Tres Minutos con la realidad
"...the Trio Animæ preserves the music's essential grittiness, driving through the jagged rhythms of Tres minutos con la realidad, for example, with a raw energy that rivals the blistering 1989 performance by Piazzolla's own Sexteto Nuevo Tango...Warmly recommended."
(Gramophone, april 2002) ///
"Once upon a time..." (2002)
The Animae Trio’s admiration for, and involvement in, the music of the Argentine composer, Astor Piazzolla, dates right back to the beginning of the Trio’s existence. It was more by chance than intention that, in those early difficult days of establishing and defining our repertoire, we discovered that the music of the Maestro de Tango Nuevo presented no problems of concensus – we all adored it ! Four Seasons in Buenos Aires, Oblivion and the wildly exciting Revolucionario were immediately taken on board, and were to become sure-fire favorites as encore material. Piazolla’s music proved to be just as popular with our more tradionalist fans as the avante garde. No surprise perhaps when one considers that it represents a kind of sumptious span between the romantic and modern .
Anyone playing Piazolla’s music will tell you of its almost addictive properties. We were no exception and it was in 1997 that we issued our first Piazzolla on CD, along with Charles Ives’ one and only Piano Trio – one of his most notorious pieces. It was the positive reaction of the musical press to this CD that gave us the courage, in the first place, to send a copy to Jose Bragato – the Buenos Aires arranger of Piazzolla music. But then we heard nothing ; our work continued ; new projects consumed our concentration ... until quite suddenly out of the blue a mysterious parcel bearing an Argentinian postmark arrived on our doorstep.Perhaps those distant European cousins had managed, after all, to produce something half way decent ! The contents of the parcel quite surpassed our expectations – Bragato had enclosed quite a dozen brand new arrangements of pieces by his old friend and comrade Astor Piazzolla. Not only that, he had included 3 pieces of his own – each in itself a magnficent example of modern Argentine folk music. We were speechless, and started work immediately.
Another year had gone by and the parcel’s contents are settling nicely into our repertoire. They have turned out to be hugely popular. 10 years after his death, Piazzolla’s spell lives on – through his music.
In 2001 we issued the double album – 3 minutos con la realidad. Within a matter of weeks it was sold out, though a second edition is now available at stores. On the crest of Piazzolla’s wave, we have toured extensively through Switzerland to top marks from the musical press.
This „tale of 2 continents“ is to be continued ... ///
"los encuentros" (2005)
…and so the story of the Trio Animæ and Astor Piazzolla continues. The tale of the “4 Seasons” and the first Big Pack “3 minutos con la realidad” is already familiar to the readers of Animæ’s Tribune 2002 . At the time, after our work on recordings and promotion tour, we were happy to concentrate on other things for a while. But, as with any drug, the feeling remained in our bodies, and it was actually only a matter of time before the Argentinian fever broke out again.
We had only intended to ask our friend José Bragato for one or two pieces, but to our joy, it appeared that in Buenos Aires the maestro suffered from the same fever. And so he sent us PACK 2. It was Christmas come early: Tango Ballet, Revirado, Zigue-Zague, Bragatissimo and and and… As well as music by the old guard of new Argentinian music. We sat down, deciphered manuscripts, added a few missing bars and sought to “tune” the harmonies to Piazzolla’s wavelength (after all, Bragato did recently celebrate his 90…) and slowly but surely were once again caught up in the maelstrom of Astor’s magical music.
Change of scene – in Lausanne, on beautiful Lake Geneva, violinist Jean-Christophe meets Alicia Terzian, Argentinian musician and composer. A grande dame, as soon becomes evident, who has no patience with obstacles. She too immediately recognizes the intentions of Trio Animæ, and is excited by the music our CD “Souls in the Dark” propagates. An invitation to the most important festival of contemporary music in Buenos Aires, “encuentros”, organized by this remarkable personality, follows. We are currently studying the work “après le silence” we commissioned from Dieter Ammann, and after some discussion about the program it’s time to book our flight to South America. Our first reaction, of course, is to inform “great uncle José”, who is thrilled at the prospect of meeting the “chicos”.
Fate, however, has an earlier meeting in store. In February 2005, Bragato is invited to attend some performances of his works in Lucerne. He travels in the company of his wife, opera singer Gina Lotufo, and the pianist Daniel Goldstein. The Trio Animæ spend an evening with these wonderful characters, enlivened by the master’s anecdotes. We say farewell, untill we meet again in September in the eldorado of Piazzolla disciples. In brief – as on a true pilgrimage, we are dazzled and overwhelmed by Buenos Aires, a city of 12 million inhabitants. The city positively “reeks” of Tango … where to start when confronted by so many ideas ? It will take ages to sort and review all our impressions, whether on paper or in our heads. Bragato takes us to the National Archives and – unforgettable moment – to Piazzolla’s grave in the Jardin de Paz. There, forgotten by his grasping ex-wives, lies one of music’s geniuses, and his comrade José Bragato has already reserved a plot for himself nearby… After many an “asado” (the Argentinian national sport involving the consumption of as much grilled beef and red wine as possible) and a few performances in this beautiful country, it is time to return home: our story with Piazzolla continues…
Et bien merci d'avoir accepté ma demande et d'avoir ajouté un gentil commentaire sur ma page...
Effectivement, le Tango et la Country n'ont pas grand chose en commun... Mais ça ne m'empêche pas d'avoir le coeur qui bat lorsque je vous écoute... en fait, c'est marrant, car il y a environ 7 ans, ma grande soeur m'avait preté un de vos disques que j'ai écouté en boucle pendant une période..... et là je vous retrouve sur Myspace... alors je vous ai reécouté une bonne partie de la matinée... Merciii pour cette musique qui fait pulser mon ptit' coeur...
Merci pour votre sympathie, votre critique, votre musique! Que la suite de l'histoire vous réserve le meilleur. Et, bien sûr, on ne vous ratera pas à votre prochain concert dans notre coin. Amitié. Adrien
hello Primasch & trio animae (j'arrive pas à faire ton truc ae ;)
j'éspère que vous allez bien & qu'on se voit bientôt ! à paris tous roule comme sur des roulettes, trop de demandes de concerts, je dois juste répondre au tél. c'est cool ! mais hélas notre séjour se términe fin juin et après c'est le temps pour mixer des nouveaux chansons, enregistré à paris avec de la scie musicale & contrebasse élequetrique, yes, c'est top !
Hi Primasch, Merci pour l'invitation, Pis voilà c'est des rockers qui ouvrent vos premiers comments..! Longue vie au Trio Animae.. Magnifique! A tantôt, Romain
