Gidon Kremer has been mentioned several times in this blog. He is largely responsible for the classical music world's current fascination with Piazzolla. His CD, Homage a Piazzolla, introduced me and thousands of other listeners to the music of Piazzolla. Today's first video begins and ends with video clips of Piazzolla discussing the tango but in between those clips is Kremer, as part of the Astor Quartet, playing a sublime version of Oblivion. The arrangement is slightly more sparse than that which appears on the Hommage CD and allows the virtuosity of Kremer to be clearly heard. The other three musicians: Per Arne Glorvigen - bandoneón, Vadim Sakharov - piano, and Alois Posch - double bass are understated and superb. To my knowledge, the Astor Quartet has not released a recording containing Oblivion which makes this video even more special.
And then, there is this other side of Gidon Kremer that I discovered in the second video featured today. Is that really Kremer in a sleeveless tuxedo "playing" with Aleksey Igudesman? And, is that Joo at the piano?
If the videos do not appear below, click here for sublime and here for ridiculous.
Sublime:
Ridiculous:
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
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