DINO SALUZZI - Albores
ECM 774 7754
Dino Saluzzi (bandoneon)
Recorded February - October 2019
Recorded at his home studio, Saluzzi Music Studios between February and October 2019, this is perhaps one of Saluzzi's most intimate albums to date. Coming more than 30 years after his last solo bandoneon album, Andina, this new offering presents a musician completely at home with his instrument, his music, and himself and the compositions (all by Saluzzi) are perhaps a culmination of more than six decades spent with the bandoneon as his constant companion.
In my review of Andina I wrote that "...this is not the music of my upbringing or musical heritage, but Saluzzi is such a master storyteller that is difficult not to be moved by the music that depicts a different way of life and music from ones own", and this is even more so of this new album. So compelling is the music that the album has been a constant source of delight to the extent that I have delayed writing this review on the pretense that I need to listen to it just one more time.
From the outset one marvels at the range of sounds that Saluzzi conjures from the bandoneon, and the sheer expressiveness of the playing. The opening number, 'Adiós Maestro Kancheli' is a tribute to the Georgian composer Giya Kancheli who passed away in 2019, and elicits a lightness of sound and touch that is jaw-dropping. And this is an aspect of the music that Saluzzi communicates throughout this beautiful album.
This conjuring of sounds from the instrument is highlighted on 'Según me cuenta la vide - Milonga' where the mechanical clicking from the bandoneon are an essential part of the communication of the music, and the piece concludes with a wonderfully brief yet delicate coda.
The joyous sounds of 'Ficción' tell of imaginary shapes that creates a tension that is resolved in the harmony, while 'Ofrenda - Tocata' is allowed to unfold at length in a that lends an air of mystery, apiece that is packed with incident and interesting yet once again subtle melodic lines that appear as if from nowhere.
Listening to Dino Saluzzi play the bandoneon is as far away from listening to someone playing a squeezebox as you can get. In his hands it becomes a virtuoso performance of melody, song and storytelling that is alluring and captivating recalling the traditional and translating it for the present. And with Albores, meaning dawn, Saluzzi also hints at the beginning of a new day and new stories to tell.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
ECM 774 7754
Dino Saluzzi (bandoneon)
Recorded February - October 2019
Recorded at his home studio, Saluzzi Music Studios between February and October 2019, this is perhaps one of Saluzzi's most intimate albums to date. Coming more than 30 years after his last solo bandoneon album, Andina, this new offering presents a musician completely at home with his instrument, his music, and himself and the compositions (all by Saluzzi) are perhaps a culmination of more than six decades spent with the bandoneon as his constant companion.
In my review of Andina I wrote that "...this is not the music of my upbringing or musical heritage, but Saluzzi is such a master storyteller that is difficult not to be moved by the music that depicts a different way of life and music from ones own", and this is even more so of this new album. So compelling is the music that the album has been a constant source of delight to the extent that I have delayed writing this review on the pretense that I need to listen to it just one more time.
From the outset one marvels at the range of sounds that Saluzzi conjures from the bandoneon, and the sheer expressiveness of the playing. The opening number, 'Adiós Maestro Kancheli' is a tribute to the Georgian composer Giya Kancheli who passed away in 2019, and elicits a lightness of sound and touch that is jaw-dropping. And this is an aspect of the music that Saluzzi communicates throughout this beautiful album.
This conjuring of sounds from the instrument is highlighted on 'Según me cuenta la vide - Milonga' where the mechanical clicking from the bandoneon are an essential part of the communication of the music, and the piece concludes with a wonderfully brief yet delicate coda.
The joyous sounds of 'Ficción' tell of imaginary shapes that creates a tension that is resolved in the harmony, while 'Ofrenda - Tocata' is allowed to unfold at length in a that lends an air of mystery, apiece that is packed with incident and interesting yet once again subtle melodic lines that appear as if from nowhere.
Listening to Dino Saluzzi play the bandoneon is as far away from listening to someone playing a squeezebox as you can get. In his hands it becomes a virtuoso performance of melody, song and storytelling that is alluring and captivating recalling the traditional and translating it for the present. And with Albores, meaning dawn, Saluzzi also hints at the beginning of a new day and new stories to tell.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
