Comme un Tango

Description

16 p. + separated parts, Level 4

French-born guitarist and newly converted composer Patrick Roux makes no secret of his love for the music of Astor Piazzolla. In fact, Mr. Roux, who now lives in Canada,credits the music of Piazzolla for compelling him to take up composition. In his offering for two guitars titled Comme un tango, his dedication reads "hommage à Astor Piazzolla." As one would expect, and even perhaps hope, the score is inthe style of the great Argentine composer's many tangos. Roux' s homage is a short offering, lasting only a few minutes. The guitar parts are weil conceived, and the interplay between the two is clever. As one would also expect, the language is tonal (mostly in a B minor / major center) and largely exploits the style so convincingly forged by Piazzoila, As a rule, I usually don't enjoy works of this nature. I am suspicious of fledgling composers who are obviously exploiting the style created by a more seasoned master. My bias being stated, I actually really dug this piece. What makes it an offering worth learning by a duo is its sense of instrumental place. The individual parts are fun to play, and the interplay between them has a fresh, improvisatory feel to it. Another strength is its length. A weakness I have always found in the music of Piazzolla is its length. There are many works that simply overstay their welcome. In Roux's "Comme un tango" the brevity is refreshing. His score is concise, energetic music that is focused on a single musical task throughout.

Another strength is the publication. This is a publisher who has taken great care with layout and editing. In general, most guitarworks from Canadian publishers are of the highest quality, and Les Productions d'OZ can proudly join the ranks of the best of them. The work comes with beautiful parts that do expose a compositional problem: both guitars are playing in every measure of the piece, hence difficuIt page turns. (This is a problem shared by many guitar duets.) However, in a piece as short as this, the flaw of nonstop jamming by both guitarists is small. Since there are no rests in either guitar part, there is no convenient place where a page turn can be inserted into the printed parts. Stuff like this happens sometimes. Any duo wishing to play this delightful homage will have to figure out its own page turns. It is worth the effort.

(Bryan Johanson, Soundboard, autumn 2002)