Luca Colombo & Sugiko Chinen - Yoshinao Nakada, Astor Piazzolla: Four Seasons, Four Hands (Arr. for Piano Four-Hands) (2018)

When mentioning “the four seasons”, one may be tempted to immediately think of Antonio Vivaldi. However, il Prete Rosso was not the only composer to draw inspiration from this theme: F.J. Haydn wrote the oratorio Die Jahreszeiten and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed the piano pieces Les Saisons. Instead, this recording deals with “The Seasons” by two 20th century composers, the Japanese Yoshinao Nakada and the Argentinian Astor Piazzolla. The profound differences between these two artists are not limited to their countries of origin: in fact, while Nakada put particular emphasis on the delicate and suggestive musical nuances, Piazzolla was moved by stark contradictions and strong emotions; while the former was characterised by melodic compositions, the latter was inspired by powerful and enthralling rhythms. However, upon closer inspection Nakada and Piazzolla did have something in common. First of all, they lived during the same time, being born only 2 years apart and having died within 8 years one from another. Secondly, they both had tight connections to their respective cultural backgrounds, namely the folk songs and the link with Nature for Nakada, and the Tango, with its social and emotional implications that strongly influenced Piazzolla. Finally, both Nakada and Piazzolla shared an eclectic composition technique stemming from their knowledge of classic and contemporary composers, through which they effectively reveal the most intimate nature of their musical universe.