Pianist
César Vuksic, who is Argentine-American, here offers a fresh take on the question of how to incorporate Argentine tango music into the format of a classical recital. His plan isn't entirely successful, but the entire enterprise gets points for ambition, especially in view of
Vuksic's own cover painting and booklet notes (in English only). His performances of a pair of
Chopin's "Revolutionary" etude (Etude for piano in C minor, Op. 10/12) is muscular and stirring, and the selections from
Debussy's preludes are unusually good, with an electric sense of mystery. The tangos, which
Vuksic avers that he of course must love as a "good Argentinean," are another matter. Arranged for piano (you don't learn by whom), they are pleasant enough, but they don't quite fit the box
Vuksic has put them into, and they've already been stretched quite a bit in the process.
Piazzolla's celebrated Invierno porteño can work as a piano piece, but
Vuksic, with no real need to do so, presents a truncated version of the piece. The other tangos are a mixed bag, ranging from popular works to experiments with the form that went beyond
Piazzolla's, but
Vuksic reduces them all to quasi-Romantic recital pieces. Nor does the tango, as dance music, quite fit with
Debussy's preludes and
Chopin's etudes, and
Vuksic in his notes even refers to
Chopin's mazurkas and polonaises but then does not offer any. He asserts
Debussy's interest in dance forms such as Javanese gamelan music, but that's dance music of a very different sort. The end result is that, although no part of the album makes a bad impression taken on its own, the listener has the feeling of lurching from place to place. Sound is strictly utilitarian.