November Review of Piazzolla Videos

There were 528 videos of Piazzolla’s music posted on YouTube in the month of November, 2009. 385(73%) of the videos were performance videos featuring live performances. The others were videos which used Piazzolla’s music as a sound track for photo or video montages. I highlighted my journey through these many videos in this blog.

Forty-three percent of the performance videos were in the classical mode, 21% in Nuevo tango, 21% in pop and 15% in jazz.

Here are the most frequently performed pieces this month (Libertango was the most frequently played – 28% of the total; the others follow in order):

1. Libertango
2. Adios Nonino
3. Oblivion
4. La Muerte del ángel
5. Invierno Porteño
6. Milonga del ángel
7. Verano Porteño
8. Histoire du tango – Café 1930
9. Histoire du tango – Bordel 1900
10. Tango Suite

The top three on this list seem to be fairly stable month-to-month but the bottom seven change every month.

The performance videos came from 40 different countries. Argentina posted the most videos: 65. The top ten posting countries are listed in order here:

1. Argentina
2. Italy
3. USA
4. Netherlands
5. Ukraine
6. Brazil
7. Japan
8. Spain
9. Romania
10. Russia

There were nine Piazzolla original performances posted. Two of these were new to YouTube: La Muerte del ángel and Nuevo tango. The others have been previously posted.

Quality of performance varied from excellent to bizarre. My choice for best of the month is the performance by Gary Burton and Piazzolla’s Quintet of La Muerte del ángel.

The choice for most bizarre this month is a video of a man smoking a pipe to the tune of Adios Nonino.

I have put a table with links to all 528 videos as well as some more information on the videos on the November link in my Piazzolla on Video website.