UTRIP BUENOS AIRESA

Classical and Modern Music

Format: Digitalno + CD

Code: 120268

EAN: 3838898120268

At ZKP RTV Slovenija, in collaboration with Radio Slovenia – Programme Ars, we are releasing the CD and digital album Utrip Buenos Airesa performed by Ansambel Odeon, an ensemble of young musicians, primarily students and young professionals, under the artistic direction of violinist Timotej Willewaldt. The album offers three highly personal and stylistically diverse perspectives on tango. Bregović's Underground Tango, with its restrained, subtle yet inwardly glowing musical language, opens the door to the intimate world of tango and leads into the melancholic Double Concerto by Roberto di Marino. From its sleepy, veiled opening, the piece soon bursts into a lively dance, in which the accordion and guitar soloists take centre stage, skilfully intertwining their musical voices in a finely coordinated choreography full of rhythmic energy and virtuosity. The highlight of the album is the remarkable cycle The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires by Astor Piazzolla, which the composer himself performed with his tango quintet. In the 1990s, Leonid Desyatnikov, at the request of the great violinist Gidon Kremer, masterfully arranged the work for solo violin and string orchestra, following the model of The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi. Piazzolla's musical language is interwoven with echoes of Vivaldi, whose musical motifs are directly quoted several times throughout the work. Piazzolla sought to capture in music the pulse of the Argentine metropolis, its life and the diverse personalities of its inhabitants, while Desyatnikov enriched his musical world with colourful orchestration imbued with the characteristics of European Romanticism. By thoughtfully placing Vivaldi's quotations in reverse order, he also sought to highlight the opposing seasons in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Thus, in the Argentine winter, we can hear an Italian summer storm, while the composition takes us on a journey through all the “seasons” of human emotions and personalities. The album features soloists Teja Udovič Kovačič (accordion), Jaka Klun (guitar) and Maša Stopar (violin), with Samo Vidic conducting Ansambel Odeon.

“The story of our project Utrip Buenos Airesa dates back to December 2024, when we performed together at the musical evening Argentino as part of the Simfonic Voices concert series and unexpectedly filled the hall of the Koper Regional Museum twice. It was there that the main participants in the project met by chance and were introduced for the first time to Bregović's Underground Tango and Roberto di Marino's Double Concerto, both of which have now become part of our regular repertoire. When illness left us without a conductor the day before the concert, the project leader, Ambrož Čopi, happened to think of the young and promising conductor Samo Vidic, who joined us for rehearsals that very afternoon and impressed us all with his exceptionally quick and thorough preparation and musical vision. From the very first notes we played together, we felt a special musical chemistry, which inspired us to develop the original idea into an independent project. At the suggestion of violinist Maša Stopar, we added the famous cycle The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires by the greatest master of tango music, Astor Piazzolla, to our programme, which is primarily united by tango. Maša performed as the soloist, accompanied by Ansambel Odeon,” reveals Willewaldt. Initially, they planned two outdoor concerts in the summer of 2025, in Radovljica and Koper. However, following an exceptional response, they unexpectedly received an opportunity to take their student project into the recording studio and release it on CD, thanks to a donation from the Dušanova noč concert. “We rolled up our sleeves, brought the ensemble together and recorded the music at Radio Slovenia in the final days of the year. We are now delighted to present it on this album,” says Timotej. Having enjoyed making music together so much, they organised another summer tour of outdoor concerts this year, performing in Rogaška Slatina, at Bogenšperk Castle and in Piran. To round it all off, they performed on 22 October at the Jesenski Gallusov Oder Izbranih event at the Slovenian Philharmonic. “And so our small project, originally conceived as a week-long musical gathering of old friends, continues to develop and grow beyond its original scope. Every new opportunity allows us to build on our musical story, deepen our connections and discover new dimensions of creating music together. Utrip Buenos Airesa has thus unexpectedly become more than just a musical project. It is a story of a chance encounter, an inexplicable creative chemistry and the courage to turn a beautiful memory into something more lasting. Above all, it is a tribute to music that, through its emotional depth and humanity, connects different generations, personalities and musical worlds, carrying us on the rhythms of tango all the way to the heart of Buenos Aires,” explains Willewaldt.