Slicked Back Tango

(Boosey & Hawkes Chamber Music). Tangos, like ragtimes and waltzes, are an integral part of Elena Kats-Chernin's music, always in a new and varied form. In it, the composer allusively combines her present time with the classical tradition and high art with light music. Slicked Back Tango was originally written in 1995 for piano four hands, the present version in 2002 for the Australian Streeton Trio. "This tango harks back to the time of silent movies. I was thinking of the 1920s and film star Rudolph Valentino. The title refers to his hairstyle", says Kats-Chernin.