World Classical

1. A Life of Tango by Alfredo Marcucci
2. Le Grand Tango by The Katona Twins & Alfredo Marcucci

   Tango, which began its life in the mining camps and bar rooms, moved to the dance halls and then to the concert stage: in Argentina, at least, tango is taken very seriously, though you can have fun with it, as Alfredo Marcucci does on A LIFE OF TANGO.   (It's a subtle form of fun; not the uproarious hell-bent-for-leather of an all-out dance band, but the little wink out of the corner of a performer's eye kind of fun.)

 In Argentina tango is classical music, it's dance music, it's pop music, it's folklyrico. Tango is the heart and soul of Argentina.

 Many Americans think of tango as camp: a sort of joke -  not so in Argentina, where people like Alfredo Marcucci and Trio Ventango play concert halls where next week you might hear Beethoven and Mozart.

 The trio consists of Alfredo Marcucci on bandeon (a relative of the accordion), Juan Mascondo on guitar and occasional vocal, and Michael van der Meiren on bass.  This is great concert music; yet you could also dance to it. 

 Of the twenty selections on A LIFE OF TANGO, fifteen are tangos, three are milongas, and two are waltzes.

 I can't imagine dancing to the milongas, especially as I would want to see what the musicians' hands were doing on some of those delightful complicated busy runs: fun to watch, I'm sure. 

 Now here is an idea: take the music of a tango musician (bandeon) and composer who took the tango into the world of the avant guard (both classical and jazz) and add music played by two gifted guitarists who play classical music and happen to be twins -whoa!

 What a concept: the mind reels - and just so people get an idea of where the music comes from, add bandeon (a type of accordion) in a player par excellence who is himself a well-known tongonista, Alfred Marcucci, who guests on a few cuts.

 However, with the addition of Mr. Marcucci the guitar still dominates and the mood is very serious: we are not here to dance, we're here to listen.

 Tango has been lifted out of the gutter and bar rooms and dance halls by Mr. Piazolla and others to a form played next to the symphony, the fuge, and other serious forms of art music.

 The Kastona Twins are originally form Hungary. They have three previous cds under their belts; primarily but not exclusively Spanish guitar music, including everybody's favorites Albeniz and Rodrigo.

 The Carducci String Quartet gets to be on three cuts, including one 'Momenje a Lieja', that also includes bandeon, double bass and string orchestra (however, this is a very short piece).

 Will classical guitar fans embrace Astor Piazzola like they embrace Bach and Albaniz? Probably not: classical guitar fans are not known to be great lovers of dissonance - but I expect they will accept some of it.

 Kudos to the Katona Twins for trying and for thinking outside the box.