CD ECM Records Dino Saluzzi, Anja Lechner: Ojos Negros

2007

Dino Saluzzi - bandoneon
Anja Lechner - violoncel

The long-awaited album by the Argentinean bandoneon giant Saluzzi and German cellist Lechner, known both for her work with the Rosamunde Quartet and her explorations outside it. It was, for instance, Lechner’s interest in Tango Nuevo that made the ongoing Saluzzi/Rosamunde “Kultrum” collaboration possible in the mid-90s; Anja and Dino have toured widely as a duo, too. Jazz Review editor Richard Cook described one of their concerts as being “as close to perfection as any music-making I can recently recall'. Essentially chamber music with inspirational roots in Argentinean traditions “Ojos Negros” puts the emphasis on Saluzzi’s finely-crafted compositions but also has a strong improvised component.

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The Absolute Sound’s 2007 Golden Ear Music Awards
Vibrations, Le disque du mois

Before virtuoso Argentine musician–composer Astor Piazzolla came along in the mid–50’s, the bandoneon (button squeezebox) was primarily known as a sailor’s ‘toy’ accordion.
Twelve years after his death, there’s but one cat with instrumental and compositional chops audaciously iconoclastic enough to walk in El Maestro’s boots: Dino Saluzzi.
The album finds Saluzzi beautifully linking up with Lechner, cellist of the Rosamunde Quartet, to take tango to a dark noirish place that Piazzolla lovers dream of.
Tom Terrell, Global Rhythm – May 2007

Their program at the Skirball Center was a masterful display of cross-cultural chamber music. … Lechner’s cello phrases employed the full panoply of the instrument’s extraordinary potential, from sonorous low tones to high harmonics, from jazz-like pizzicatos to the metallic sounds of sul ponticello.
The effect, combined with the intensely atmospheric sound of Saluzzi’s bandoneon, was mesmerizing.
The music was further enhanced by the remarkably synchronized rubato playing. Even in the passages that simmered with an undercurrent of tango rhythms, the time flowed like a living, breathing entity, with Saluzzi and Lechner combining their phrases with the impeccable grace of a pair of elegant, sensuous dancers.
Solo selections provided an opportunity to display their individual improvisational skills. But this was an evening for togetherness, for duo playing of the highest quality.

Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times (April 21, 2007)

The combination of bandoneon and cello sounds exquisite. The rasp of the former curls against the plangent cry of the cello like an old lover. Saluzzi and Lechner take that textural relationship to rapturous places, performing seven Saluzzi compositons and Vicente Greco’s title work with passion and breathtaking drama.
DownBeat (May 2007)

Lechner has been able to get inside of this music and especially become one with Saluzzi, whose music, at this point, transcends tango. The resulting performance is beyond category…
Whatever it is – and Saluzzi would say, “I play music” – its emotional impact derives from a delicate intimacy that emerges from the music’s depth and breadth. Lechner, as a playing partner, has tapped into Saluzzi’s ability to communicate directly to the listener. They are talking to us, or better, we are overhearing a musical conversation with all artifice discarded, and what is left is from their hearts to ours. …
Ojos Negros is another gem in the ECM catalogue of gems, and will continually show new faces and reflections no matter how many times it is heard.
Budd Kopman, AllAboutJazz (April 20, 2007)

The duets between the Argentine bandoneon player and the German cellist are obsessed with romance and injected with filigree. The new Ojos Negros can be wickedly intricate, but the lithe nature of the musicians’ interplay always makes it disarmingly natural.
MacNie, The Village Voice (April 18-24, 2007)

The art of the Argentine bandoneon player Dino Saluzzi occupies the gray areas among tango, jazz and classical chamber music. … Ojos Negros, his new duet album with the classical cellist Anja Lechner, is a slow, luxurious version of that gray. It relates to specific musical styles and histories only in passing. Moving through original harmonic routes, thick with intelligent emotion, the record is original, easy to understand and difficult to absorb. Its small dramatic gestures keep momentarily stunning you.
Ben Ratliff, The New York Times (April 9, 2007)

Lechner, Saluzzi’s longtime collaborator, is an ideal duet partner. She’s an insightful interpreter and a performer who listens closely and responds with sensitivity. She also plays with great immediacy, a distinctive elegance, and an achingly beautiful tone.
Saluzzi has perhaps taken the bandoneon further than anyone who’s ever played. … Together, they achieve an exquisite balance, and at times, such as on “Minguito,” they sound as one sonorous voice. Even as they skirt conventional musical form, Saluzzi and Lechner evoke a deep sense of sadness and beauty that’s universal to human experience.
Ed Hazell, Jazziz

If I were to tell you that four month into 2007, I already had a nomination fort he year’s best-sounding record, you might think me daring. If I told you that it features bandoneon and cello, you’d probably think me barking mad. But there it is. … What’s astonishing about the music is the amount of tonal color the two instrumentalists coax out of not just their instruments, but their interplay. Melodic lines shift effortlessly from cello to bandoneon and back again. Both Saluzzi and Lechner are superb continuo players, keeping the performances moving forward without endlessly recapitulating the same passages.
Wes Phillips, Stereophile