Le Tango Perpetuel
Ian Munro, superb pianist and imaginative composer, turns piano masterworks into chamber colour for the Australia Ensemble. The disc also preserves a rare late performance by tenor Gerald English in Satie’s Sports et Divertissements.
Claude Debussy composer
Erik Satie composer
Ernesto Nazareth composer
Ian Munro arranger
These transcriptions of Ravel, Debussy, Satie and Nazareth release instrumental colours Munro heard trapped in the piano scores, recast so he could play them with friends.
With the Australia Ensemble at its customary peak, the recording is one to be treasured.
In these four essays in transcription, I have aimed to bring further instrumental colour to masterworks of the piano repertoire.... I have frequently turned to gems of the piano repertoire that seem to me to contain instrumental colours trapped within them, begging to be released. To be honest, though, I have always enjoyed recasting music that I love into forms that I can play with friends, probably the best justification for arranging anything.
Artists

Australia Ensemble
The Australia Ensemble, resident at the University of New South Wales since its founding in 1980, is widely recognised as Australia’s leading chamber music ensemble. Seven principal instrumentalists form its core, joined by guests for standard repertoire and unusual combinations.

Maurice Ravel
Many consider Maurice Ravel a major composer for the piano as well as a genius of orchestration. It remains a surprise how few works make up his total output for the instrument: all his piano compositions can be performed in under two and a half hours.

Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy (1862–1918) was a French composer whose harmony, colour and flexible sense of key reshaped European music at the turn of the twentieth century. Piano, orchestral and chamber works from his maturity remain central to the repertoire.

Erik Satie
Erik Satie's piano music moves in slow, spare circles. The Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes rest on simple modal melodies and unresolved chords, cool, unhurried and strangely weightless.
Tracks
- i. Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant 1:36
- ii. Petit Poucet 2:54
- iii. Laideronnette, impératrice des pagodes 3:29
- iv. Les entretiens de la belle et de la bête 3:33
- v. Le jardin féerique 3:22
- i. Pour invoquer Pan, dieu du vent d’été 2:30
- ii. Pour un tombeau sans nom 3:25
- iii. Pour que la nuit soit propice 2:11
- iv. Pour la danseuse aux crotales 2:18
- v. Pour l’Egyptienne 3:13
- vi. Pour remercier la pluie au matin 1:59
- Sports et Divertissements Erik Satie Arr: Ian Munro 17:16
- Bambino Ernesto Nazareth Arr: Ian Munro 2:31
- Duvidoso Ernesto Nazareth Arr: Ian Munro 2:23
- Escorregando Ernesto Nazareth Arr: Ian Munro 2:35
- Fon-Fon! Ernesto Nazareth Arr: Ian Munro 3:14
- Nove de Julho Ernesto Nazareth Arr: Ian Munro 4:38
- Os Teus Olhos Cativam Ernesto Nazareth Arr: Ian Munro 2:31
- Resignação Ernesto Nazareth Arr: Ian Munro 2:29
- Suculento Ernesto Nazareth Arr: Ian Munro 2:37
Ma Mère l’Oye, M.60 Maurice Ravel Arr: Ian Munro
Six épigraphes antiques Claude Debussy Arr: Ian Munro
Performers
- Australia Ensemble · ensemble
- Gerald English · tenor · track 12
Composer

Ian Munro
Ian Munro has emerged as one of Australia’s most distinguished and awarded musicians, a pianist and composer whose career has taken him to thirty countries across Europe, Asia, North America and Australasia.
Where to listen
Le Tango Perpetuel is available for streaming through Apple Music. It can also be purchased through the iTunes Music Store.
Le Tango Perpetuel is available as a CD. It can be purchased online through Buywell Music or the Australian Music Centre which both offer online ordering.
Product details
- Catalogue number
- TP266
- Total playing time
- 70 minutes 44 seconds
- Release date
- 9 Jun 2020
- Label
- Tall Poppies
- Sound recording
copyright - ℗ 2019 Australia Ensemble UNSW
- Category
- Modern Masterpieces
- Genre
- Romantic & Impressionist
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