With a 6=D pizzicato opening section, this piece is at once a tango and at once atmospherically modal. With such concise articulations in part three, it might have been possible to dispense with rests that follow each staccato by using a longer note and a staccatissimo - it would make the score easier on the eye. But the part is much like a ground bass and the eye does not have a lot of work to do. Over the top is a rather pleasing variety of percussion, well-explained in English and French, and breaking up some rather sinister bare fifths and aggressive discords. Semiquavers 1/16 notes - are asserted and echoed in parts one and two, but all the time, the mood is sombre and
oppressive. The top parts move to harmonies and pizzicato and a shaft of sunlight appears in the form of a major key.
Interestingly, the bass plods on insistently with its tango structure until the coda, where suddenly the structure of the piece changes and the top part performs almost a small cadenza before the bass returns - curiously now one beat out of step with the remainder of the piece.
ln terms of complexity, the relaxed tempo means that it becomes accessible to about Grade 6-7 players, with the bass part being distinctly less vulnerable and exposed. The parts are clear with no page turns. An interesting little piece. I would have loved it to burst forth more in the middle but perhaps that's all part of the tease of the tango!
Derek Hasted (Classical Guitar Magazine)
