Dino Saluzzi - El Encuentro (2010)

Artista: Dino Saluzzi
Álbum: El Encuentro
Año: 2010
Género: Tango Jazz Fusión
Duración: 69:07

Nacionalidad: Argentina

Lista de Temas:
1. Vals de los Días
2. Plegaria Andina
3. El Encuentro
4. Miserere

Alineación:
- Dino Saluzzi / bandoneón
Invitados:
- Anja Lechner / cello
- Felix "Cuchara" Saluzzi / saxo tenor
- Metropole Orchestra / conducido por Jules Buckley

Seguimos con el maestro Saluzzi, para que lo conozcan aquellos que no lo conocen, para lo revean los amantes de su música, para que lo disfruten todos. Su música es notablemente nostálgica, bella y minimalista, puede ser cercana al jazz o a la música docta, o alternar entre diferentes formas, pero es tanguera de alma. Quizás este es el Astor de nuestro tiempo, y quizás sus similitudes son muchas, pero ese aspecto de la música de Saluzzi, esa nostálgica y bella oscuridad que todo lo impregna, es propia y netamente reconocible en su música.

The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 4 stars stating "El Encuentro ("The Meeting") is a series of musical short stories that ultimately become an entire narrative". The All About Jazz review by John Kelman stated "El Encuentro, Saluzzi's first live recording, expands on its antecedents both in scope and palette". The JazzTimes review by Mike Joyce stated "Those who enjoy Saluzzi’s collaborations with his brother, tenor saxophonist Felix Saluzzi, and cellist Anja Lechner won’t be disappointed by their soulful and lyrical contributions, or the skill with which they develop independent voices that color and sustain the composer’s signature narrative threads"

Wikipedia

Esta obra del bandeonista y compositor Dino Saluzzi se caracteriza por un prodigioso deslizamiento a través de las fronteras de la música "culta" y "popular". El Encuentro, sinfonía concertante de cámara para bandoneón, violonchelo, saxo y orquesta, mezcla la melancolía tanguera de Saluzzi con las lágrimas del chelo de Anja Lechner, el túrbido saxo alto de Félix Saluzzi (alias "Cuchara") y el trabajo de la Metropole Orkest -según dicen los entendidos, acaso la mejor orquesta-fusión del mundo- para crear una inolvidable oda a la nostalgia.

El tema del video no es de este álbum, es un tema del álbum "Responsorium", pero me gustó la combinación entre la música y las imágenes, que parecen representarlo fielmente.

Since first emerging on the ECM label in 1983, Argentinean bandoneonist/composer Dino Saluzzi has demonstrated that even the most ethnic of instruments needn't be stylistically pigeonholed. From the solo recital of Kultrum (1983) and unorthodox improvisational pairing with Norwegian drummer Jon Christensen on 2005's Senderos, to the all-star grouping of 1986's Once upon a time—Far away in the south, affectionate, chamber jazz setting of Responsorium (2003) and outgoing, family-driven Dino Saluzzi Group's Juan Condori (2006), the bandoneonist has proven, time and again, that it's possible to revere tradition while, at the same time, expanding greatly upon it.
A parallel path on a second Kultrum (1998)—this time in collaboration with the renowned Rosamunde Quatett—and the bandoneonist's intimate duo with its stunning cellist, Anja Lechner, for the critically acclaimed Ojos Negros (2007), have explored a personal nexus of Argentinean folk tradition and contemporary classicism. El Encuentro, Saluzzi's first live recording, expands on its antecedents both in scope and palette. With Lechner and brother/saxophonist Felix Saluzzi as featured co-soloists, El Encuentro represents the bandoneonist's first encounter with Netherlands' Metropole Orchestra, a fluid musical collective heard recently on guitarist John Scofield's retrospectively focused 54 (EmArcy, 2010), and El Viento (ACT, 2009), also featuring 54 composer/arranger/conductor Vince Mendoza, but this time in a set of flamenco-influenced orchestral music.
In Javier Migistris' extensive liner notes, a single quote from Saluzzi is key in understanding the bandoneonist's compositional approach: "A lot can be told with few elements...The piece should not be too rational; it has to brim with innocence." Saluzzi's orchestrations may, at times, be sweeping, as they are on the opening "Vals de los dias," but they're never saccharine or melodramatic. Instead, Julian Buckley conducts this strings-only subset of the larger Metropole family through music that both whispers with gossamer delicacy and asserts a more powerful dynamic stance counterpoint, as Saluzzi and Lechner solo with a deep connection honed through performances including a sublime recital at Germany's Enjoy Jazz 2009 Festival. As the orchestra dissolves, leaving space for a duo of supreme calm and care-driven lyricism half-way through the piece, Saluzzi and Lechner's empathy crystallizes into a thing of such profound and breathtaking beauty that when the bandoneonist himself fades to black, it leaves a void for Lechner to explore with palpable melancholy.
"Plegaria Andina" turns more pensive still, the two Saluzzi brothers engaging in a minor-keyed duo that seamlessly leads to a hovering trio with Lechner, the orchestra only entering halfway, but retaining the composition's inherently impressionistic introspection. The title track turns more direct; a more boldly sweeping composition that nevertheless relies on the nuances of its soloists—cello and violin—to create a dramatic arc that builds to a propulsive, contrapuntal finale. It's a climax that sets the pace for "Miserere," with Saluzzi delivering a career-defining solo and fitting closer to El Encuentro, whose grander ambitions work hand-in-hand with unerring intimacy for Saluzzi's most expansive and successful marriage of folklore and classicism to date

John Kelman

El Encuentro finds Argentinean composer, bandleader, and bandoneon master, Dino Saluzzi, teaming up again with cellist Anja Lechner. The two previously worked together on Saluzzi’s collaboration with the Rosamunde Quartett, Kultrum, in 1998, and on a duo album, 2007’s Ojos Negros. El Encuentro also involves Holland’s Metropole Orchestra and the four extended pieces are the result of concert given at Amsterdam’s Muziekbegouw in 2009.
Saluzzi, who began his musical career following in the footsteps of nuevo tango pioneer Astor Piazzolla, has, since the 1970s, been evolving the expressive possibilities of the bandoneon (a type of concertina) with a range of musical projects combining jazz, classical, and tango styles. The same avant-garde spirit that drove Piazzolla can be found in Saluzzi’s music, as can a similar desire to incorporate sounds from around the world while still retaining an essential flavor of Argentinidad.
“Vals de los Días”, for bandoneon, violoncello, and string orchestra, provides a fine example of how these various elements are brought into play, as streetwise tango flavors mix with classical, orchestral patterns. As Piazzolla was wont to do, Saluzzi utilizes the strategies of a film soundtrack composer, mixing stabs of local color with layers of traditional orchestral wash. “Plegaria Andina” adds saxophone to the ensemble, courtesy of Saluzzi’s brother Felix. This piece is based on the track “Andina”, from the 1988 solo album of the same name. It is probably sacrilege to point out that parts of it evoke “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina”—even more so on this orchestral reading than on the original—but Piazzolla himself confessed on at least one occasion to liking Evita, so perhaps the association is not entirely unintended.
The title track boasts some pulse-shifting instances of controlled drama, as Saluzzi brings the music to a reflective lull, or steps it up with a dancing bandoneon line. There doesn’t seem to be quite enough of this, however, and one wishes for more danger in this lengthy piece. Listeners who have enjoyed Saluzzi’s smaller-scale work, either as a leader or as a vital sideman on projects such as Tomasz Stanko’s From the Green Hill, may wonder whether there is enough of the man on offer here. Certainly the bandoneon leads for much of the time. However, it remains a small voice within the collective, a fascinating, yet ultimately minor, current in the orchestral tide.
Where the duo setting of Ojos Negros allowed both Saluzzi and Lechner to shine, both are lost for much of El Encuentro. Their collaboration on Kultrum also had more fire to it, as can be seen by comparing its track, “Miserere”, with the piece of the same name that serves as the finale to this album. What was spiky and dangerous there is smooth and safe here. It’s interesting, and at times, quite beautiful, but Saluzzi, it seems, is capable of more when he works with less.

Richard Elliott

Otra obra de este maestro que es mejor que comencemos a apreciar, un verdadero monstruo de nuestro tiempo, un nuevo innovador, un gurú de la Música con mayúscula, toque lo que toque. Disfuten, viajen, sueñen... escuchen a Saluzzi...