Tango Suite

By Astor Piazzolla

A joy! Originally for Piazzolla's "Tango Nuevo" quintet (bandoneon, piano, guitar, violin, bass), Ms. Yamamoto's arrangement is very good indeed, though it can't capture every detail of the quintet version. This may be the best introduction to a large Piazzolla piece for accomplished pianists. (If you have...

a virtuoso cellist available, try Le Grand Tango.) I've played the second movement -- a beautiful milonga -- as a concert prelude. All movements are much more challenging than a glance at the notes would indicate.

Harder than intermediate level, the hands are integrated and the player must have a strong sense of rhythm, melody and a sense of direction. I love these songs, but I will offer 2 points of criticism: the middle slow piece gets a little repetitive and requires a nuanced performance to...

be convincing; also, the last piece is a little wild, but misses the most without drums/bass. The last tango is great the way it keeps changing moods/tempos/keys, etc. Great collection.

This was my first introduction to Tango for the solo piano. Actually, the Tonos rendition is to be preferred since it includes (also) complementary voice and bass. I did not think these difficult but then the quirky rhythms were not a problem. My only criticism is that a piano tango...

without voice or bass or drums sounds "naked".