"Portraits of the Americas is a imaginative collection of Latin America music played by a thrilling ensemble... a well-articulated and energetic performance... Astor Piazzolla's Three Modern Tangos demonstrate the guitar's ability to produce a wide tapestry of sound and colours." American Record Guide - July/August 1998 Portraits of the Americas From American Record Guide July/August 1998 COPLAND: Latin American Sketches; PIAZZOLLA: 3 Modern Tangos; 2 Seasons; ANON: El Quitapesares; PIANA & MANZI: Milonga Sentimental; BROUWER: Toccata; CARLEVARO: Milonga Oriental; CENTELLAS: Polca Crucena; PIXINGUINHA: Passatempo; SALGAN: A Don Agustin Bardi; RODRIGUEZ: La Cumparsita; SANTORSOLA: Latin American Pieces Santa Fe Guitar Quartet Klavier 11074 (Albany) 68 minutes An imaginative collection of Latin American music played by a thrilling ensemble from Argentina. Even though Copland visited Mexico and Latin America between the years 1932 and 1947, he never composed for the most popular instrument of these countries, the guitar. Here we have a wonderful transcription of his orchestral work, Two Latin American Sketches (1933). The mixture of traditional Mexican melodies, Spanish and Latin American rhythms, Copland's tricky metric changes, and a well-articulated, energetic performance make these Sketches sound as if they were written for four guitars. Astor Piazzolla's Three Modern Tangos demonstrate the guitar's ability to produce a wide tapestry of sound and colors. The most attractive of the tangos is the 'Buenos Aires Hora Cero', with its jazzy bass pedal, percussion effects, and whistling--evoking night life and traffic sounds in midnight in Buenos Aires. In 'Adios Nonino', Piazzolla's emotional and sensitive side is revealed in a lyrical melody-- an elegy to his father. An uplifting set of Bolivian, Uruguayan, Brazilian, and Venezuelan dances in the Latin American Popular Suite remind one of the sounds of native instruments like cuatros and charangos. Appropriately included is the world-famous tango. La Cumparsita in the quartet's own arrangement in theme-and-variation form. Composed by Gerardo Matos Rodriguez, this tango has been widely used in movies and transcribed for a variety of instruments. The lyrical Valse Chorosa or Weeping Waltz by the Uruguayan Guido Santorsola brings a much needed contrast to the driving percussion rhythms encompassing this recording. The disc ends with 'Malambo' from Santorsola's Three Latin American Pieces, where impressive percussion writing and chromatic interplay between the four guitars aptly display the Argentinean cowboy heel-tapping dance. The quartet modestly introduce themselves as three Argentineans and one North American, the name Santa Fe referring to a region in Argentina. I look forward to reading their individual names on the next recording. AFSHAR