The Other Side of the Bandoneón
Héctor Ulises Passarella, bandoneón

What you hear on this Album is not simply another bandoneón: it is the same bandoneón
that is played in tango (bisonoro-rioplatences), but played with a different technique that is used for interpreting the great classics and even contemporary music. If it sounds like another bandoneón, it is because, as you will notice, the instrument acquires a different timbre, and a different expressiveness, which was probably the original one, conceived by its inventor, the German Heirich Band.
You may wonder: what does this different technique consist of? It is the one I learned from Maestro Renè Marino Rivero, a pupil of the great Alejandro Barletta, which allows you open the bellows to their full extent and close them completely without any loss  in sound quality and without compromising the articulation of the fingers .
The bandoneón needs more literature and a more specialized audience, just as the guitar has today. In order to achieve this, it will be necessary to study it thoroughly and play it using all the different techinques which in tango, even if they are beautiful and irreplaceable, are not enough. Like a pianist who plays Chopin with one touch and Stravinsky with another, a bandoneonist should not play Bach in the same way as he plays tango. What a pity for the bandoneón!
I confess that the idea of ​​recording this work was my son Roberto’s, a musician, who not only made the recording but also edited the album in every detail. During the recording sessions, I felt transported to the past and anxious, just like when, in the 70s, I was waiting to hear my concerts broadcast by the Uruguayan national radio (SODRE).
In addition to my beloved Bach, Frescobaldi, Handel and Telemann, I wanted to pay homage to Barletta and my two Montevideo masters: Marino Rivero and Guido Santorsola. The latter taught me composition and conducting and gave me valuable suggestions for the interpretation of many pieces that I performed in those years, included his beautiful "Suite all'antica", presented here on this album, originally composed for two guitars and transcribed by me for bandoneón under his supervision.
In carrying out this work, I experienced once again the great emotion I felt when re-interpreting the great classics of the baroque tradition that were so much part of my youth when I first started my career as soloist after having performed, since I was a child, in the typical tango orchestra of my dear Maestro Oscar Raul Pacheco.
This experience as a "classical bandoneonist" has certainly influenced my musical education. Even today it echoes in my way of playing the tango and is at the heart of my compositional research into rioplatense music.

Héctor Ulises Passarella

Alejandro Barletta - Juegos

Héctor Ulises Passarella