First of all, let us say that, despite the poor rating on this collection, the music here, recorded by two of Piazzolla's Argentine bands, is top-notch. First there is the Y Su Orquesta, a ten-piece-plus Piazzolla on bandoneon. And then there is the tentet, five of which play in the Y Su Orquesta. There are 19 selections here, none longer than five minutes; all of them Piazzolla compositions from the latter part of his life, where the tango had become the means by which the composer could explore the universal themes of life, love, and death. His harmonic sense in creating for a large ensemble was at its zenith. All the listener has to do is take in the four-part title track or "Adios Nino," or "Tres Minutos Con La Realidad," to understand how closely Piazzolla moved the traditional Argentine tango to jazz (the "Pulsacions" are very near to Gershwin in proximity of vision and execution, but are more passionate) and classical music. These are sublime short meditations on the same themes and variations pursued on Tango: Zero Hour or Rough Dancer and the Cyclical Night. That the music is far and away better than most of the poor studio material issued by the Milan Company, which is owned by BMG (with the exception of the posthumous releases of six concerts on double CDs) is without question. However, there is the issue of West Wind as a label. The same company that bootlegged sections of Anthony Braxton's Coventry concert and put out a skin and paste job with crummy sound. In other words, they are unscrupulous, and that shows here, too: shoddy packaging, no notes (we have no idea when any of this music was recorded, just that it was issued on CD in 1994) other than lineups. We have no sense of the chronology of the sessions or when the music was even composed. Bottom line: for the uninitiated, start with Tango: Zero Hour or Rough Dancer or Apassionada; for veterans, you already have this stuff recorded better somewhere else. This is another shoddy attempt to cash in on a man's good, well-earned reputation for genius by unscrupulous record producers. If Piazzolla had anything to say about it, these yobs would be sleeping with Borges tonight. ~ Thom Jurek