Camarada’s Program ‘Tango Intimo’ Opens Weeklong Tango Festival in San Diego and Tijuana

By Ken Herman, San Diego Story

Camarada, San Diego’s adventurous chamber music presenter, opened its weeklong International Art of Tango Festival Tuesday with a spirited concert ‘Tango Intimo’ at UC San Diego Park & Market Tuesday evening.

For this concert, the intrepid Camarada Tango Quartet of flutist Beth Ross Buckley, violinist David Buckley, pianist Dana Burnett , and double bassist Andrés Martín was joined by bandoneon maestro Pablo Jaurena. Nothing authenticates the musical sonority of Argentine tango like the reedy presence of a bandoneon, although finding a skilled bandoneon player in North America is daunting. Calling the local Musicians Union to ask for a list of available bandoneon players would be a wasted phone call.

Fortunately, in 2024 when the Camarada Tango Quartet was performing its concert tour of Uruguay and Argentina, they met the Argentine virtuoso of the bandoneon, Pablo Jaurena, and invited him to join them in San Diego and Tijuana for this Tango Festival.

At Tuesday’s Camarada concert, we heard a dozen tangos featuring a healthy portion of compositions by Astor Piazzolla, Argentina’s master of the nuevo tango, and Andrés Martín, the group’s resident composer. The Tango Quartet opened the concert with Mártín’s Horizon & Voladora, a vivacious tango—at least after its quiet, mysterious prelude—propelled by pulsing double bass rhythms from the composer and crowned with soaring flute solos by Beth Ross Buckley. I particularly enjoyed the vivid duo (duel?) between violinist David Buckley and pianist Dana Burnett.

Tanti Anni Prima for violin and piano found Piazzolla in a reflective, deeply nostalgic mode, eloquently communicated by violinist David Buckley. On the other hand, Piazzolla’s exuberant yet sophisticated Decarísimo, dedicated to the earlier Argentine tango maestro violinist Julio De Caro, provided a lithe contrapuntal match for bassist Martín and flutist Beth Ross Buckley.

Pablo Jaurena proved his technical prowess on the bandoneon in De Profesión by the late Julio Pane, the First Bandoneon in Buenos Aires’ Orquesta del Tango. This light-hearted, episodic solo tango benefitted from the instrument’s rich, warm timbre and from Jaurena’s deft phrasing. He explained to the audience that Pane was his teacher in Buenos Aires, and the homage to his teacher was moving. In another bandoneon solo, Piazzolla’s Lo Que Vendra, Jaurena’s subtle dynamic variation displayed the instrument’s ability to communicate suavely the composer’s graceful melodies.

Jaurena and Martín collaborated brilliantly in La Trampera, a spirited milonga by Aníbal Troilo, another illustrious Argentine tango composer from the mid-20th century. Combat and collaboration proved defining roles in Jaurena’s bandoneon duo with flutist Beth Ross Buckley in Juan José Mosalini’s Aller en retour.

Martín’s Sueños Suite hurled bruising dramatic challenges at pianist Dana Burnett in a movement that was more nightmare than sweet dream. Fortunately, Burnett valiantly subdued these challenges with gusto.

Martín’s Tango Intimo, the one piece that involved all five musicians, aptly closed the program with its provocative balance of assertive, percussive themes at the opening—introduced vigorously by the double bass—and a slow sentimental interlude ardently crafted by the piano and flute.

Camarada’s encore: Don Austin Bardi by Horacio Salgán.

This concert was presented by Camarada at UC San Diego Park & Market on Tuesday, February 25, 2025.