los encuentros

…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…