Berliner Meister Schallplatten | Bolivar Soloists | Musica de Astor Piazzolla

Rainer Maillard (producer): "I met the five musicians of the Bolivar Soloists at a recording with Rolando Villazon and was immediately thrilled: passion, joy of playing, musicality, virtuosity, temperament - everything just poured out of them in abundance. I asked them if they would like to make a direct-to-disc recording with me. Well, first I had to explain to them what a direct-to-disc recording even was. They had no idea - how could they, because today all recordings are produced with state-of-the-art technology. There will be a completely analog recording and playback chain, but that's not the crucial point. I explained to them how a typical direct cut recording works: A single take for a whole LP side, no possibility of correction afterwards, intensive recording sessions with a much higher pulse. I told them about the different feeling of hearing the recording afterwards on LP instead of CD, and about the much closer collaboration between musicians and recording team. In the end: a direct-to-disc recording would definitely sound different than a CD production.

So much for my speech. The Bolivar Soloists agreed and it was immediately clear to them: if such a project was to be done, then it had to be with works by Astor Piazzolla, their great role model.

Some time passed, and then we finally found a date for the recording of the seven tangos. The process of such a recording alone is completely different from an ordinary recording. Of the four days, the first two days were spent just rehearsing, without a microphone in the recording room at all. The reason is simple: preparation is everything. The musicians cannot rely on the technical refinements and possibilities of modern sound manipulation. You can't cut after the fact. They have to play everything as it will be heard later: one to one. Without compromise.

On the third day, we only took care of the sound check: the musicians' setups, the positioning of the microphones, level ratios, reverberation rooms, everything was checked and optimized again and again (we used an analog tape recorder for monitoring), because the same applies to the recording team as to the musicians: after the recording, you can't change anything about the sound.

On the evening of the third day, we felt confident enough and finally arranged for the fourth day to be the real recording. This time we dared another experiment: friends and colleagues were spontaneously invited to the recording.

And so the direct-to-disc recording finally got underway on January 17, 2012. The musicians stood in a circle, surrounded by a small audience. The start of the actual recording still had to be briefly agreed upon - after all, the musicians could only start recording once the lead-in groove of the lacquer foil had been cut. And then it started, and there was no turning back. The Bolivar Soloists played like devils (or angels, depending on your point of view). We cut a total of five slides, three times the A-side, twice the B-side. Between takes, there were small pauses for intense discussion. After the last take (here synonymous with cutting a record side) the tension was released, we were in each other's arms. The violinist Juan Manuel said that he had never played so well in his life as he did during this recording. What a statement! And what an argument for this recording. Now it was just a matter of labeling the lacquer foils with a unique number and keeping our fingers crossed that nothing would go wrong during transport and work in the pressing plant. Because the same applies to the development of a direct-to-disc recording: there is no redo or undo."

Side A

1. Decarisimo

2. Fuga y Misterio

3. Allegro Tangabile

4. Tema de María

Side B

1. Adios Nonino

2. La Muerte del Ángel

3. Oblivion