Celebrating Piazzolla on Azica Records

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Due to its location in the lower region of the Southern hemisphere the seasons in Argentina come at the exact opposite from ours, so that their summer is our winter and our winter their summer.

Whether this inverse order of the weather might have anything to do with the emotionally charged music of Astor Piazzolla’s Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas one can only guess, but, as one listens to the Invierno Porteño section of this wondrous work, the listener is carried away by the rapturous central melody of the anything but chilly Argentine winter soulfully played by the Neave Trio as if violinist Anna Williams, cellist Mikhail Veselov, and pianist Eri Nakamura had all-three been born on the shores of Buenos Aires’ River Platte

The music of Piazzolla has deservedly had much recognition and play, and his Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas has been played by everybody from Yo-Yo-Ma on the cello to any number of pianists, violinists, and instrumental ensembles.

Yet, any artists who bring something new to this music are to be welcomed with open arms. Such is the case with the estimable Neave Trio, that in the 2018 release of Celebrating Piazzolla on Azica Records featuring new arrangements of Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas and of several intriguing songs of Piazzolla idiomatically sung by mezzo-soprano Carla Jablonski. Their music-making make this wonderful album absolutely indispensable.

For more information, visit www.neavetrio.com.

Rafael de Acha                       ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

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.”