Payadora Tango Ensemble: Volando
Payadora
About 9000 kilometres separates Toronto from Buenos Aires, but the performances by the Toronto-based Payadora Tango Ensemble on its second album make it seem like there's no separation at all. Founded in 2013, the group came into being when violinist Rebekah Wolkstein, already seduced by Piazzolla's recordings during her college years, sat in with a tango outfit whilst also appearing with a string quartet at the same event. Though it was her first time playing tango, the fit felt so natural she soon sought out musicians for her own tango project.
Volando makes a strong case for a quartet that not only performs traditional and modern tangos but also original compositions and Argentinean folk music—a group, in other words, up for tackling any number of genres and meeting the challenge handsomely. Joining Wolkstein (who's also first violinist in the Venuti String Quartet) on the set are pianist Robert Horvath, double bassist Joseph Phillips, and Branko Dzinovic on accordion and bandoneon. That the members bring backgrounds in classical, European folk, and jazz to their shared endeavour makes for an expansive repertoire executed with consummate elan.
Though some pieces will be familiar to tango aficionados, they're invigorated by Payadora's treatment. The group's light-hearted side comes to the fore in the spirited crowd-pleaser “Mala Junta,” replete in this instance with whistling and even a punctuation of laughter. Even more charming is “Adios Muchachos / I Get Ideas,” a romantic jazz-and-tango hybrid that features Elbio Fernandez first voicing the words in Spanish and Wolkstein then singing it ever-so-sweetly in English (the Uruguayan singer also appears on “En Tus Brazos”). Different kinds of syncopation respectively emerge during “La Humilde” and “Nostalgias Tucumanas” in the quartet's infectious renderings of the Chacarera and Zamba dance rhythms, and the group even tackles Brahms' “Hungarian Dance No. 1,” re-imagining it as winningly in the process.
Similar to many a Piazzolla composition, the album standout “Niebla Oscura” is as much a formally composed chamber setting as tango; written by the album's producer Drew Jurecka, the elegiac meditation exudes a deep, milonga-like character that the quartet realizes with heartfelt conviction and grace. Darker clouds appear on the horizon in the title track, notable not only for its dramatic tone but for being Wolkstein's first-ever composition.
All four show themselves to be virtuosic and versatile players whose deep absorption of the tango form is exemplified by the precision with which they execute intricate arrangements rich in unison playing, counterpoint, and polyphony. Throughout the set, Wolkstein expresses a remarkable breadth of feeling, not to mention a technical command that sees her complement her tango playing with Stéphane Grappelli-like swing on “Adios Muchachos / I Get Ideas.” The others impress, too: Horvath introduces his own sultry “Tavasz” with a sparkling piano solo, while the playing of Dzinovic and Phillips is as unerring. This is a band definitely deserving of wider recognition.March 2018