Showing posts with label Gershwin George. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gershwin George. Show all posts

TANGOS & FANTASIES


The new release from one of Armenia’s leading and most popular music groups. Following their prior success this year with their first release of Expressia—Armenian Fantasy, Cadence Ensemble expand their recording ventures to Expressia—Tangos and Fantasies.

This new release explores the tango at its best including works from some of the great Tango writers including Astor Piazzolla and fellow Armenian Narine Zarifian. With innovative arrangements of works by Carlos Gardel, Hector Stampioni and the Fantasy on Themes of Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin.



Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) was an Argentine tango composer and bandoneon player who revolutionised the traditional tango into a new style, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music, termed nuevo tango. He is widely considered the most important tango composer of the latter half of the 20th century. A formidable bandoneonist, Piazzolla continuously performed his own compositions with different ensembles. He is known in his native land as “El Gran Ástor” (The Great Astor).

Carlos Gardel (1887-1935) was perhaps the most prominent figure in the history of tango. He died in an airplane crash at the height of his career, creating the image of a tragic hero throughout Latin America. For many, Gardel embodies the soul of the tango style that sprang from the barrios of Buenos Aires and Montevideo at the end of the 19th century.

Born in 1958 in Yerevan, Armenia, Narine Zarifian graduated from Yerevan State Conservatory in 1984, where she now holds a professorship. A member of Armenia’s Union of Composers and the International Association of Female Composers, she has performed in Greece, the Czech Republic, Syria, Lebanon and Russia. Narine’s works include a ballet, a symphonic poem, a set of vocal works, string quintets, a set of symphonic and folk works for symphonic orchestra, folk and electronic instruments and a concerto for guitar.

The pianist, composer and arranger Hector Stampioni (1916-1997) is often described as a master of tango who embodied the fundamental values of this musical form from the 1940s to the present day. A brilliant orchestator, exquisite pianist and outstanding composer, Stampioni is one of the undisputed titans of the tango movement.

George Gershwin (1898-1937) wrote most of his vocal and theatrical works in collaboration with his elder brother, lyricist Ira Gershwin, composing for both Broadway and the classical concert hall. He also wrote popular songs and many of his compositions have been used on television and in numerous films. George Gershwin’s chief works include Rhapsody in blue, An American in Paris, Porgy and Bess and Second Rhapsody.

RHAPSODY in Blue


It was obvious that the Blue Chamber Quartet would add George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue to their repertoire one day. It could just have easily marked the beginning of their career, as the ensemble founded in 2005 and Gershwin’s compositions from 1923/24 share a similar approach: the connection between classical music in the broadest sense with elements of jazz. This can also be seen in the other works on this recording that the Blue Chamber Quartet play in their very own way.
Release date: 3rd July 2015




Several classically-trained chamber ensembles have found fresh inspiration in jazz, so the crossover repertoire of the Blue Chamber Quartet is not especially surprising, though the group's instrumentation is a bit novel. Comprised of harp, piano, vibraphone, and piano, this Austrian-German quartet has an adaptable tonal palette that works well in either classical or jazz music, though there is a certain traditional conservatory approach in the playing.

The tracks that most display a flexible jazz feeling are Mark Glentworth's Blues for Gilbert and Allen Shawn's Three Dance Portraits, and they fulfill the group's promise of expanding stylistic parameters and permitting spontaneity and some improvisation.

The more conventional arrangements are Leonard Bernstein's Overture to Candide, Isaac Albéniz's Suite española, and George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, which follow the originals closely without stretching much beyond the written notes. Yet this is the balancing act these musicians perform, and even though they seem to rely on classical discipline, they play with the tone colors and syncopated rhythms of jazz in appealing and inventive ways. They are sure to win many fans with this engaging 2015 release. ~ Blair Sanderson