Friday, February 25, 2011

Laura's Dream - Gary Burton & Makoto Ozone

I suspect it was a highlight in the lives of both men when Piazzolla first performed with vibraphone master, Gary Burton. The result of their collaboration was preserved in a recording which belongs in the collection of every music lover: The New Tango. This recording captured their performance at the 1986 Montreux Jazz Festival. Their performance of Laura's Dream was a highlight of that concert. Video of that performance was highlighted in this blog but the videos have since been removed from YouTube, presumably for copyright reasons. Fortunately you can still view Burton and Piazzolla performing Laura's Dream together at the Ravenna Jazz Festival in a two part video viewable here and here. That video was reviewed in this blog earlier.

Today's video features Burton performing Laura's Dream with pianist, Makoto Ozone. Burton and Ozone have collaborated for twenty years or more - most recently in a 2010 tour of Japan. They have recorded the version of Laura's Dream seen in today's video in the 1995 recording, Face to Face. Today's video was made that same year at the Münchner Klaviersommer jazz festival.

There are significant differences between the Burton/Ozone version and the original Montreux version. As a piece of music, Laura's dream is unusual Piazzolla. It is a long piece, more than ten minutes, rhythmically bland most of that time, and it is essentially serial as opposed to structural although the opening theme does return at the end. Presumably the title refers to a dream of Piazzolla's wife, Laura. And, indeed, the Montreux version opens with a haunting, meandering dream-like sequence but anxiety clearly enters the dream at the five minute point, interrupted briefly by a peaceful interlude at seven-and-a-half minutes before returning to anxiety at eight minutes in a very rhythmic, staccato section, to a polyphonic chase sequence at nine minutes, and a brooding bandoneón solo at ten minutes before drifting back to the original haunting, meandering theme as the piece closes. The original closes with the longest, most perfect glissando ever played by Suarez Paz. The original is very much a work featuring Burton's vibraphone and Piazzolla's bandoneón is in the background except for that brief solo at ten minutes. The version in today's video is clearly the same piece and Burton brings essentially all of his portion of the original score to the piece. Ozone fills in the rest and his work is masterful. In fact, I believe he brings some order and structure to the piece that is missing in the original. The final result is wonderful music that holds up as well to repeated listening as the original Montreux version.

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Thursday, February 17, 2011

Libertango - Glass Duo

It is a little known fact that the part normally played on flute in Donizetti's opera, Lucia di Lammermoor, was originally composed for the glass harp - so says Beverly Sills. It is not a fact that Piazzolla originally composed Libertango to be played on the glass harp, but today's video demonstrates that he could have.

The glass harp is but one of many members of the family of instruments known as crystallphones. The sound is created by gently rubbing a wet fingertip on the rim of a crystal wine glass - give it a try, preferably in a quiet restaurant. Typically, the set of wine glasses that comprise a glass harp are tuned by filling them with varying levels of water but the musicians in today's video, Anna and Arkadiusz Szafraniec who perform as Glass Duo, play a dry version of the glass harp where the glasses are specifically created to create the desired pitches while unfilled. The dry format was invented in the early 19th century but was popularized by Bruno Hoffmann who is almost singlehandedly responsible for the resurrection of the instrument in modern times and is also responsible for the name "glass harp" (there are many other names for a set of "singing glasses"). The set of glasses that Glass Duo play covers five full octaves and they suggest it is the largest glass harp in the world.

I was drawn to this video by the novelty of the instrument but it is the intense musicality of the performance that retained my interest. These are incredible musicians who have created a sensitive and unique arrangement of Libertango. Listen to the rhythmic complexity, the subtle dynamics, the pure harmonies - and watch the incredible synchronization of the performers. You are watching, I suspect, not just today's best glass harp musicians but quite probably the best the world has seen - ever. There are a number of performances captured on their YouTube channel. One of those is mandatory viewing for all readers of this blog: Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. They also have produced two CD's of their music available for purchase on their website.

I hope Glass Duo will branch out beyond the almost trite Libertango and explore more broadly Piazzolla's music. Many of his works would be most interesting played on the glass harp.

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Sunday, February 13, 2011

Libertango - 55Ewcia

Libertango is the most frequently performed piece composed by Piazzolla - more than a third of the Piazzolla videos posted on YouTube are performances of this song. This blog has covered twenty-seven versions ranging from horrible to sublime. I don't know how to classify today's featured video, but, as the only note on the video comments, it is ciekawe:)). It is one of thirty-eight such videos posted by the Polish songstress known only by her YouTube ID: 55Ewcia. Drawn like a moth to a flame, I sampled most of them and settled on her version of the hit, Jutro będzie dobry dzień, as my favorite.

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Friday, February 11, 2011

Entre Brecht et Brel - Saule Iskakova

Entre Brecht et Brel was the finale of the famous Milva-Piazzolla concert at the Bouffes du Nord in Paris in September, 1984. Today's video features Saule Iskakova performing this rarely heard piece. It is a powerful, melodic canción tailored for the dramatic persona of Milva. The text is abstract but it seems to explore the nature of reality for the performer - is real life the character on the stage or the person remaining after the curtain closes? According to the sacem registration, the lyrics were composed by Angela Dania Tarenzi (wife of Piazzolla's agent, Aldo Pagani) and Alberto Favata (better known under his psuedonym of Simon Luca), presumably in Italian originally. The lyrics were adapted into french for Milva's performance by the well known french song writer, Claude Lemesle. All three are credited on the Bouffes du Nord recording. If that is not complicated enough, the piece was re-registered with sacem as Finale when it was performed by Richard Galliano and it is now known by both names, sometimes simultaneously. And, there is more: in the only other recording of the piece that I can find, José Angel Trelles performed the piece in 1993 on his Inedito recording under the title Final de función with the lyrics adapted into spanish by poet and lyricist, Horacio Ferrer. The differences in the lyrics are striking enough that I have included both the french and spanish lyrics below the video. I have not yet found the original italian lyrics to determine which adaptation is closest to the original but you can hear the lyrics in italian in this video by Mascia Foschi.

The vocalist in today's video, Saule Iskakova, is from Saint Petersburg, Russia. I believe that Ms. Iskakova is today's best Piazzolla vocalist outside of Argentina, and better than most in Argentina. She approaches Milva in both quality of voice and drama of presentation. The performance in today's video was captured in Petrozavodsk with a local tango band providing accompaniment. While I hear some good musicians in the band, they are clearly not familiar enough with the material to provide the accompaniment that such a high quality vocal deserves. You will find six other performances by Ms. Iskakova and the local band on MrTozi's YouTube channel - all of them are good, but I think the one featured here is the best.

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Lyrics as sung in french (from the Bouffes du Nord CD liner notes)

Un crépuscule artificiel joue "limelight"
Quand le silence des rappels éclate
Un n'est plus rien qu'une ombre pâle sur un plateau
Que polichinelle
Entre Brecht et Brel
Et balaie le tréteau
Quand un dieu coupe ses ficelles de pantin
L'artiste es nu comme un rebelle argentin
Quand les pleins feux le démaquillent et qu'il se réveille
Le lilliputien géant
Redevient l'enfant
Qu'il était la veille

Pont la nuit meurt
On a fait l'amour
On sort côté coeur, côté cour
C'est la vie de baladin
Lampe d'Aladin
Qui s'éteint aux portes du jour
Je vais chanter
Sur la voie lactée
Dans un rêve plein de ta voix
Et je vais me réveiller
Tout émerveillée
D'être encor ce soir avec toi

Un crépuscule qui annonce une aurore
Une éclaircie en réponse à la mort
c'est le spectacle, c'est la scène, et le rêve qui
m'ont donné des ailes
Entre Brecht et Brel
Entre l'ombre et l'oubli
je vais partir en emportant le décor
Je vais sortir en te criant "encore"
Moi Columbine qui salue et redeviens moi
Je me rentre dans ma peau
Et sous le rideau
Je dors avec toi

Lyrics in spanish from (Todotango.com)

Salió Chaplín a dirigir la orquesta.
La farsa estalla con su luz de gas.
Piensa Podrecca los aplausos de papel.
Seré Harpo Marx, mi amor, y por vos
daré la función.

Si el hilo corta el dios que da la letra,
la magia muere; pero, no llorés:
le rogaremos al autor unos versos más;
la ilusión revivirá, y en la escena tres
yo el amor te haré.

Fue nuestro novelón de abril,
vos de frac y yo de soirée.
Y era nuestro loco amor
bella inspiración
de un poeta que nos rimó.

Te amé y canté, extasiándome
en aquel final color vals.
Lararara,larará... Y soñar los dos.
Y jamás, jamás despertar.

¡Por Dios! Crispín trepó a encender el día.
¿Quién ya en las máscaras podrá creer?
Es el teatro, y el dolor de celofán.
Cruje mi galán y como un mal Gardel
me olvido de mí.

Incendia el sol nuestra escenografía.
Sangrando azul de candilejas vas.
Ay, Colombina, al caer, te saludaré.
Agonizo en mi disfraz. Ya bajo el telón.
Moriré con vos.

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Sunday, February 6, 2011

Libertango - Matan Porat

There are 88 keys on a piano and I think Matan Porat hits them all in his variation on Libertango in today's video. Morat is one of the world's most promising young pianists. He began his studies in his native Israel but has also studied in Portugal, at the Julliard in the U.S. and most recently with Murray Perahia in London. He has won numerous prizes and appeared as a soloist with a number of orchestras around the world. His performance of Libertango in today's video was as an encore from an appearance with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra earlier this week. As you might expect from the creativity shown in the video, he is also a composer who, in fact, won the Prime Minister's Award for composition in 2009.

Most pianists keep a portfolio of encores in their head - pieces that are light and showy that will leave a smile on the faces of the audience as they depart the concert hall. Libertango certainly belongs in that category but Porat also has a wonderful variation on Tom Jobim's One note samba in his portfolio - I encourage you to watch it here.

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Friday, February 4, 2011

El Bocha - José Angel Trelles

Like Gilbert and Sullivan, Ferrer and Piazzolla created a set of beloved songs which have moved into the category of "standards." Less remembered is the fact that many of Gilbert and Sullivan's works faded quickly into obscurity at the time they were created only to be resurrected and revered by future generations who were rediscovering the music. One wonders if the same will happen to Ferrer and Piazzolla. Certainly a candidate for future resurrection is today's featured work, El bocha, sung by José Angel Trelles. If you, like me, don't own the CD, Piazzolla-Ferrer: Ineditos, you probably have never heard El bocha even if you are a Piazzolla fan. There is a fragment of El Bocha sung here by a younger Trelles but today's video provides the first time for me to hear the full song. While I am not sure the arrangement here is the best, the piece deserves to be heard more.

I am not sure when El bocha was composed, it is not listed in SACEM, but probably around 1975 when José Angel Trelles first joined Piazzolla's electronic octet as a vocalist. The lyrics created by Horacio Ferrer are available here but the score does not appear to be available. Since only Trelles has recorded the song and I find no traces of anyone else performing the song, the only copy of the score may reside in Trelles' collection of music. Trelles did not sing long with Piazzolla, 1975-76 and again briefly in 1982, but went on to become a major star who has toured the world singing the canciones of tango, including much of the Piazzolla-Ferrer catalog.

There are other relatively rare Piazzolla-Ferrer works which I have never heard on Trelles' Ineditos CD: Final de funcion, Existir, and Pepe Cascabel. Hopefully, these will eventually find their way to YouTube also.

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Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Piazzolla RTP Video

In February, 2010 this blog highlighted an original Piazzolla performance of Michelangelo 70 which had been captured from a Rádio Televisão Portuguesa (RTP) television broadcast which originated in Lisbon in 1987. The person who posted that video, Hugo Omar Viggiano, has now posted the entire broadcast - more than an hour of music and interviews with Piazzolla.

To my knowledge, this video is not available from other sources. There are some audio quality and sync problems but even with those, the video is very interesting.

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Note added 4 June, 2012: The original five videos posted with this blog were removed from YouTube. This video covers the complete concert and is a more than suitable replacement.

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