The opening of the cd is marked by the great Astor Piazzolla. Born in Mar del Plata on March 11th 1921 and, fora long time, was misunderstood and openly ignored by the officiai circles.The Argen­ tinian composer was a well-rounded musician, characterized by a multifaceted personality. He studied with hisfellow countryman Ginastera, but soon felt the need to complete his training in Europe by perfecting his skills in conducting with Scherchen and in music composition with Nadia Boulanger. The musician was deeply attached to his home country, he became legendary and is still considered a «symbol of an Argentina that has never been sufficiently remembered». Piazzolla embodies the very idea of tango, the most typical and sensual out of all the South American dances. lt's nota coincidence that for many people, Piazzolla is simply the tango, even if this is - upon closer inspection - a reductive conception of his music, which is full of assonance, echoes and cultured references to the great Western tradition, but also to jazz and light music.
As for the emblematic Histoire du tango (1986), it is divided into four movements which - starting from the allusive titles - intends to illustrate the evolution of tango over the decades. lt's a very ef­ fective and highly challenging piece, sometimes dramatic, for which uncommon interpretative skills are required; it is designed expressly for the combination of flute and guitar; it opens with Borde/, in which, according to the punctual and suggestive 'notes' by Piazzolla himself that were placed to accompany the score, the intent is to evoke the amiable chatter that takes piace in a brothel «populated by French, ltalian and Spanish women» (a recall to the habanera) engaged in making fun of policemen, thieves and sailors. In Café, the music now evokes another era; the tango has undergone a conspicuous transformation, in which, according to the author, there are «new and sometimes more melancholic harmonies». These harmonies are dreamy, but also turbid: the music then dies out in a whisper. In Nightclub there is an allusion to a «climate of international trade» in which Brazil and Argentina ideally merge in Buenos Aires and bossanova and nuevo tango coexist. In the last challenging and very arduous panel, we finally find in the background the echo of Bart6k and Stravinskij, as well as that of certain avant-gardes. lt is truly impossible not to be charmed by it. In second position, there is a piece by the Brazilian Radamés Gnattali, a pianist, composer and conductor of ltalian origin who was able to reinterpret consolidated musical forms with a decided­ ly persona! language. His mother - his first teacher - was a pianist, while his father, a bassoonist, later devoted himself to conducting; both of them were avid music lovers and were particularly passionate about Verdi's opera. lt really was not by chance that they chose for their children the names of Radamés, Aida and Emani, names obviously borrowed from many characters of the Bus­ seto composer's works. We listen to the captivating Sonatina, divided into three 'classic' move­ ments: a piece in which a balanced mix of folkloric dance styles and exquisitely twentieth-century elements can be admired. As to the first movement, with arabesque and, at times, dreamlike figura­ tions, the sophisticated harmonies and the sometimes-contrapuntal treatment should be empha­ sized within a conduct with a conspicuously "rhapsody" trend.Themiddle movement is notable for its chromaticism and its sweet lyricism tinged with melancholy. In the final movement, a decidedly virtuosic allure prevails, including difficult passages which are entrusted to both instruments: the flute is often engaged, on the regular and reassuring substrate of the guitar, in proposing sharp stalactites-like phrases, alternated to ones conceived as the remake of an archaic bicinium. To follow, a piece by the Argentinian Maximo Diego Pujol, a guitarist who was influenced by Piaz­ zolla, as well as by Villa Lobos. The four movements of the composition - respectively Pompeya, Palermo, San Telmo, Microcentro - are inspired by the very same neighborhoods in Buenos Aires. The first vivacious movement presents pressing rhythms, pungent and sometimes bittersweet harmonies; next emerges the Andante section started by the guitar, in which a certain intimism characterized by a sound of vague lberian assonances prevails. The two elements then happily coexist by alternating. From moments of greater stasis, the piece gradually regains altitude with a suggestive effect. In Palermo, a languorous climate prevails thanks to the key of E minor which makes it even more poignant: it is a muffled languor found in the major key centrai part. On the other hand, the third movement, with its clear tripartite structure, instead stands out for its care­ free freshness and an atmosphere of joy, embellished with refined timbrai and percussive effects. Finally, in Microcentro, the vortex of an almost perpetuum mobile figuration achieves results of sure appeal: here too, there is no lack of arcane inspired moments which are setto react with the glimmering figurations of the flute, often pushed into the high-pitchedregister. Lastly, the unreleased piece Cortes y quebradas by Sergio Fabian Lavia, a guitarist, composer and sound artist of ltalian origin born in Buenos Aires. His interests range from classical-contemporary to new technologies of popular music of Argentina and Brazil and they lead him to seek a dialogue between dissimilar cultura! worlds. Trained in his homeland, he continued his studies in Milan; after having obtained diplomas in guitar, composition, electronic music and computer science, he perfected himself with Donatoni and De Pablo. His music has been performed by important musi­ cians, used in video in more than forty countries around the world; he has performed with artists from different backgrounds such as Riccardo Chailly, Luis Bacalov, Vinko Globokar, Nicola Piovani, Vladimir Jurowski, Yutaka Sado and Enrico lntra. Heis the guest of recording and editoria! projects with Decca, Stradivarius, Warner Chappell, and also the artistic director of the Menaggio lnt erna­ tional Guitar Festival and teacher at the "Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana". Cortes y quebradas - in Spanish, "cuts and breaks" - «constitute a classic moment of the tango in which the walk is interrupted by a choreographic ornament. The 'cut' - Lavia specifies, while illus­ trating the linguistic and expressive peculiarities of the piece - intensifies the communication between the couple by accentuating the sensuality of the dance». lt is on this image premise that the author declares to have «created a piece with an abundance of surprises and rhythmic melodie suspensions», where there is room for the development of «typical materials of the tango and milonga cultures, scales, complex harmonies and phrases that tend towards asymmetry»; this results in a «fusion of musical elements between Buenos Aires and others of rural origin». Various virtuosic passages stand out,as well as a notable «richness of articulations»,from the use of charac­ teristic timbres such as the fl utt er-t on g uin g technique of the flute andthe rasgueado of the guitar. Thìs piece results in a fascinating t wo-way dialogue, inspired by the peculiar ways of the tango«which alternates the protagonism of the components to respective solos».