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Regreso al Amor

Music by Astor Piazzolla

Astor Piazzolla composer
Anton Stachev accordion

Olga Artyugina violin
Ivan Subbotkin violin
Nail Bakiev viola
Maxim Akchurin cello

Release Date: February 21, 2025
Catalog #: BR8989
Format: Digital
20th Century
Chamber
Accordion

REGRESO AL AMOR from accordion virtuoso Anton Stachev celebrates the pioneering work and legacy of Astor Piazzolla. In this album, Stachev showcases both well-known Piazzolla masterpieces as well as less frequently performed works. The latter includes three duets for accordion and violin from Piazzolla’s Le Vojage, as well as three solo miniatures. Selections from Five Tango Sensations (Piazzolla’s final work) offer the soloist a vast musical canvas for improvisation. Featuring arrangements that combine accordion and string quartet, REGRESO AL AMOR is full of the passion and drama for which its namesake is immortally known.

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Track Listing & Credits

# Title Composer Performer
01 Adios Nonino Astor Piazzolla Anton Stachev, accordion; Olga Artyugina, violin; Ivan Subbotkin, violin; Nail Bakiev, viola; Maxim Akchurin, cello 5:43
02 Regreso al Amor Astor Piazzolla, arr. Lysandre Donoso Anton Stachev, accordion 2:00
03 Tristeza y separación Astor Piazzolla, arr. Lysandre Donoso Anton Stachev, accordion 1:52
04 La Familia Astor Piazzolla, arr. Lysandre Donoso Anton Stachev, accordion 2:09
05 Bruno y Sarah Astor Piazzolla, arr. Lysandre Donoso Anton Stachev, accordion; Olga Artyugina, violin 3:05
06 Viaje de Bodas Astor Piazzolla, arr. Lysandre Donoso Anton Stachev, accordion; Olga Artyugina, violin 3:16
07 Jardines de Africa Astor Piazzolla, arr. Lysandre Donoso Anton Stachev, accordion; Olga Artyugina, violin 2:59
08 Five Tango Sensations: No. 1, Asleep Astor Piazzolla Anton Stachev, accordion; Olga Artyugina, violin; Ivan Subbotkin, violin; Nail Bakiev, viola; Maxim Akchurin, cello 5:35
09 Five Tango Sensations: No. 2, Loving Astor Piazzolla Anton Stachev, accordion; Olga Artyugina, violin; Ivan Subbotkin, violin; Nail Bakiev, viola; Maxim Akchurin, cello 6:22
10 Five Tango Sensations: No. 3, Anxiety Astor Piazzolla Anton Stachev, accordion; Olga Artyugina, violin; Ivan Subbotkin, violin; Nail Bakiev, viola; Maxim Akchurin, cello 5:00
11 Five Tango Sensations: No. 4, Despertar Astor Piazzolla Anton Stachev, accordion; Olga Artyugina, violin; Ivan Subbotkin, violin; Nail Bakiev, viola; Maxim Akchurin, cello 6:50
12 Five Tango Sensations: No. 5, Fear Astor Piazzolla Anton Stachev, accordion; Olga Artyugina, violin; Ivan Subbotkin, violin; Nail Bakiev, viola; Maxim Akchurin, cello 3:54

Recorded June 3-4 & July 1-2, 2024 at hall of Mravinsky Music School in Saint-Petersburg, Russia
Recording Session Producer Alejandro Contreras
Recording Session Engineer Alejandro Contreras
Editing & Mixing Alejandro Contreras
Mastering Melanie Montgomery

Executive Producer Bob Lord

A&R Director Brandon MacNeil
A&R Jeff LeRoy

VP of Production Jan Košulič
Audio Director Lucas Paquette

VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Publicity Aidan Curran
Digital Marketing Manager Brett Iannucci

Artist Information

Anton Stachev

Accordionist, Performer

Anton Stachev studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and the Norwegian Academy of Music with some of the most influential accordionists of our time — Alexander Dmitriev and Andreas Borregaard. During his studies, he won international competitions in the United States, Lithuania, Poland, Italy, and Russia. Having started his creative activity by working in the genres of folklore and original music for accordion, he expanded his interests to genres such as contemporary music and tango nuevo.

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Olga Artyugina

violin

Since 2022, Olga Artyugina has been an artist in the musicAeterna orchestra and a teacher at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory named after Rimsky-Korsakov. She maintains an active concert career, performing regularly as a soloist at major venues in Russia, China, and Europe.

Artyugina studied at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory (the class of National Artist of the Russian Federation, Prof. M. Gantvarg), Reina Sofia High School of Music in Madrid (the class of Prof. Z. Bron), the Conservatory of Lugano, Switzerland (the class of Prof. S. Krylov).

She is the laureate of the St. Petersburg Government Youth Award. She has won a range of all-Russian and international competitions, including the VIII Mravinsky International Competition for Youth (first prize, St. Petersburg), International Competition “New Names” (first prize, Moscow), X International Independent Music Competition “Individualis” (first prize, Kiev), II International Music Competition “Rising Stars Grand Prix” (second prize, Berlin), XXVI International Violin Competition “Andrea Postacchini” (third prize, Fermo, Italy), II All-Russian Music Competition (second prize, Moscow), and the 56th International Competition for Violinists “Premio Paganini” (Laureate, Genoa, Italy).

Artyugina has collaborated with the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra “Classica,” the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra “New Russia,” the St. Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra “Moskovia,” the Karelian State Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the International Symphony Orchestra “Tavrichesky,” the Dagestan State Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, the Macedonian Philharmonic and the Macedonian Opera and Ballet Theatre Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Serbia “Camerata Serbica,” conducted by Z. Abdullayeva, M. Agrest, E. Bushkov, M. Golikov, Z. Gugkaev, L. Jovanović, A. Kantorov, M. Leontiev, I. Ponomarenko, A. Rybalko, B. Chadlovska, A. Steinlucht, and others.

In 2017 she went on a solo tour around the countries of South-Eastern Europe. In 2018 as a member of the Mendelssohn de BP string quartet in Madrid she received an honorary diploma from the hands of Queen Sofia of Spain. The violinist’s recordings were broadcast on All-Russia State Television Channel “Kultura,” on German radio SWR2 and BR Klassik Bayerischer Rundfunk.

Music critics and journalists have praised her “strikingly captivating, captivatingly beautiful sound” (Allgäuer Zeitung Stadt Marktoberdorf), and written about her “ability to find vivid and profound artistic images for each work” (Moskovskaya Pravda).

Maxim Akchurin

cello

Maxim Akchurin was born in 2001 in Saint Petersburg. Since 2019 he has been a student of the St. Petersburg State Conservatory (the Honored Artist of Russia, Associate Professor Alexei Massarsky’s class). He has performed with the musicAeterna orchestra since 2022.

He is the laureate of a number of youth contests, including third prize in the Sviridov International Competition for Youth Performing Arts as a member of the ensemble (St. Petersburg, 2017) and fourth prize in the All-Russian Music Competition (Ufa, 2022).

He took part in master classes by Sergey Roldugin, Oleg Sendetsky, Denis Severin, and Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt; master classes at the Kronberg Academy under Jens Peter Maintz (Germany, 2018), at the International Murren Summer Academy (Switzerland, 2018).

He has participated in the programmes of the St. Petersburg Music House since 2020.

He has performed in the concert halls of the Mariinsky Theatre, the St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonia, the State Academic Chapel, etc. He toured in Germany and Switzerland, participated in the concert programmes of the Vladimir Spivakov International Charity Foundation, collaborated with such musicians as Graf Murzha, David Grimal, Kristóf Baráti, Naoko Sonoda, and Christopher Chen.

Ivan Subbotkin

violin

Ivan Subbotkin graduated from the Gnessin Music School in 2000 (violin class of T.N. Kazanskaya). He went on to study at the Moscow State Conservatory (S.I. Kravchenko’s class). He worked at Pavel Slobodkin’s Theatre and Concert Centre both as a soloist and as an orchestra member. Subbotkin also worked as a soloist and concertmaster at the Moscow Kolobov “New Opera” theater.

He is currently a member of the musicAeterna orchestra, directed by Teodor Currentzis. As a member of chamber ensembles, Subbotkin has shared the stage with such musicians as Natalia Gutman, Eliso Virsaladze, Irina and Anna Kandinskaya, Pavel Vernikov, Alexey Garibol, and Evgeniy Petrov. He is a laureate of various international competitions.

Nail Bakiev

viola

Nail Bakiev is Concertmaster of the musicAeterna orchestra viola group. Bakiev graduated from Lübeck Academy of Music (Germany). He is the laureate of international competitions. From 2004 to 2008 he worked as an artist of the orchestra of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre, and from 2010 to 2011 he had an internship in the Hamburg State Opera Orchestra.

Bakiev has been a member of the musicAeterna orchestra since 2004. Since 2012 he has been an active participant in the Moscow Chamber Music Academy project. Since 2021 he has been the concertmaster of the viola group of the Mikhailovsky Theatre (St. Petersburg). As a member of various orchestras and chamber ensembles, he actively performs in Russia and abroad.

Notes

The music of the great Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla has been with me throughout my musical career. Since my early childhood, when I began my accordion studies, I was introduced to the Maestro’s immortal hits such as Libertango, Oblivion, and Adios Nonino. However, during my studies in secondary and higher education, the focus of my attention was more directed to original compositions for accordion, as well as various transcriptions of baroque and romantic music.

It so happened that I started to study Piazzolla’s work carefully and consciously after I finished my studies, when I was already quite mature. I was simply amazed by the depth, beauty, emotionality of his music, and his enormous creative legacy. The genre of Tango Nuevo that he created unfolds in very different colors: the amazing arrangements in his First Octet in the mid-1950s, then the formation of the First Quintet in the 1960s and finding his signature sound. Then the amazing creative endeavors of the 1970s and 1980s: the projects Conjunta 9, Octeto Electronico, Second Quinteto, and compositions for bandoneon and string quartet, chamber and symphony orchestra, which have had an enormous influence on many musicians around the world working in many different musical genres. I have always been inspired by Piazzolla’s creativity, dedication, commitment to his work, upholding his principles, and constant self-improvement.

In my album, I have tried to include both recognized masterpieces of Piazzolla and works that are performed and recorded less frequently. Such works are three duets for accordion and violin: Bruno y Sarah, Viaje de Bodas, Jardine de Africa from the Maestro’s album Le Vojage, as well as three solo miniatures: Regreso al Amor, Tristeza y separación, and La Familia from the albums Le Vojage and Sur. These small compositions are filled with very vivid and poignant images. In relatively short periods of time, a huge number of memories and emotions can pass before the eyes of musicians and listeners, conveying the amazing musical content of these compositions.

Adios Nonino is a great milestone of the Maestro’s work that resonates strongly with people around the world. The piece is based on Piazzolla’s earlier tango Nonino, written in Paris in 1954, from which he retained the rhythmic part and re-arranged the rest with some additions. It turned out to be one of the composer’s best known and most popular works, and it has been recorded many times with many different arrangements and with various instruments. The album features this work by Piazzolla in a combination of accordion and string quartet.

Suite Five Tango Sensations is the last work of Piazzolla. For me, this masterpiece is the quintessence of his creative search, the depth of his music that allows both accordion and string quartet to fully unfold. “Asleep,” “Loving,” and the cadenza in “Despertar” give the soloist enormous scope for improvisation and creative exploration, while in the parts “Anxiety” and “Fear,” the accordion and string quartet become one in an effort to convey the author’s intent and the emotional content of these parts.

I would like to express my great gratitude to the Piazzolla Competition and the whole team at PARMA Recordings for the opportunity to create this album. Working on it for a long time has inspired me to improve and explore the legacy of the great Astor Piazzolla.

— Anton Stachev