Phillip Scott, Fanfare magazineWe are inundated with Astor Piazzolla’s music these days, most of it in transcription. He played and wrote idiomatically for the bandoneón, but when that distinctive instrument is not present (as in orchestral arrangements—even the composer’s—and chamber transcriptions such as these) we are one step away from total authenticity. Having said that, Histoire du Tango, a four-movement chamber work from 1986, was originally composed for flute and guitar and has been recorded several times in that form. Replacing the flute with a cello is not such a stretch: In particular the cello’s pizzicato passages in the opening movement (“Bordel 1900”) work very effectively with guitar accompaniment. Replacing a string orchestra in the Double Concerto with a quintet (string quartet plus double bass), and transcribing the bandoneón’s part for a solo cello is more problematic. It robs the piece of the bandoneón’s ability to thicken the harmony and perhaps makes the sound too string heavy in texture. The cellist on this disc, Sébastien Singer, made both Piazzolla arrangements; Histoire du Tango is the more effective. Singer, guitarist André Fischer, and the Casal Quartet (with guest double bassist Marc-Antoine Bonanomi) play with brilliance and flair, making the best possible case for the music in this format. The disc is titled after the 2018 guitar/cello duo La isla y el mar by the Cuban composer Leo Brouwer (b. 1939). This substantial piece of chamber music was dedicated to the musicians who perform it here. As well as showcasing the myriad colors the two instruments can produce, Brouwer’s three-movement piece explores Postmodern tonality (notably in the second movement, “Manuscrito de la isla y el mar”). The third movement brings a Bartókian attack to Cuban dance rhythms. It is a work of considerable weight, again given an authoritative performance. Brouwer himself is a guitarist, and his writing is sensitively and expertly interpreted here by Fischer. The recording quality is warm and rich. I enjoyed this program primarily for the Brouwer.