Libertango

I remembered to do my listening journal tonight! Whew...Alright. Anyway, went to see the Imani Winds tonight. They were awesome. Their last piece they performed was "Libertango," originally written by Aston Piazzolla, arranged for quintet by Jeff Scott.

I liked this piece quite a bit. It was really exciting. The opening section was almost fanfarish, but quickly worked its way into the tango. The tango is a seductive dance, not in some common three step. Instead, the french horn and the bassoon often play a 12312312 rhythmic motive that permeates the entire piece. This underlying rhythm gives us the tango feel, while the rest of the instruments freely play above this fast complex bass. I liked the bassoon and flute solos throughout the piece, they were jazzy, improvized, and very exotic.
The Imani Winds really know their stuff. Even though I wanted to tie down the flute player, (she was moving around like she had a monkey on her back), she was very colorful in her playing. One minute she would have a beautiful bel canto sound, the next would be a harsh flutter or jazz tone. Libertango was almost like two pieces, a jazz song, and a tango. It wasn't really danceable to, but it still really rocked the socks off the audience. I wish I had another chance to hear the music, because the piece contained so much crazy movement it was hard to catch all the nuances the first time around...oh well. Cool piece, liked it a lot. I'm gonna explore more of this Piazolla character.