A Piazzolla Trilogy Karen Gomyo, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire & Stephanie Jones

• Astor Piazzolla (1921 - 1991): 4 Estaciones Porteñas (Arr. L. Desyatnikov for Violin & Orchestra):
• 1 Piazzolla: 4 Estaciones Porteñas (Arr. L. Desyatnikov for Violin & Orchestra): No. 4, Verano Porteño 06:50
• 2 Piazzolla: 4 Estaciones Porteñas (Arr. L. Desyatnikov for Violin & Orchestra): No. 1, Otoño Porteño 08:10
• 3 Piazzolla: 4 Estaciones Porteñas (Arr. L. Desyatnikov for Violin & Orchestra): No. 2, Invierno Porteño 07:17
• 4 Piazzolla: 4 Estaciones Porteñas (Arr. L. Desyatnikov for Violin & Orchestra): No. 3, Primavera Porteña 06:22
• 6 Tango Etudes (Version for Solo Violin) [Excerpts]:
• 5 Piazzolla: 6 Tango Etudes (Version for Solo Violin) [Excerpts]: No. 3, Molto marcato e energico 03:54
• 6 Piazzolla: 6 Tango Etudes (Version for Solo Violin) [Excerpts]: No. 4, Lento meditativo 04:12
• 7 Piazzolla: 6 Tango Etudes (Version for Solo Violin) [Excerpts]: No. 5, Quarter Note = 120 02:17
• Histoire du Tango (Version for Violin & Guitar):
• 8 Piazzolla: Histoire du Tango (Version for Violin & Guitar): I. Bordel 1900 04:10
• 9 Piazzolla: Histoire du Tango (Version for Violin & Guitar): II. Café 1930 07:49
• 10 Piazzolla: Histoire du Tango (Version for Violin & Guitar): III. Nightclub 1960 06:06
• 11 Piazzolla: Histoire du Tango (Version for Violin & Guitar): IV. Concert d'aujourd'hui 04:56
• Total Runtime 01:02:03

Info for A Piazzolla Trilogy

From the moment Karen Gomyo first heard Astor Piazzolla on disc, at the age of fourteen, she was spellbound: ‘I had never heard such a combination of sensuality, fierceness, playfulness, sadness and nostalgia.’ As a violinist she found the role of the violin in Piazzolla’s music especially inspiring, and soon started playing it herself – first in various group combinations, and eventually together with Piazzolla’s longtime pianist Pablo Ziegler and his Tango Quartet. For the present disc she has chosen to record strings-only versions of three works originally for tango quintet (Seasons), guitar and flute (Histoire), and solo flute (Études).

Piazzolla’s Cuatro Estaciones were initially conceived neither as a suite nor as a tribute to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Verano porteño (Summer) was composed first, as part of the incidental music for a play, with the other three following several years later. If the Seasons provide a soundtrack to the year as it unfolds in Buenos Aires, Histoire du Tango describes the development of the tango itself in four chapters – from the brothels around year 1900 to the concert halls where Piazzolla himself performed his tango nuevo. These two works frame three of Piazzolla’s Tango Études, which Karen Gomyo performs solo, while otherwise being partnered by the strings of the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire (Seasons) and the guitarist Stephanie Jones (Histoire).

Karen Gomyo, violin, direction
Stephanie Jones, guitar
Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire

Karen Gomyo
Karen’s 2019/20 season features European debuts with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin with Cristian Macelaru, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande with Jonathan Nott, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern with Pietari Inkenen, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with Gergely Madaras and Dresdner Philharmoniker with Roderick Cox, as well as returns to Bamberg Symphoniker and Polish National Radio Symphony, among others.

Other recent European appearances include Philharmonia Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Radio France, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Danish National Symphony, and in March 2019 Karen opened the Dubai Proms with the BBC Symphony and Ben Gernon. Further ahead Karen makes her debut at the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra with Semyon Bychkov.

Already well established in North America Karen has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Detroit, San Francisco, Dallas, Cincinnati, Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver, St. Louis, and Washington D.C.

Further afield her popularity in Australasia continued over the last few seasons as she toured with New Zealand Symphony and also appeared with West Australian Symphony Orchestra in Perth, Tasmanian Symphony and in recital at the Sydney Opera House. This season sees Karen return to the Melbourne and Sydney symphony orchestras. In Asia she makes her debuts with the Singapore Symphony and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.

Strongly committed to contemporary works, Karen gave the North American premiere of Matthias Pintscher’s Concerto No. 2 Mar’eh with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington under the baton of the composer, as well as Peteris Vasks’ Vox Amoris with the Lapland Chamber Orchestra conducted by John Storgårds. In May 2018 Karen performed the world premiere of Samuel Adams’ new Chamber Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen to great critical acclaim. The work was written specifically for Karen and commissioned by the CSO’s ‘Music Now’ series for their 20th anniversary.

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