Tango Sensations.(Sound Recording Review)

Tango Sensations. Alban Berg Quartett. EM17243 5 57778 2 9.

First, one has to understand that there is the "old tango" and there is the "tango nuevo," the "new tango." This is important because it is the old tango music popularized in early 20th-century Argentina that most people are familiar with. The newer form is less like the dance music heard so commonly in old movies and more like modern concert music, made to be performed in refined symphony halls rather than bars and bordellos. Naturally, the Alban Berg Quartett, as refined and modern as they are, opt for the new tango for most of their recording.

Leading the move in new tango was Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992), who was vilified in his own country for daring to modify the traditional music. Under Piazzolla, the tango became more stylized, more rhythmically variable, and certainly less danceable. Frankly, one can understand people's feelings; much of Piazzolla's work is hardly recognizable as tango in the traditional sense. Anyway, he's represented on the album by two longer works, the four-movement Tango Sensations, representing "Asleep," ...