Dino Saluzzi and Anja Lechner on Tour By Wes Phillips April 15, 2007 — If I were to tell you that four months into 2007, I already had a nomination for the year's best-sounding record, you might think me daring. If I told you that it features bandoneon—a chromatic accordion—and cello, you'd probably think me barking mad.

But there it is. I've fallen deeply in love with Ojos Negros by Dino Saluzzi and Anja Lechner (CD, ECM-1991). The disc pairs the 72 year-old composer with the young cellist from the Rosamunde Quartet, whom he met in 1996 when the quartet collaborated with him on Kultrum. The two have played together ever since, frequently mixing completely improvised performances with Saluzzi's rigorously composed music.

What's astonishing about the music is the amount of tonal color the two instrumentalists coax out of not just their instruments, but their interplay. Melodic lines shift effortlessly from cello to bandoneon and back again. Both Saluzzi and Lechner are superb continuo players, keeping the performances moving forward without endlessly recapitulating the same passages.

So why am I saying this on the news page rather than a review? Stereophile will post my review of the CD, but Saluzzi and Lechner are taking their act on the road, and on Saturday, April 13, I got a preview of it at the Americas Society in New York.

You have got to hear them if you can. I'm talking total goosebump city. If you can't talk an audiophile into going, take any music lover. Whoever you take along will then have two new musical heroes: Dino Saluzzi and you.

Tour dates: April 18: Eugene, OR: The Shedd
April 19: Los Angeles, CA: Skirball Center
April 22: San Francisco, CA: SFJAZZ, Florence Gould Theater
April 24: New York, NY: Merkin Concert Hall
April 25: Miami, FL: Carnival Center for the Performing Arts
April 27: Columbus, OH: Wexner Center
April 28: Buffalo, NY: Allbright-Knox Gallery
May 28: Charleston, SC: Spoleto Festival