Clair-obscur – Memorias, Astor Piazzolla Memories in 6 Tableaux (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

Memorias I: Memorias is clair-obscur’s birthday present for Astor Piazzolla, who would have celebrated his 100th birthday in 2021. A manera de memorias is the title of Argentinean author Natalio Gorín’s anthology of interviews with Astor Piazzolla from the 1990s.

That book gave us the idea to record this album, which provides the listener with comprehensive insights into Piazzolla’s musical environment. For the album Memorias, clair-obscur has taken Piazzolla’s six most important musical models and placed their works alongside his own in six musical tableaux.

The connections can be easy to spot; at other times, they are more subtle. Invariably, however, a novel, unexpected musical context allows us to hear Piazzolla’s music in a different way, with a fresh approach. Each of these musical tableaux is introduced by an original interview quote from the book A manera de memorias.

Memorias II: Memorias is clair-obscur’s birthday present to itself. This is the tenth album that clair-obscur has recorded in its current line-up, and we release it on the occasion of the quartet’s 20th birthday in the year 2021.

Many of the pieces on this recording have long been part of clair-obscur’s core repertoire. Memorias is a musical retrospect of 20 years of making music together. (excerpt from the Booklet’s liner notes)

Tracklist:
01. Clair-obscur – Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus 1 (Arr. for Saxophone Quartet) (02:35)
02. Clair-obscur – La Muerte del Angel (Arr. for Saxophone Quartet) (03:21)
03. Clair-obscur – Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus 9 (Arr. for Saxophone Quartet) (02:27)
04. Clair-obscur – Pavane pour une enfante défunte, M. 19 (Arr. for Saxophone Quartet) (04:55)
05. Clair-obscur – Milonga del Angel (Arr. for Saxophone Quartet) (04:44)
06. Clair-obscur – Circus Polka (Arr. for Saxophone Quartet) (03:53)
07. Clair-obscur – Four for Tango (Arr. for Saxophone Quartet) (04:36)
08. Clair-obscur – Milonga picaresque (Arr. for Saxophone Quartet) (01:25)
09. Clair-obscur – Mi Buenos Aires querido / Por una Cabeza (Arr. for Saxophone Quartet) (02:38)
10. Clair-obscur – Danzas Argentinas, Op. 2: I. Danza del viejo boyero (Arr. for Saxophone Quartet) (01:19)
11. Clair-obscur – Danzas Argentinas, Op. 2: II. Danza de la moza donosa (Arr. for Saxophone Quartet) (03:19)
12. Clair-obscur – Danzas Argentinas, Op. 2: III. Danza del gaucho matrero (Arr. for Saxophone Quartet) (03:26)
13. Clair-obscur – Danzas Argentinas, Op. 2: IV. Milonga (Arr. for Saxophone Quartet) (03:29)
14. Clair-obscur – Walking the Dog (Arr. for Saxophone Quartet) (02:50)
15. Clair-obscur – Resurrección del Angel (Arr. for Saxophone Quartet) (05:01)
16. Clair-obscur – Oh, Lady Be Good (Arr. for Saxophone Quartet) (01:44)
17. Clair-obscur – Got Rhythm (Arr. for Saxophone Quartet) (01:13)