Rodríguez Explains the Tango

Charles T. Downey, In Smithsonian’s Steinway Series, Carlos César Rodríguez piano concert has pedagogical flair (Washington Post, August 13, 2013)

Carlos Gardel: King of Tango, Vol. 1

In the middle of his recital at the Smithsonian American Art Museum on Sunday afternoon, Carlos César Rodríguez did something intriguing. The Venezuelan-born local pianist teaches at the Levine School of Music, and this performance, presented in the museum’s Steinway Series of free concerts, had a flair perhaps more pedagogical than virtuosic.

What Rodríguez did was illustrate what a tango is by explaining its basic rhythms and then playing — and singing — “Caminito,” a tango composed by Juan de Dios Filiberto to words by Argentine poet Gabino Coria Peñaloza. [Continue reading]

Carlos César Rodríguez, piano
Steinway Series
Smithsonian American Art Museum