For many years, I have been interested in tango music – in the first instance, the music of Astor Piazzolla, whose combination of soulful melodic writing and powerful rhythmic complexity led me to want to explore this style of music. More recently, opportunities to travel to Argentina and Uruguay for arts education projects, teaching and performing, have allowed me to expand both my CD collection and my experience of live performance of tango music, whether it be music from Época del Oro (Golden Age) half-way through the twentieth century or new styles influenced by jazz, contemporary classical and even post-punk aesthetics.

The title translates as “A sad thought danced”, which was revered tango composer Enrico Discépolo’s description of the genre. In composing the piece, I wanted to create something which drew on different styles of tango writing over the years. In three clearly defined sections, it opens with a big orchestral flourish, in Golden Age style, before a short solo viola cadenza leads into the first section, heavily syncopated with bits of the theme shared around the orchestra above pizzicato strings. Listen out for the “chicharra” (cicada) sound from violins, a technique used by tango composers, particularly Piazzolla, to emulate percussion instruments like the guiro. A middle section in the major (most tango is in the minor!) is quickly hushed up, and the minor mood recommences, each phrase ending with ever more exaggerated perfect cadences, known as “chen chen” with the emphasis on the upbeat rather than the downbeat.

The second slow section is an unashamed homage to those lyrical melodic lines of Astor Piazzolla, with a melody comprising ascending intervals of a fifth, which all the strings (except basses) play in unison at the climax. Listen out for the slow dragging figure (arrastre) in the cellos and basses which acts as an upbeat into new phrases. The final section is a nod to tango composer Osvaldo Pugliese and his “Yum-ba” technique, where there is a strong emphasis on the 1st and 3rd beats of the bar (Yum-) and the 2nd and 4th (-ba) are much quieter and sometimes have no fixed pitch. Listen out for these throughout this last section which gradually builds - also listen out for more chicharras as well as a technique on the basses called “strappata” (torn) which emphasises the Yumba feel. After the whole orchestra blasts out three massive chords, a fourth chord leads to a reflective close, with the solo viola re-stating the rising theme from the middle section, whilst the viola section has the last word.