Tangorama: a wonderful aural trip to the southernmost South American nation

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Leave it to Paula Mlyn’s A440 Arts (www.a440asrts.com) to share the good word about interesting new CD’s. At the top of 2021 Naxos on its Grand Piano label has released Tangorama  [GP 856], the first of an upcoming series of tango albums lovingly selected and superbly played by the terrific Argentine-American pianist Mirian Conti.

This first in the series features over two dozen gems that trace the development of the Argentine tango from its humble origins rooted in Afro-Argentine and Cuban-influenced dance forms birthed in the bars an dives on the shores of the River Plate to the sophisticated compositions of mid-20th century composer-performers that inflected the form with European harmonies and counterpoint while retaining the syncopated underpinning of the original dance form.

In compositions such as the iconic La Cumparsita of Matos Gerardo Rodriguez and El Choclo of Angel Villoldo both of which have the ONE-two-three-four rhythmic DNA of all Tango to the fast-paced, cut-time, mid-century tango-milongas Milonga de mis Amores by Pedro Laurenz, Mi Regalo by Orlando Goñi, and Alfredo Aieta’s Corralera to the laid-back melancholy of Roberto Pansera’s Naturaleza Muerta, Enrique Francini’s Tema Otoñal and Julian Plaza’s Melancólico, Mirian Conti turns her piano into a Banda Porteña that takes the listener on a wonderful aural trip to the southernmost South American nation.

Rafael de Acha

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”

2 thoughts on “Tangorama: a wonderful aural trip to the southernmost South American nation”

  1. Wanted to alert you to a brief correction,

    Mirian Conti with an N. Will help people to find her website. Nice review, thanks for bringing it to our attention

    Like

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