Borges cuenta que is an opera-ballet in which the tango element reigns supreme. It tells of a cruel story of love and death of a poor girl whose father is killed and who, by mistake, will also make her man die (the narrative cues are taken from stories by Jorge Luís Borges, the blind man who wanders on the scene as reciting voice), Bacalov gathered together all the linguistic codes of twentieth century music, from Prokofiev, Bartók to Shostakovic to draw, right from the overture, a muddy, oppressive backdrop, on which the “environmental” brushstrokes of the bandoneons and songs of immediate enjoyment: real fascinating songs with a South American flavor in which a deep and disenchanted melancholy spreads, or painful duets, like the beautiful lament that accompanies Esther’s punishment for the death of her father. Tango reigns supreme, with pages of great vitality, effectiveness and expressive variety.
