Jeroen van Veen – Piazzolla: Para El Angel (2021) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

‘I play with violence,’ Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) told one interviewer. ‘My bandoneon must sing and scream – I can’t conceive of pastel tones in tango.’ With an unrivalled discography of minimalist classics to his credit, from Satie to Glass to Yann Tiersen, Jeroen van Veen is ideally placed to return the raw passion and punchy rhythms that belong to the music of Piazzolla in any context.

Jeroen Van Veen’s selection runs the gamut of Piazzolla’s expressive vocabulary, from the tenderly intimate title track and the Impressionist brushstrokes of Oblivion to the tough and defiant Libertango which concludes the album in truly anthemic fashion. CD2 begins with another masterpiece of street music, Adios Nonino. A string of other masterpieces follow, making their effect as surely on the piano as they do on the guitar or Piazzolla’s own instrument, the bandoneon. There is the simple, sweet sentiment of Ausencias, the flamboyant Street Tango and a collection of six contrasting tangos from 1974, from the dark and swirling Meditango to the grave resignation of Tristango.

Marking the centenary of Piazzolla’s birth in 1921, this new album pays devoted homage to a composer who came to craft one of the defining sounds of the late 20th-century, when tango left the barrios and clubs of Buenos Aires and then the dance clubs of America and Europe to find a home in recital and concert halls worldwide.

As ‘the leading exponent of minimalism today’ (Fanfare), Jeroen Van Veen’s playing will speak to an audience which has never danced a tango in its life but thrills to the undertow of melancholy and dazzling flair that characterises great tango interpreters past and present. ‘From the first time I heard his music, I felt attracted to it,’ says the pianist in his booklet essay. ‘The rhythm, the melodic value, the atmosphere, it is hard to describe but it felt like a natural attraction. The kind of feeling that the music is part of your music memory; it was already there.’

Tracklist:
01. Piazzolla: Milonga del ángel
02. Piazzolla: La muerte del ángel
03. Piazzolla: Resurrecctión del ángel
04. Piazzolla: 4 Canciones porteñas: I. Alguien le dice al tango
05. Piazzolla: 4 Canciones porteñas: II. Jacinto chiclana
06. Piazzolla: 4 Canciones porteñas: III. el titere
07. Piazzolla: 4 Canciones porteñas: IV. a don nicanor paredes
08. Piazzolla: Estaciones: I. Primavera portena
09. Piazzolla: Estaciones: II. Verano porteno
10. Piazzolla: Estaciones: III. Otono porteno
11. Piazzolla: Estaciones: IV. Invierno porteno
12. Piazzolla: 2 Tango Preludes: I. Leijia’s Game, Tango
13. Piazzolla: 2 Tango Preludes: II. Flora’s Game, Milonga
14. Piazzolla: El viaje
15. Piazzolla: Milonga
16. Piazzolla: Vuelvo al sur
17. Piazzolla: Chiquilin de bachin
18. Piazzolla: Michelangelo 70
19. Piazzolla: Suite para piano, Op. 2: I. Preludio
20. Piazzolla: Suite para piano, Op. 2: II. Siciliana
21. Piazzolla: Suite para piano, Op. 2: III. Toccata
22. Piazzolla: Adiós nonino, Tango Rhapsody
23. Piazzolla: Oblivion
24. Piazzolla: Ouverture
25. Piazzolla: Mumuki
26. Piazzolla: Street Tango
27. Piazzolla: Milonga for Three
28. Piazzolla: Ausencias
29. Piazzolla: 6 Tangos: I. Meditango
30. Piazzolla: 6 Tangos: II. Undertango
31. Piazzolla: 6 Tangos: III. Violentango
32. Piazzolla: 6 Tangos: IV. Amelitango
33. Piazzolla: 6 Tangos: V. Novitango
34. Piazzolla: 6 Tangos: VI. Tristango
35. Piazzolla: Libertango