Tango for Two signifies the beginning of a period during which Weinzweig wrote several piano pieces. These piano works display many of Weinzweig’s stylistic characteristics found in his other solo and chamber works, such as dialogic textures, short motives, and careful attention to articulation and dynamics.
Tango for Two does not indicate a work for two pianists; rather the “two” are the female and male dancers. Weinzweig explains:
Weinzweig gradually incorporates the syncopation of the tango rhythm. Dramatic accents and pauses build anticipation to the passage labelled “Tantalizing,” whose falling gestures Elaine Keillor identifies as the female dancer. This passage is soon answered by the male’s gesture of aggressive foot stomps, depicted here by accents and an alternating right hand/left hand ostinato. The two begin to alternate more quickly until one last sensuous female gesture and a closing fortississimo glissando.
Weinzweig revised the work for harp in 1987. The two versions are exactly the same, with only some enharmonic changes to facilitate intonation. When listening to either version, imagine the scene Weinzweig describes in the score: “Eyes flash/He/She/Vacillates/Hesitates/Feet stamp/Then circle/To the rhythm of the Tango!”
Written by Alexa Woloshyn