandoneón as Piazzolla wrote for it.