It's a bit ironic that pianist
Mirian Conti had no interest in tango while studying in her native Argentina, learning about the music only later on from her American husband. Now, she's the creator of a significant release of a large body of almost unknown tango music she gathered from the collection of
Mario Broeders, an Argentine composer who lived in New York. This is not
Astor Piazzolla, nor even the tango music to which one is advised to turn if one likes
Piazzolla and wants more. The composers are, for the most part, unknown, and
Conti's brief but useful notes on them are worth the price of admission by themselves. These are short pieces that date back to the earlier phases of the music, not quite to its origins in the African Argentine neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, but almost. The tangos date from 1903 to the early 1960s. All are arranged for piano from originals for various instruments or instrumental combinations; it would have been nice to know who the arranger was. The earlier pieces, when played on piano, have the feel of
Ernesto Nazareth's tango-choro works from Brazil. They are short, lightly programmatic, and flexible enough to allow for the flair of the individual performer, flair that
Conti does not always bring in these rather dry performances. However, she has done an invaluable service by bringing this music to light. From the later eras, there are progressive tangos like
Enrique Francini's
Tema otonal and
Osvaldo Pugliese's
A los artistas plasticos, which show that
Piazzolla was not the only one thinking along innovative lines at this period. The engineering of the album is likewise innovative and notable;
Conti recorded it at home, during the coronavirus pandemic, with a Yamaha Disklavier and shipped it off for further production and mastering. The results are somehow dry as well, but they make an interesting part of the record of that time. This is the first of an amazing four volumes of similar material from
Conti, and one breathlessly awaits what's coming next. ~ James Manheim
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