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Hakon Skogstad: Two Hands To Tango
BySo how does the music associated mostly with the bandoneon and refined orchestral treatments translate to solo piano? Two Hands To Tango, from Norwegian pianist Hakon Skogstad, says it does so very well.
Skogstad, a performer of tango and an arranger/composer of music for the bandoneon, decided to adapt those skills to create solo-piano tango sounds, moving in a free flow between bass, chords and melodic structureas opposed to the "everything at once" mode an orchestra allows. Classically trained, with technique to spare, Skogstad succeeds mightily in the effort. The piano is, of course, an orchestra in and of itself. He renders this set of eight tango tunes, along with two of his own compositions, with elegance and passion, tenderness and yearning, mixing the cerebral and the earthy, with intensity and grace. By turns muscular and percussive, delicate and restrained, with a smoldering tension always lurking in the background.
Opening with the classic "Los Mareados," Skostad's piano work is stately and measured, flowing into ardent longing. "Sentimiento Tanguero" conjures images of tango dancers, men in dark suits, their hair slicked back, wearing expressions of intense determination; the women dolled up into the next dimension, with their slit skirts and stiletto heels, hair sculpted to perfection, bright makeup glowing just this side of garish, moving their bodies with lubricious slinkiness, while maintaining expressions of dead seriousness. Separating tango, the dance, from the tango, the music, is impossible.
Skogstad closes the disc with an his original composition, "Tristezas De Un Doble S," an homage to Astor Piazzolla. Skogstad paints a sad picture on thisthe longest (at ten plus minutes) and most beautiful tune of the disc. It's a sound with a dark majesty and tango-esque earnestness that gathers momentum that peaks, then slips back into deep introspection. A gorgeous wrap up to the set.
Track Listing
Los Mareados; Sentimiento Tanguero; Tango Del Angel; Milonga Impromptu; Felicia; Sur; Norte; El Marne; Canero En Paris; Tristeza De Un Doble S.
Personnel
Hakon Skogstad
pianoHakon Skogstad: piano.
Album information
Title: Two Hands To Tango | Year Released: 2018 | Record Label: Avantango Records
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CD/LP/Track Review
Dan McClenaghan
Two Hands To Tango
Avantango Records
Hakon Skogstad
Astor Piazzolla