January 2010 Review of Piazzolla Videos

There were 510 videos of Piazzolla’s music posted on YouTube in the month of January, 2010. 381 (75%) 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-six percent of the performance videos were in the classical mode, 21% in Nuevo tango, 19% in pop and 14% in jazz.

Here are the most frequently performed pieces this month (Libertango was the most frequently played – 29% of the total; the others follow in order):

1. Libertango
2. Oblivion
3. Adios Nonino
4. Histoire du tango – Café 1930
5. Invierno Porteño
6. Histoire du tango – Bordel 1900
7. Histoire du tango – Nightclub 1960
8. La Muerte del ángel
9. Milonga del ángel
10. Primavera Porteña

The top three on this list seem to be fairly stable month-to-month but the bottom seven change every month. Sixty-four different compositions were covered in the videos this month.

The performance videos came from 54 different countries. Italy posted the most videos: 62. The top ten posting countries are listed in order here:

1. Italy
2. USA
3. Argentina
4. Spain
5. Russia
6. Brazil
7. France
8. Canada
9. Mexico
10. Ukraine, Romania (tie)

There were fifteen Piazzolla original performances posted. Eight of these were new to YouTube: Three movements of Concierto para bandoneon y orchesta, three movements of Suite Punta del Este, an interview which preceded those two performances, and a short television feature which contains some new video. 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 guitarist Alberto Morelli of Buenos Aires Hora Cero.

The choice for most bizarre this month is a video of a flamenco dancer performing to a medley of Piazzolla tunes played (and played well) on an electric bass guitar.

I have put a table with links to all 510 videos as well as some more information on the videos on the January, 2010 link in my Piazzolla on Video website.