Two Reviews for Piazzolla Four Seasons of Buenos Aires

Audiophile Audition and Allmusic reviews

Piazzolla: Four Seasons of Buenos Aires; Fugata; Troilo: Contrabajeando; Iturralde: Suite Hellenique; Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue

John Sunier
Audiophile Audition, October 06, 2009
DE 3387
Rating: 5 stars

There are now saxophone quartets or quintets all over the world, and it’s one of my personal favorite chamber ensembles. The Italian Sax Quartet was founded in 1982 and has performed worldwide, making a U.S. tour annually. They’ve recorded a previous CD for Delos, and their soprano saxist Federico Mondelci, has done another Delos album with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra of Piazzolla tango arrangements. They differ from the typical sax quartet in having a fifth member, their piano accompanist Paolo Zannini, on most of these tracks, adding a fuller orchestration to the selections.

The 22-minute Piazzolla suite here has its four movements in common with Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Its complete title - Las Cuatro Estaciones Portenas - refers in the last word to the roots of tango, the port city of Buenos Aires. This is one of the most successful of the composer’s efforts to bridge classical and tango music traditions. Although there were no saxophones in the typical tango ensemble, it sounds almost as if Piazzolla had the instruments in mind when he wrote this work, it fits them so perfectly.

Iturralde was a saxophonist as a child prodigy. He created jazz flamenco in the 1960s, and in his Hellenic Suite fuses Greek folk and jazz elements. Its sections boast 7/8 time in one, a jazz waltz in another, and a movement titled Funky. George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue has been heard in many different versions, but this may be the first for sax quartet. Again, it works beautifully, the mental association of the instruments with the Jazz Age creating a perfect mood for delivering Gershwin’s catchy rhythms and melodies. Sonics are excellent, though I must admit I’ve been spoiled now by hearing several sax quartet albums in SACD surround.

HYPERLINK http://www.audaud.com/article.php?ArticleID=6470

James Manheim
Allmusic.com, October 2009

Saxophone quartets have flourished along with brass quintets as concert presenters seek high-quality ensembles that don’t cost a fortune. The Italian Saxophone Quartet hasn’t been one of the better-known entrants in the field, but this release from the U.S., where the group has frequently toured, serves notice of a talent that’s well above average. The showpiece is the group Cuatros estaciones porteñas, or Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, by Astor Piazzolla. Not composed as a set, these works make no reference to the Four Seasons of Antonio Vivaldi, but they have been heavily exposed due to the perceived similarity in conception. The arrangement here, apparently by the members of the Italian Saxophone Quartet themselves, is among the most successful of the versions of these pieces for classical concert instruments (the group avoids jazz inflections in the Argentine works, although they shift gears at the end with Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and rarely recorded Rialto Ripples). In general, the saxophone, though rarely used in this context, is a strong instrument for Piazzolla due to the component of noise in its sound, and Piazzolla’s tangos benefit from the quality the composer called “mud.” Better still, the performers do an uncannily good job of evoking the sound of Piazzolla’s bandoneón in duets. The alto saxophone of Marco Gerboni sounds like a free reed instrument until the group switches to works originally composed in other media. There he and the rest of the group revert to more conventionally clean wind harmonies. The piano of Paolo Zannini is effectively used to impart rhythmic energy while staying in the background, just as in the original pieces. When the program departs from tango it’s less distinctive, although the Suite hellénique of Spanish composer Pedro Iturralde, apparently the only work on the program composed for saxophone quartet, is a useful addition to the repertory with its jazz and flamenco elements. The disc as a whole is recommended to anyone who enjoys wind or brass ensemble music, and especially to presenters, who ought to acquaint themselves with this group.

HYPERLINK http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=43:193081

29 October 2009 | , Reviews | Comments