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Ramon Tasat - News & Reviews

Argentina, Strathmore Style

By John Pitcher
The Washington Post
September 28, 2000

We don't hear enough of Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera in the concert hall these days. Of his contemporary and countryman Carlos Guastavino we hear almost nothing at all.

The Tasat-Kidder-Bloom Trio's concert Tuesday at Strathmore Hall in north Bethesda featured works by both composers. The group's fine and eclectic program, which repeats this evening, also included music from the Sephardic Jewish tradition in honor of Rosh Hashanah.

Though Guastavino and Ginastera shared a common national heritage, their musical styles were completely different. For Guastavino, melody was everything, and he spent his life panning for musical gold in the rich stream of Argentine folk music. Ginastera was the modernist who grafted complex New World rhythms and harmonies onto even more complex Old World forms.

Guastavino's simple and romantic melodies suited tenor and guitarist Ramon Tasat just fine. He brought an earthy quality to the songs "Bonita rama de sauce" and "El Sampedrino," sounding at times more like an Argentine cafe singer than a classical tenor.

At 15, pianist Jacob Wolfe Kidder is already a polished technician and a mature interpreter. He approached Ginastera's fiendishly difficult "Danzas Argentinas for Piano" with power, precision and a welcome degree of abandon.

Apparently, percussionist Steve Bloom has never met a rhythm he couldn't master. Throughout the evening he showcased a mind-boggling array of beats from Argentina, Bulgaria, Cuba, Morocco, Spain and Turkey. The trio ended the program with a sing-along to the Sephardic song "Mi El Kamokha," which brought the concert to a festive close.

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