Astor Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina on March 11, 1921. The occasion of the 90th anniversary of that day is leading to celebratory concerts around the world throughout the month of March. Today's featured video comes from one of the most important of those celebrations. It is from a concert held in Buenos Aires at the Eva Peron Amphitheater in the Parque Centenario. Some 1700 people were lucky enough to get one of the free tickets to the concert to hear two stars involved in the early success of Piazzolla: Horacio Ferrer and Amelita Baltar. Ferrer was the primary lyrical collaborator with Piazzolla and Baltar was the lead singer for Piazzolla from 1968 to 1975 and was Piazzolla's constant companion during that period. We are fortunate that Flavio Pigazzi captured most, perhaps all, of the concert on video and shared it on YouTube.
As this is being written, there are sixteen videos from this concert posted and perhaps there are more to come. The video I have chosen features Ms. Baltar performing the Piazzolla/Ferrer classic, Balada para un loco, which she first introduced to the world in 1969. You can find the other fifteen videos on Flavio Pigazzi's YouTube Channel. Ms. Baltar is backed in the video by the Orquesta del Tango de Buenos Aires which is led through the concert by a variety of conductors including Raúl Garello, Néstor Marconi and Juan Carlos Cuacci. The notes do not so indicate, but I believe that is Marconi with the baton in the video. Ms. Baltar owns this song and her performance here is spectacular. Note that at the end of the video, Horacio Ferrer, who wrote the lyrics, joins her on the stage. Mr. Ferrer performs a number of the works which he and Piazzolla created, singing them even, in other videos from this concert - don't miss them.
My thanks to Mr. Pagazzi for sharing the video and I encourage you all to visit his excellent blog, Hagan Ruido.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
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Sunday, March 13, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
Fuga y Misterio - The Folk Process
Musicologists are fond of citing the folk process at work in such tunes as Barbara Allen or Fisher's hornpipe. The original tune or lyrics are transmogrified to something different as they pass aurally from musician to musician. Classical musicians think of themselves as "above" the folk process but it goes on there too - at least it does with Piazzolla's Fuga y misterio. Fuga y misterio began as incidental instrumental music for the operita, Maria de Buenos Aires. It is played as Maria leaves the suburbs, enters the city and wanders in bewilderment. The first video below features the audio track of the original version from the initial production of the work in 1968. Piazzolla himself opens the fugue on the bandoneón.
The great classical popularizer of Piazzolla's music, Gidon Kremer, plays a very literal interpretation of the work on his CD, Maria de Buenos Aires. Even the instrumentation remains the same. No folk process at work here. But then, vibraphonist Andrei Pushkarev, makes an astonishing creative leap and arranges a second version for Kremer which bursts with jazz energy. Arguably, it is a better piece of music than the original. Kremer and Pushkarev would call it "an arrangement", but it looks like folk process to me. That version is the second video below.
And then in another astonishing creative leap, Natalie Galstyan, has "transcribed and arranged" Pushkarev's arrangement for chamber orchestra and voices. "Transcribed" usually means "I don't have the original score but I listened carefully and wrote down the music for what I heard." In this case, Ms. Galsyan took the additional step of arranging it again. Sounds to me like the folk process at work. Arguably, it is a better piece of music than Mr. Pushkarev's. The "misterio" section now becomes a full blown, ragtime-gypsy-inspired celebration topped off with some Swingle singer type vocalization. The result is a real crowd pleaser that should be replicated in concert halls all around the world. That version becomes the third video posted below.
Pushkarev, one of my favorite interpreters of Piazzolla, has been featured in this blog before. Ms. Galstyan and her Dominatus Vox Orchestra are new to me and for such a unique and talented organization they deserve more attention - something like a world tour. I was unable to find much information about Ms. Galstyan but she is clearly both a creative force and a very confident, charismatic and photogenic musical leader. It would not surprise me to see her "discovered" and find herself on the fast track to fame. Armenia's loss would be the musical world's gain.
If the videos do not appear below, click here for the original -- here for the Pushkarev/Kremer version -- and, here for the Galstyan/Dominatus Vox version
The Original
Pushkarev/Kremer
Galstyan/Dominatus Vox
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
The great classical popularizer of Piazzolla's music, Gidon Kremer, plays a very literal interpretation of the work on his CD, Maria de Buenos Aires. Even the instrumentation remains the same. No folk process at work here. But then, vibraphonist Andrei Pushkarev, makes an astonishing creative leap and arranges a second version for Kremer which bursts with jazz energy. Arguably, it is a better piece of music than the original. Kremer and Pushkarev would call it "an arrangement", but it looks like folk process to me. That version is the second video below.
And then in another astonishing creative leap, Natalie Galstyan, has "transcribed and arranged" Pushkarev's arrangement for chamber orchestra and voices. "Transcribed" usually means "I don't have the original score but I listened carefully and wrote down the music for what I heard." In this case, Ms. Galsyan took the additional step of arranging it again. Sounds to me like the folk process at work. Arguably, it is a better piece of music than Mr. Pushkarev's. The "misterio" section now becomes a full blown, ragtime-gypsy-inspired celebration topped off with some Swingle singer type vocalization. The result is a real crowd pleaser that should be replicated in concert halls all around the world. That version becomes the third video posted below.
Pushkarev, one of my favorite interpreters of Piazzolla, has been featured in this blog before. Ms. Galstyan and her Dominatus Vox Orchestra are new to me and for such a unique and talented organization they deserve more attention - something like a world tour. I was unable to find much information about Ms. Galstyan but she is clearly both a creative force and a very confident, charismatic and photogenic musical leader. It would not surprise me to see her "discovered" and find herself on the fast track to fame. Armenia's loss would be the musical world's gain.
If the videos do not appear below, click here for the original -- here for the Pushkarev/Kremer version -- and, here for the Galstyan/Dominatus Vox version
The Original
Pushkarev/Kremer
Galstyan/Dominatus Vox
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Libertango - Ocarina Quartet
We can perhaps thank Link from the land of Hyrule for inspiring today's video. Link is the hero in Nintendo's Legend of Zelda series which hit its high water mark with the sale of approximately six million copies of The Ocarina of Time. The New York Times reported sales of ocarinas soared with the release of the video game. Members of the ensemble featured in today's video of Libertango are not, however, from Hyrule, they are from Taiwan. And, Libertango is just one of five ocarina quartet videos you will find on c601263's YouTube channel
There are places in this world where ocarinas are not unusual but for most of us, an ocarina is a bit of an exotic. The name comes from the Italian word for "little goose", no doubt because ocarinas were once made to closely resemble a little goose. You can still find those - in fact I once saw in Zurich a glass case filled with ocarina's in shapes of many animals, including a goose. But today, most of them are made in a shape which more closely resembles a root vegetable than a goose. In fact, a common name for the instrument in America is "sweet potato." The italian firm of Fabio Managlio still makes some of the best ocarinas in the world but there are hundreds of craftsman producing ocarinas all over the world. If you must have one for yourself, you can find them for prices of under $10 to nearly $2,000 at STL Ocarina and, I suspect, at a music shop near you.
Musically, the performance by the ensemble in today's video is not their best but it does deserve a place in our collection of "Libertango on unusual instruments."
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
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There are places in this world where ocarinas are not unusual but for most of us, an ocarina is a bit of an exotic. The name comes from the Italian word for "little goose", no doubt because ocarinas were once made to closely resemble a little goose. You can still find those - in fact I once saw in Zurich a glass case filled with ocarina's in shapes of many animals, including a goose. But today, most of them are made in a shape which more closely resembles a root vegetable than a goose. In fact, a common name for the instrument in America is "sweet potato." The italian firm of Fabio Managlio still makes some of the best ocarinas in the world but there are hundreds of craftsman producing ocarinas all over the world. If you must have one for yourself, you can find them for prices of under $10 to nearly $2,000 at STL Ocarina and, I suspect, at a music shop near you.
Musically, the performance by the ensemble in today's video is not their best but it does deserve a place in our collection of "Libertango on unusual instruments."
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Te Quiero Tango - Eduardo Abramson
Eduardo Abramson has been featured before in this blog as the organizer of an important tango celebration in Israel and as a bandoneónist. He is featured in today's video primarily as the arranger of Te quiero tango although he also appears in the video as a bandoneónist.
Te quiero tango is rarely performed. There are several commercial arrangements available, this one includes lyrics and since no arranger is listed, it is probably the original. I learned from Mr. Abramson that the Spanish lyrics are by Roberto Arrieta, an Argentine singer who performed with Piazzolla in New York in 1959. There are also lyrics in French credited to Jean Manou. To my knowledge, Te quiero tango has never been recorded and I believe this is the first posting of the piece on YouTube. The copyright date is 1958, which corresponds to the period in which Piazzolla formed the short-lived Jazz-Tango quintet in New York City and made a few recordings for the Ti-Co label. I would speculate that this piece was written for such a recording, perhaps Take Me Dancing, but was never used. It was a period of financial and artistic struggle for Piazzolla and most of the music he recorded during that period is totally uncharacteristic of his future work and totally forgettable. That does not mean it is unenjoyable as demonstrated in today's video.
It is the arrangement that makes today's video special. Somehow, Abramson recognized the choral potential of the work and has converted it into quite a nice performance piece. Abramson (on bandoneón) and members of his TangoBar quintet provide a traditional tango accompaniment while the members of the Ma'ayan Choir, the official choir of the Tel Aviv municipality, do a superb job with the harmonies and phrasing of the work. The leader of this choir, Anat Morag, is exceptionally graceful and clear in her conducting style. Choral performances of Piazzolla's works are quite popular and this arrangement deserves to join the family of standard Piazzolla choral works. I hope it is published and well distributed so others can enjoy it.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Te quiero tango is rarely performed. There are several commercial arrangements available, this one includes lyrics and since no arranger is listed, it is probably the original. I learned from Mr. Abramson that the Spanish lyrics are by Roberto Arrieta, an Argentine singer who performed with Piazzolla in New York in 1959. There are also lyrics in French credited to Jean Manou. To my knowledge, Te quiero tango has never been recorded and I believe this is the first posting of the piece on YouTube. The copyright date is 1958, which corresponds to the period in which Piazzolla formed the short-lived Jazz-Tango quintet in New York City and made a few recordings for the Ti-Co label. I would speculate that this piece was written for such a recording, perhaps Take Me Dancing, but was never used. It was a period of financial and artistic struggle for Piazzolla and most of the music he recorded during that period is totally uncharacteristic of his future work and totally forgettable. That does not mean it is unenjoyable as demonstrated in today's video.
It is the arrangement that makes today's video special. Somehow, Abramson recognized the choral potential of the work and has converted it into quite a nice performance piece. Abramson (on bandoneón) and members of his TangoBar quintet provide a traditional tango accompaniment while the members of the Ma'ayan Choir, the official choir of the Tel Aviv municipality, do a superb job with the harmonies and phrasing of the work. The leader of this choir, Anat Morag, is exceptionally graceful and clear in her conducting style. Choral performances of Piazzolla's works are quite popular and this arrangement deserves to join the family of standard Piazzolla choral works. I hope it is published and well distributed so others can enjoy it.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Milonga del Angel - Anne Akiko Meyers
On October 14, 2010, a violin sold for $3,400,000 - the highest on record for any instrument sold at auction. On January 11, 2011, Anne Akiko Meyers, the buyer of that instrument, filled it with the sound of Piazzolla's Milonga del angel in a concert at the Ruben Museum of Art in New York City. Today, you can see and hear the result in the featured video below.
The violin was constructed by Antonio Stradivari in 1697. The first owner is believed to have been Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1804, the violin came into the possession of Count Gabriel-Jean-Joseph Molitor and remained in that family until 1917. Hence the violin is known as the Napoleon/Molitor violin. For the next nearly 100 years, the violin changed hands several times and although it was heard in public, it has never been heard regularly in the hands of virtuoso performer. That is about to change.
Ms. Meyers is indeed a virtuoso performer whose talents were recognized by the age of seven and by eighteen, she was an international star. Among her many recordings you will find performances of Piazzolla's Introduccion et Angel and Milonga en re on her 2009 CD, Smile. There is also a YouTube video of her performing Ave Maria but today's video is, I believe, the first time she has applied her talents to Milonga del angel. In all four of these, Ms. Meyers has chosen pieces with flowing, sustained lines which best show her gorgeous tone and finger-tip mastery. It is impossible to judge the quality of sound from her new Stradivarius with the compressed sound available on YouTube but the performance is superb and deserves one of the best instruments in the world. Milonga del angel has never sounded better. While it is difficult to pull your ear away from the sound of the violin, one should also note the excellent job being done by her accompanist, Reiko Uchida.
It is an honor to the music of Piazzolla to be chosen to share the stage with this star violin and star violinist, but it is an honor well deserved.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
The violin was constructed by Antonio Stradivari in 1697. The first owner is believed to have been Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1804, the violin came into the possession of Count Gabriel-Jean-Joseph Molitor and remained in that family until 1917. Hence the violin is known as the Napoleon/Molitor violin. For the next nearly 100 years, the violin changed hands several times and although it was heard in public, it has never been heard regularly in the hands of virtuoso performer. That is about to change.
Ms. Meyers is indeed a virtuoso performer whose talents were recognized by the age of seven and by eighteen, she was an international star. Among her many recordings you will find performances of Piazzolla's Introduccion et Angel and Milonga en re on her 2009 CD, Smile. There is also a YouTube video of her performing Ave Maria but today's video is, I believe, the first time she has applied her talents to Milonga del angel. In all four of these, Ms. Meyers has chosen pieces with flowing, sustained lines which best show her gorgeous tone and finger-tip mastery. It is impossible to judge the quality of sound from her new Stradivarius with the compressed sound available on YouTube but the performance is superb and deserves one of the best instruments in the world. Milonga del angel has never sounded better. While it is difficult to pull your ear away from the sound of the violin, one should also note the excellent job being done by her accompanist, Reiko Uchida.
It is an honor to the music of Piazzolla to be chosen to share the stage with this star violin and star violinist, but it is an honor well deserved.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Concert d'aujourd'hui - Marimba Duo
On April 17, 2010, this blog issued a challenge to vibraphone and marimba players for a performance of Concert d'aujourd'hui. That challenge has now been met in today's video by Tatsuo Sasaki and Michiko Noguchi, who perform together as the Marimba Duo.
Concert d'aujourd'hui is the fourth movement in the Histoire du tango series composed in 1985 for guitar and flute. The first three are composed in the tango styles of 1900, 1930 and 1960, respectively. The fourth is meant to represent nuevo tango as conceived by Piazzolla. It is the most difficult of the four from both the perspective of the musician and the listener and for this reason it is the least frequently played - for every four performances of Cafe 1930 on YouTube, you will find only one of Concert d'aujourd'hui.
In addition to today's video, Marimba Duo have recorded two of the other Histoire series and they are available on their excellent CD, Riverdance. You can hear samples of these on YouTube here: Bordel 1900 and Cafe 1930. Sasaki and Noguchi only began playing together in 2009, but they have both long been stars in the marimba world. Sasaki is the Gary Burton of the classical world. He has performed around the world under conductors ranging from Leopold Stokowski to Zubin Mehta and was a Fulbright Scholar at the Julliard School. Ms. Noguchi has also performed around the world and has even played her marimba in the Japanese Imperial Court for the Emperor, his family, and nobles. In addition to her performing skills, she is also well known for her arrangements of a wide variety of pieces for marimba. The arrangement performed here of Concert d'aujourd'hui is hers and while her Histoire arrangements have not yet been published, you can find many of her other marimba arrangements published at Steve Weiss Music. Together, Sasaki and Noguchi certainly form one of the best marimba duos in the world.
Still missing from Marimba Duo is a performance of Nightclub 1960 to complete the Histoire series. Hopefully, we'll see that soon on YouTube or find it in their next recording.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Concert d'aujourd'hui is the fourth movement in the Histoire du tango series composed in 1985 for guitar and flute. The first three are composed in the tango styles of 1900, 1930 and 1960, respectively. The fourth is meant to represent nuevo tango as conceived by Piazzolla. It is the most difficult of the four from both the perspective of the musician and the listener and for this reason it is the least frequently played - for every four performances of Cafe 1930 on YouTube, you will find only one of Concert d'aujourd'hui.
In addition to today's video, Marimba Duo have recorded two of the other Histoire series and they are available on their excellent CD, Riverdance. You can hear samples of these on YouTube here: Bordel 1900 and Cafe 1930. Sasaki and Noguchi only began playing together in 2009, but they have both long been stars in the marimba world. Sasaki is the Gary Burton of the classical world. He has performed around the world under conductors ranging from Leopold Stokowski to Zubin Mehta and was a Fulbright Scholar at the Julliard School. Ms. Noguchi has also performed around the world and has even played her marimba in the Japanese Imperial Court for the Emperor, his family, and nobles. In addition to her performing skills, she is also well known for her arrangements of a wide variety of pieces for marimba. The arrangement performed here of Concert d'aujourd'hui is hers and while her Histoire arrangements have not yet been published, you can find many of her other marimba arrangements published at Steve Weiss Music. Together, Sasaki and Noguchi certainly form one of the best marimba duos in the world.
Still missing from Marimba Duo is a performance of Nightclub 1960 to complete the Histoire series. Hopefully, we'll see that soon on YouTube or find it in their next recording.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Bordel 1900 - Tango Factory
Humor. Joy. Creativity. Brilliant musicianship. You will find them all in today's featured video of Bordel 1900 performed by Tango Factory. Bordel 1900 is the first movement of the Histoire du tango series composed by Piazzolla in 1985 for flute and guitar. It is one of the ten most frequently performed of Piazzolla's works with nearly 200 versions of it appearing on YouTube over the past two years. Almost all of the performances are by duos, although not always flute and guitar, but there are a few large ensemble performances. None of those come remotely close to the arrangement and performance by the Tango Factory quartet in today's video.
Tango Factory consists of Marcelo Nisinman on bandoneón, Chen Halevi on clarinet, Matan Porat on piano and Winfried Holzenkamp on contrabass. These are all virtuoso (and very busy) musicians. They are one of the most talented set of musicians ever to converge on Piazzolla's music. Except for Halevi, all have some Piazzolla roots. Nisinman is a talented composer and I believe the arranger of Bordel 1900 here. He grew up in a household where Piazzolla rehearsed his quintet around the family piano. Porat, also a composer, was recently featured in this blog for his piano arrangements of Piazzolla. Holzenkamp spent a year in Buenos Aires studying tango with such tango bass players as Hector Console (a member of Piazzolla's quintet) and Daniel Buono from the Rudolfo Mederos quintet. I don't know where Halevi got his tango chops but the klezmer twinge and enthusiasm he brings to his work adds a real spark to the quartet. Note the way the group navigates the tempo changes and unusual accents - these guys are good.
This is the most enjoyable performance of Bordel 1900 I have ever seen. I wonder what they can do with the other three movements of the Histoire?
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Tango Factory consists of Marcelo Nisinman on bandoneón, Chen Halevi on clarinet, Matan Porat on piano and Winfried Holzenkamp on contrabass. These are all virtuoso (and very busy) musicians. They are one of the most talented set of musicians ever to converge on Piazzolla's music. Except for Halevi, all have some Piazzolla roots. Nisinman is a talented composer and I believe the arranger of Bordel 1900 here. He grew up in a household where Piazzolla rehearsed his quintet around the family piano. Porat, also a composer, was recently featured in this blog for his piano arrangements of Piazzolla. Holzenkamp spent a year in Buenos Aires studying tango with such tango bass players as Hector Console (a member of Piazzolla's quintet) and Daniel Buono from the Rudolfo Mederos quintet. I don't know where Halevi got his tango chops but the klezmer twinge and enthusiasm he brings to his work adds a real spark to the quartet. Note the way the group navigates the tempo changes and unusual accents - these guys are good.
This is the most enjoyable performance of Bordel 1900 I have ever seen. I wonder what they can do with the other three movements of the Histoire?
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
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