Classical reviews: Piazzolla and various composers

The saxophonist Marco Albonetti brings a new sound to Piazzolla classics, while the late Czech pianist Ivan Moravec performs works by Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Franck, and Ravel

The late Czech pianist Ivan Moravec performed with a compulsion to communicate (Rex Features)

Romance del Diablo: The Music of Piazzolla

Marco Albonetti, soprano saxophone, baritone saxophone; Orchestra Filarmonica Italiana  

Chandos CHAN 20220  

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ 

Marco Albonetti only discovered the music of Astor Piazzolla on the day he died, but that discovery changed his life. He loved its heady brew of Argentine tango, Italian echoes, jazz dissonances, and klezmer, and although his instrument was the saxophone rather than the bandoneon, he resolved to use it to give the music a new coloration. 

He believes this transposition can work because the two instruments are similar in the way they mimic the human voice, but I am not so sure. There is always danger in the sound of the bandoneon, the sense that a knife may be hidden under the cloak; the saxophone cannot communicate that frisson. Never mind, this is an enjoyable CD, with Piazzolla classics including Las Cuatro Estaciones Portenas and Libertango.     

Ivan Moravec: Portrait  

Ivan Moravec, piano 

Supraphon SU 4290-2 

★ ★ ★ ★★ 

Many musicians have been hailed as “the pianist’s pianist” or “a poet of the piano”, but in the case of Ivan Moravec those appellations are absolutely true. Born in Prague in 1930, the composer had a career spanning more than half a century, and although he and the international piano circus passed each other by – I never saw a profile of him in a national newspaper, and his one flirtation with showbiz was a brief appearance in the film Amadeus - his army of loyal fans were testimony to his particular kind of excellence. 

The subtlety of his pedalling was the perfect complement to the richness and beauty of his tone. And his own description of his objectives in performance speaks volumes: “The ideal mental or inner position of a player is to play as somebody else would play for you.” In other words, with a compulsion to communicate. This 11-CD set reveals his brilliance with the composers whose music most requires this approach: Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Franck, and Ravel.