KCMETROPOLIS.org
Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

The Southmoreland neighborhood’s All Souls Universalist Church was nearly bursting at the seams last Friday for a sold-out performance by the Bach Aria Soloists and their guest artists, Hector del Curto and Gustavo Casenave, in a celebration of Astor Piazzolla. Frequent readers of KCMetropolis will recall bandoneonist Hector del Curto’s name from last fall’s Ioudenitch and Friends fundraiser [click here for that review], where he joined the faculty of Park University’s International Center for Music in several tango selections. The Argentine-born New Yorker returned to Kansas City bringing along friend and colleague, jazz and tango pianist Gustavo Casenave. Stepping out of their comfort zone of Baroque and Classical literature, the Bach Aria Soloist put on a thrilling showcase of Piazzolla’s tango ensemble music in a venue where several rows of extra chairs had to be set up.

Kicking things off with “Verano Porteño” (Summer Port [referring to the port city of Buenos Aires]), Jeff Harshbarger’s bass built an ostinato from a dark glissando followed by a rhythmic slap to the body of the bass. Guest pianist Gustavo Casenave brought a distinguishing zest to the texture of the piece, particularly the end. In all, the piece had a fire that sizzled, be it in ensemble playing or soloist passages, though throughout the balance was a bit off; it was difficult to discern Beau Bledsoe’s guitar part until after intermission.

In “Invierno Porteño” (Winter Port), another selection from Piazzolla’s Four Seasons, set a down-tempo tango with an angular, impassioned solo from violinist and BAC Director Elizabeth Suh Lane. The tempo accelerated as the piece progressed, ending with a mid-tempo major section of sequences that moved resolutely through a circle of fifths chord progression, bringing to mind the more familiar Baroque and Classical repertory of the Bach Aria Soloists.

Escualo (shark) was introduced as a piece written by Piazzolla to challenge his violin player. It was a piece with explosive ensemble accents on beat one which then coasted through the rest of the measure. The difficulty for the violin lay in the nonexistent transitions between various technical demands (angular sixteenth-note riffs, extended-position octaves, and special effects) as well as gestures which shifted up and down the length of the fingerboard.

Guest bandoneonist Hector del Curto spoke about the next two Milonga-style selections in between sharp witticisms. Milonga del Angel was a down-tempo Milonga that featured lovely, understated solo bandoneon playing by the renowned del Curto as well as sultry sul G melodies in the violin. This was the kind of slow Milonga that might be performed in the countryside, explained del Curto.  Two guitarist would get together and create a Milonga rhythm while improvising lyrics on a chosen theme. “We call this rap today,” he quipped. Milonga de Mis Amores, by Pedro Laurenz (one of only three selections on the program not by Piazzolla) demonstrated a danceable Milonga. Casenave again shined at the piano with playing that featured sweeping arpeggios, chord clusters, fist pounding, and shimmering glissandi, trills, and tremolos in the top register of the piano.

The second half of the program opened with Adios Nonino, one of Piazzollas more popular works. Casenave performed a lengthy solo introduction that was at times improvised and embellished with florid arpeggios one could find in Gaspard de la Nuit and brilliantly fast, descending chromatic scales that one would expect to see more in Liszt’s Années de Pèlerinage than Piazzolla’s Tangos. The rest of the ensemble joined roughly five minutes in, continuing the massive piece that ran the gamut of moods, emotions, and tempi.

Piazzolla was next oddly abandoned in favor of two Bach Sinfonias in what must have been an attempt to recruit new Bach Aria Soloists fans from audience members who came for Tango music. The first suffered from what appeared to be an unidiomatic bass part for competent bassist Harshbarger, drawn up from what would usually be a keyboard bass voice. The second Sinfonia was a miniature fugue meant to serve as a compliment to Piazzolla’s Fugata which followed. My impression was that these two selections could have been omitted while still accomplishing an extended fan base for the ensemble based on the quality of their performance.

One of the prettiest selections on an already beautiful tango program, Piazzolla’s Ave Maria followed. The piece was notable for maintaining a similar mood throughout unlike most of the other multifaceted Tangos and Milongas. Ave Maria was the first piece to prominently feature Beau Bledsoe’s guitar (with balance issues solved) accompanied by Lane’s violin and slowed added bass, soft piano, and lastly bandoneon. The down-tempo ballade featured a number of pretty unison passages between the violin and bandoneon augmented by the instruments’ tuning differences here and there. 

The program closed with the exciting selection, Michelangelo, where everyone onstage seemed to have a compelling part. Notably there was a sultry violin solo from Lane and a Medeski-in-Argentina styled piano solo from Casenave. The ever-popular Libertango closed the evening as an encore.

REVIEW:
Bach Aria Soloists
Night of Tango

Friday, February 25, 2011 (reviewed)
All Souls Universalist Church
4501 Walnut St, Kansas City, MO

Saturday, February 26, 2011
Lawrence Arts Center
940 New Hampshire Street, Lawrence, KS
For tickets call 816-820-1473  or visit www.bachariasoloists.com

Top Photo: Hector del Curto

By Topher Levin

Classical Editor and Contributor

Christopher (Topher) Levin is a composer, pianist, music theorist, and music blogger based in Kansas City, MO. His compositions have been performed at music festivals across the US and in Europe. He has spent two summers in Paris, France studying music at the Ecole Normale de Musique through the EAMA program. His trio for clarinet, piano, and percussion is published in the SCI Journal of Scores.

Topher holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (M.M.) in music theory and (M.M.) in composition and from James Madison University in Virginia (B.M.) in composition. Primary composition teachers have included John S. Hilliard, Paul Rudy, Zhou Long, James Mobberley, Chen Yi, Claude Baker, Narcis Bonet, Michel Merlet, and João Pedro Oliveira. His piano teachers have included Patricia Brady and Karen Kushner. Topher maintains a piano studio of 22 students.

Having recently completed a Master's thesis on the beautiful complexities of Chinary Ung's trio, Spiral I, Topher turned his writing attention to the more informal blogging medium. He has taken to it quite well, sharing posts on strange and wonderful music and art found across the web with a modest but growing number of blog followers. He looks forward to writing for KCM and sharing with its readers the stories of all the amazing musicians performing in Kansas City.