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 | QuartangoCompradesLabel: Justin Time | Central & South America | November 15, 1997Format UPC Order # Unit Price |
Credits Stéphane Allard violin Robert Cram flute (on tracks 03, 04, 07, 09, 10 and 12) René Gosselin double bass Richard Hunt piano Mario Leblanc accordion Production Credits | TracksNo Title Duration Excerpts 04 Café 1930 00:06:19 05 Por Una Cabeza 00:03:12 06 Tierra Querida 00:04:56 07 El Portenito 00:04:00 08 Milonga Del Angel 00:08:12 09 Nightclub 1960 00:03:32 10 Concert 1990 00:03:09 11 Adagio, Tango & Fuga 00:03:59 12 Nueve De Julio 00:03:15 13 Tohu-Bohu 00:04:28 Liner NotesFor Quartango, the tango is neither the dance known by that name nor any of the trendy elements associated with it," explains René Gosselin, when asked to define the work of the group of which he and Richard Hunt are founding members. "By applying all the knowledge Western music has given us, we distance ourselves - happily, I might add - from the stereotypical and rigid forms established by tango aficionados.Androgyne is a piece that deflects this questioning of established form. Mario Leblanc explains It is a waltz, but one that sounds like a tango. That is why the title refers to this bisexuality of form." Barracuda is also a waltz but, as Richard Hunt says, "a waltz with tooth, one that makes you imagine running into a shark, a creature found not only among fish, but among humans as wall." Astor Piazzolla himself was fond of "sharkfishing° and the four movements of his Historia de tango - Bordel 1998, Café 1930, Nightclub 1960 and Concert 1990 - all have a certain bite. Here, they provide an opportunity to introduce Robert Crams flute, which will be heard again in El Porteñito and Nuevo de Julio. Robert Cram was for many years principal flute of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa and now has a career that takes him all over the continent. He is frequently sought after by the best contemporary composers and teamed up with the members of Quartango for the making of this album. "Our music," says Richard Hunt, "is full of rich, warm colour. Robert Crams flute is like a cool, refreshing breeze." Por Una Cabeza, composed by Carlos Gardel, gives the group an opportunity to reinterpret the traditional tango repertoire. Stéphane Allard says, "It is a very simple tango, played in a 'transparent' sort of way, 'undressed' to the barest minimum, very intimate." Richard Hunt has been working for a long time on the arrangement of Tierra Querida (Beloved Country). "I had promised to arrange this piece for Tango X 4, Ramón Pelinski's group, in 1979, but I was not happy with what I had done. When I joined Quartango, I tried again, but the results were still too rough for my taste. In the end, it took me 18 years to finalize this tribute to the birthplace of the tango: one measure per year! In El Porteñito, a tango-milonga, Richard Hunt includes a seduction scene between the flute and the bass, which, after a mad chase, ends happily enough. And, faced with the sheer beauty of Astor Piazzollas Milonga Del Angel, Hunt wanted nothing more than to explore all the facets of this poignant melody. Mario Leblancs composition Adagio, Tango et Fuga was commissioned by the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal. to mark St. Jean Baptiste Day, Québecs national holiday, we were asked to compose a tango based on the theme of Gilles Vigneault and Gaston Rochons song Gens Du Pays. This is the tango segment of the piece, to which I later added an adagio and a somewhat tongue-in-cheek fugue. Nueve De Julio is a traditional tango whose title is the date of Argentinas national holiday, the ninth of July. Mario Leblanc explains: In concert, we play it jokingly, as a segment of a suite composed of 365 pieces, one for each day of the year, of which we choose to play only this one. And Tohu-Bohu, the last piece on the recording, is an illustration of the groups attitude toward the tradition of the tango: a wish to create some disturbance in a musical genre that is a little too given to celebrating only its glorious past. Pierre Monette |
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