Friday, September 4, 2009

Verano Porteño - Nuevo Tango Style

So much of Piazzolla's music today is interpreted in the classical style, that it is unusual to find a video done in a Porteño manner - something that fully reflects the nuevo tango style created by Piazzolla. Today's video by the Cuarteto de Tango provides a nuevo tango interpretation of Verano Porteño. It is not a reproduction of Piazzolla's quintet version - they have taken some liberties in their arrangement - but there is no doubt that this is Piazzolla in its original format.

Verano Porteño was the first of the four seasons to be written by Piazzolla. It was written, literally overnight according to Azzi and Collier in Le Grand Tango, in 1965 for the play Melenita de Oro. The performance of the Cuarteto de Tango resembles that played by Piazzolla in the 80's rather than in its more original form from the 60's (an example can be found in the Live at the Regina recording). A good comparison to the 80's Piazzolla original is to be found in this video or in the Live in Wien recording.

I can find no information about the quartet. Their name, Cuarteto de Tango, is so generic that it has made them invisible to web search engines. Hopefully, I will gain some more information as a result of sharing this blog.

If the video does not appear below, click here.



To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.

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