"She is more than a superficial, fashionable crossover" (Isabel Herzfeld, Der Tagespiegel). "She has fire in her hands." Tangos on the piano: from the Philharmonic to the German President.
The Neue Musikzeitung (issue 2/2016) quite rightly called the German-Italo-Argentine pianist CECILIA PILLADO a pioneer and trendsetter. As early as the 90s, she surprised the conservative "classical" audiences of the Berlin Philharmonic with innovative repertoire, performing programs featuring her own arrangements of traditional Argentine tangos, Piazzolla's works, and her own compositions, before Guidon Kremer and Yo-Yo Ma tested the taste of tango. The piano-tango program seemed so interesting that many years later, she received an invitation to the German President's Summer Festival at Bellevue Palace. But first, the multifaceted artist had to travel to Hollywood, where she perfected her acting talent for film work, which subsequently opened her doors to German television.
The Office of the Federal President expressed its gratitude with these words: "...we would like to thank you very much for your impressive performance of Argentine piano music at the Federal President's Summer Festival. With your tango presentation, you contributed to an unforgettable evening for the almost 5.500 guests."
In CEXILIA'S TANGOS, she presents tangos from more than two centuries in brilliant and virtuoso performances, full of passion and emotional longing. Her tango arrangements are the work of an artist for whom the piano holds no secrets. Her style: a blend of classical virtuosity and a grand piano sound with improvisational freedom, jazz elements, and South American rhythms. Her classical pianist training is evident in various passages: Echoes of Chopin, Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninoff—not to mention the tongue-in-cheek Für Elise quote at the end of "Taquito militar"—can be half-heard through the texture of the piano part. In the CD booklet, she explains her close relationship with this music: "These tangos are dedicated to my mother. They are marked by the most beautiful memories of my childhood in Argentina. She, who came from Buenos Aires, always had the lyrics of a tango at hand to comment on everyday situations. One word was enough to prompt her to sing a verse from a tango that reflected a profound folk wisdom."
01 Vivid Pages
02 Goodbye Nonino
03 Dream of a bar
04 The Mareados
05 Intellectual
06 Ballada for a place
07 Choclo al piano con polenta (Variations on A. Villoldo's "El Choclo")
08 The last curda
