I can identify more than 250 bandoneónists in the world but I can only identify one in Serbia, Aleksandar Nikolic. Aleksandar and his wife Ivana, a pianist and vocalist, are founders and two/fifths of the Beltango quintet featured in today's video performance of Duo de amor. Other members of the group are Jovan Bogosavljevic on violin, Bogdan Pejic on guitar and Ljubinko Lazic on double bass. The group is headquartered in Belgrade but perform all over Europe The work they perform in today's video, Duo de amor, is from Piazzolla's score for the 1985, Fernando Solanas movie, Tangos, the Exile of Gardel.
I do not fully understand the connection between musicians of the Balkans and the music of Piazzolla but there is no question that their musical roots give them some advantage in the interpretation of tango - both traditional and nuevo tango. The rhythms and phrasings seem to come quite naturally to them. I would guess that the incredibly complex rhythms of the folk music of the region are the source of the advantage. Balkan folk music is famous for its "asymmetric" meters of 5,7,9,11,13, or 15 beats per measure which are played in groups of beats which musicians come to feel as slow and fast rather than counting the complex combinations. I suspect that slow/fast feel translates to a very natural adaptation to the rhythms of tango. The naturalness of playing is quite apparent both in today's video and in the many other Beltango performances you can find on their YouTube channel. The excellence of Beltango has not gone unrecognized. They were the only European tango ensemble to be invited to the 2007 World Tango Festival in Buenos Aires and they are often invited to perform at tango festivals throughout Europe.
The work they perform in today's video is notable as one of Piazzolla's only "right hand" compositions. While the first couple of opening measures utilize the bass side of the bandoneón, all the rest is performed with the right hand on the treble side of the instrument. Listening to Piazzolla's performance of the work, found on the CD, Tango, el Exilo de Gardel, it appears that he also is playing with the right hand only. If you doubt Nikolic's ability to play with both hands, take a look a this delightful performance of Libertango which also provides a wonderful opportunity to compare the difference in sound between a bandoneón and an accordion.
But perhaps the most important part of today's blog is not Piazzolla, it is 100% Beltango. Nikolic is not only a superb player of the bandoneón, he is also a composer - perhaps the most capable composer in the style of Piazzolla alive today. It is exciting to realize that through the pen of Nikolic, we could enjoy another thirty years of new, nuevo tango music. The group has recorded a full CD of music they refer to as "Balkango." You will find music samples and a place to buy the CD here. Fortunately for us, a performance of Nikolic's compositional contribution to that CD, a piece titled Balkango, can be seen in a video which I have posted below today's featured video. Nikolic adopts a classic Piazzolla structure - opening with a fugue which is developed in the first section, an up-tempo second section (note the Balkan rhythms), a slow melodic section, and a return at the close to the theme of the fugue. The music could be easily mistaken for a Piazzolla composition with only some slight doubt induced by the rhythm of the second section. If Nikolic has more such music in his brain, I hope he gets it into performance as soon as possible and shares it with the world. The man is channeling Astor.
If the video of Duo de amor does not appear below, click here.
If the video of Balkango does not appear below, click here.
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Thursday, February 23, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Bailongo - Franch-Puchades-Marín
Bailongo, the word means dance party in Spanish, performed by the trio of Carles Marín on piano, José Franch-Ballester on clarinet and Josep Puchades on viola, is the featured video today. It is a rarely performed Piazzolla work - today's video is the only live performance of it on YouTube. Were it to be played at a dance party, the dancers would break into a nimble footed milonga - quite atypical for a Piazzolla composition.
Bailonga is from Tango Apasionado, a musical drama which Piazzolla created in 1987, around two short stories written by Jorge Luis Borges. Pablo Zinger was the musical director for the production which had a short but successful run in New York City. Unfortunately, unresolved disputes with the Borges estate and perhaps the loss of the original musical manuscripts have prevented the work from being revived. Fortunately, much of the instrumental music survives through the excellent Kip Hanrahan produced CD, The Rough Dancer and the Cyclical Night. You can hear the original version of Bailongo here. The Azzi/Collier book, Le Grand Tango, relates an incident in which Piazzolla got quite upset because Hanrahan was starting to "run down some rough edges" during post-production. Hanrahan relented and left the rough edges - you hear some of them in the opening strains of the Bailongo track when bassist, Andy Gonzalez, gets a bit careless with the beat as he slaps his bass.
Puchades is also just a touch careless with his bow early in today's performance but but otherwise he and the others put together a crisp and lively performance. It is longer than the original and an improved piece of music as a result. The final prestissimo section is particularly well done. I don't think the group has played as a trio before or after today's video was made in December, 2010. There is no credit for arranger but I would wager that the arrangement is by Pablo Zinger. Franch-Ballester is a long time collaborator with Zinger and I see references to Zinger's trio, which includes Franch-Ballester, playing Bailongo in concert so it seems highly likely that Franch-Ballester simply borrowed the arrangement for the evening. More recently, Zinger and Franch-Ballester have been touring Europe with the Zinger Septet and you could buy their new CD titled, interestingly, Bailongo, at their concerts. Hopefully, those of us who could not attend the concerts will be able to buy the CD or download the tracks sometime soon.
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.
Bailonga is from Tango Apasionado, a musical drama which Piazzolla created in 1987, around two short stories written by Jorge Luis Borges. Pablo Zinger was the musical director for the production which had a short but successful run in New York City. Unfortunately, unresolved disputes with the Borges estate and perhaps the loss of the original musical manuscripts have prevented the work from being revived. Fortunately, much of the instrumental music survives through the excellent Kip Hanrahan produced CD, The Rough Dancer and the Cyclical Night. You can hear the original version of Bailongo here. The Azzi/Collier book, Le Grand Tango, relates an incident in which Piazzolla got quite upset because Hanrahan was starting to "run down some rough edges" during post-production. Hanrahan relented and left the rough edges - you hear some of them in the opening strains of the Bailongo track when bassist, Andy Gonzalez, gets a bit careless with the beat as he slaps his bass.
Puchades is also just a touch careless with his bow early in today's performance but but otherwise he and the others put together a crisp and lively performance. It is longer than the original and an improved piece of music as a result. The final prestissimo section is particularly well done. I don't think the group has played as a trio before or after today's video was made in December, 2010. There is no credit for arranger but I would wager that the arrangement is by Pablo Zinger. Franch-Ballester is a long time collaborator with Zinger and I see references to Zinger's trio, which includes Franch-Ballester, playing Bailongo in concert so it seems highly likely that Franch-Ballester simply borrowed the arrangement for the evening. More recently, Zinger and Franch-Ballester have been touring Europe with the Zinger Septet and you could buy their new CD titled, interestingly, Bailongo, at their concerts. Hopefully, those of us who could not attend the concerts will be able to buy the CD or download the tracks sometime soon.
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.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Milonga de la Anunciación - Flores Negras
They are almost a cappella. The harmony is close, the voices smooth - a tango version of Manhattan Transfer - but there is guitar and bass accompaniment which officially moves the group out of the chapel. The group is Flores Negras and they sing Milonga de la Anunciación in today's featured video.
Milonga de la Anunciación is the penultimate song in the Piazzolla/Ferrer operita, Maria de Buenos Aires. Maria has died by this point in the plot and the song is sung by Maria's Shadow in response to being told that she is going to give birth to a child (bizarrely, three marionettes take the usual annunciation role of Angel Gabriel here). Ferrer's poetry rests easily in the ear but the meaning of the lyrics, which you can find here, are hidden under layers of symbolism and remain a mystery to me. The melody is more familiar as that of Yo soy Maria but that is a story for a later blog.
Flores Negras existed as a group from 1995 to 2000 with members Cecilia Bonardi, Alejandra Cañoni, Laura Esses, and Sara Galoppo. There was a brief reunion of the group in 2007 with Diana Molina replacing Galoppo. To my experience, they remain unique for the close harmony interpretations of a variety of tango standards. Clearly they are all good singers but their sound is largely due to the arrangements and musical leadership provided by the composer and pianist, Oscar Laiguera. While Milonga de la Anunciación is my favorite of their performances, you can view six others on their YouTube channel. Even better would be to find a copy of their 1999 CD, Flores Negras: Cuatro Voces en Tango, which contains their interpretation of three other Piazzolla works. Their version of Milonga de la Anunciación is very musical and very enjoyable, but if you are more interested in what it sounded like in Piazzolla's original production, you can find it in disk two of the Trova edition of Maria de Buenos Aires or as a close facsimile in this video from a recent Pablo Zinger production of the operita.
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.
Milonga de la Anunciación is the penultimate song in the Piazzolla/Ferrer operita, Maria de Buenos Aires. Maria has died by this point in the plot and the song is sung by Maria's Shadow in response to being told that she is going to give birth to a child (bizarrely, three marionettes take the usual annunciation role of Angel Gabriel here). Ferrer's poetry rests easily in the ear but the meaning of the lyrics, which you can find here, are hidden under layers of symbolism and remain a mystery to me. The melody is more familiar as that of Yo soy Maria but that is a story for a later blog.
Flores Negras existed as a group from 1995 to 2000 with members Cecilia Bonardi, Alejandra Cañoni, Laura Esses, and Sara Galoppo. There was a brief reunion of the group in 2007 with Diana Molina replacing Galoppo. To my experience, they remain unique for the close harmony interpretations of a variety of tango standards. Clearly they are all good singers but their sound is largely due to the arrangements and musical leadership provided by the composer and pianist, Oscar Laiguera. While Milonga de la Anunciación is my favorite of their performances, you can view six others on their YouTube channel. Even better would be to find a copy of their 1999 CD, Flores Negras: Cuatro Voces en Tango, which contains their interpretation of three other Piazzolla works. Their version of Milonga de la Anunciación is very musical and very enjoyable, but if you are more interested in what it sounded like in Piazzolla's original production, you can find it in disk two of the Trova edition of Maria de Buenos Aires or as a close facsimile in this video from a recent Pablo Zinger production of the operita.
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.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Oblivion - Cristal Baschet
This blog has a long history of covering Libertango played on unusual instruments. Today's featured video is not Libertango but it does include an unusual instrument - the Cristal Baschet. The song is Piazzolla's second most frequently performed composition, Oblivion, from the movie Enrico IV.
The performance is by the Ensemble Hope at the 2011 edition of the Nuits de Nacre accordion festival held in Tulle, France. The accordionist in the video is Sébastien Farge, a master of the French musette sound, who provides a gentle swing to his role in the video. The dominant sound at the opening is from the cimbalom (hammer dulcimer) played by Veronika Adamicova. But if you listen to the bass sounds at the opening you will hear the real star of the video the bass Cristal Baschet played by Marc Antoine Millon who is joined on a "standard" Cristal Baschet by Frédéric Bousquet, in whose workshop the Cristal Baschets are built.
Cristal Baschets were developed by the brothers Bernard and François Baschet. from work in sound sculptures they began in 1952. The instruments consist of tuned glass rods which are stroked with damp fingers producing tones in the same way the wet rims of crystal wine goblets produce sound in a glass harp. The Baschet's invented a way to amplify the relatively soft sounds of the rods through sculpted megaphones of plastic or sheet metal which allow the instruments to compete sonically with other instruments. There are not too many Cristal Baschets in existence - the Bousquet Workshop website suggests that approximately fifty of the instruments have been made. We are fortunate to be able to hear Piazzolla played on such a rare instrument. In addition to the Cristals, the Bousquet Workshop also produces a number of other tuned, percussive sound sculpture instruments invented by the Baschets. You can hear the sounds of these many instruments on their excellent Structures Sonores website.
The ethereal tones of the Cristal Baschet are a good match for the mellow sounds of Oblivion.
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 performance is by the Ensemble Hope at the 2011 edition of the Nuits de Nacre accordion festival held in Tulle, France. The accordionist in the video is Sébastien Farge, a master of the French musette sound, who provides a gentle swing to his role in the video. The dominant sound at the opening is from the cimbalom (hammer dulcimer) played by Veronika Adamicova. But if you listen to the bass sounds at the opening you will hear the real star of the video the bass Cristal Baschet played by Marc Antoine Millon who is joined on a "standard" Cristal Baschet by Frédéric Bousquet, in whose workshop the Cristal Baschets are built.
Cristal Baschets were developed by the brothers Bernard and François Baschet. from work in sound sculptures they began in 1952. The instruments consist of tuned glass rods which are stroked with damp fingers producing tones in the same way the wet rims of crystal wine goblets produce sound in a glass harp. The Baschet's invented a way to amplify the relatively soft sounds of the rods through sculpted megaphones of plastic or sheet metal which allow the instruments to compete sonically with other instruments. There are not too many Cristal Baschets in existence - the Bousquet Workshop website suggests that approximately fifty of the instruments have been made. We are fortunate to be able to hear Piazzolla played on such a rare instrument. In addition to the Cristals, the Bousquet Workshop also produces a number of other tuned, percussive sound sculpture instruments invented by the Baschets. You can hear the sounds of these many instruments on their excellent Structures Sonores website.
The ethereal tones of the Cristal Baschet are a good match for the mellow sounds of Oblivion.
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, February 4, 2012
Zita - Octeto Electronico
"I failed totally." According to the Azzi/Collier book, Le Grand Tango, that was Piazzolla's own assessment of his electronified octets of the late 1970's. I am not so sure. You may judge for yourself from today's featured video. This newly available video of the final form of his Octeto Electronico playing Zita from the Troileana Suite shows a disciplined ensemble playing a well arranged and structured work which is consistent with the music we expect from Piazzolla. I prefer the music of the quintet but, to me, the Octeto Electronico seen here is an important and valid part of the evolution of Piazzolla's music.
The Octeto Electronico had two incarnations. In the initial form, created in 1975, Piazzolla utilized two members of his previous Quintet, Antonio Agri on violin and Horacio Malvicino on guitar. He added his son, Daniel, on the electronic synthesizer and four new musicians from the jazz community in Buenos Aires. The music from this octet is best heard on the recording, Piazzolla and el Conjunto Electronico. His objective was to add a modern touch to his nuevo tango. You can see that early Octeto Electronico playing the same piece, Zita, in this video. The music from this first octet is less aggressive than that of the second. If you watch the video of that first octet, you will note the "old generation" - Malvicino, Piazzolla and Agri, a truncated quintet - are in the front of the ensemble backed by the younger generation. It was a relatively small step from the quintet work. Another step away from the Quintet sound occurred in 1976 when Agri left that first octet to return to classical music and was replaced by flutist Arturo Schneider. That octet made a famous appearance in New York City's Carnegie Hall with a concert attended by many of New York's jazz greats - Gerry Mulligan, Paul Desmond, Chick Corea and Herbie Mann among others. The first octet's final performances were in October of 1976 in Brazil with Luis Ferreyra replacing Schneider on flute.
When an opportunity to tour Europe with the octet appeared, the only members of the first octet available were Piazzolla, son Daniel and flutist Ferreyra. Five new members were recruited from the jazz and rock scene in Buenos Aires and the group did twenty-two concerts at the Olympia theater in Paris. That concert was captured on the French LP, Olympia '77. The sound of this group represents a clear step away from the sound of the Quintet. The group then toured France, Italy, Switzerland and Belgium before disbanding - ending the Octeto Electronico experiment. The video of the group playing Zita comes from a televised performance of the group in Switzerland. To my knowledge, this is the only video which captures a performance of the group.
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 Octeto Electronico had two incarnations. In the initial form, created in 1975, Piazzolla utilized two members of his previous Quintet, Antonio Agri on violin and Horacio Malvicino on guitar. He added his son, Daniel, on the electronic synthesizer and four new musicians from the jazz community in Buenos Aires. The music from this octet is best heard on the recording, Piazzolla and el Conjunto Electronico. His objective was to add a modern touch to his nuevo tango. You can see that early Octeto Electronico playing the same piece, Zita, in this video. The music from this first octet is less aggressive than that of the second. If you watch the video of that first octet, you will note the "old generation" - Malvicino, Piazzolla and Agri, a truncated quintet - are in the front of the ensemble backed by the younger generation. It was a relatively small step from the quintet work. Another step away from the Quintet sound occurred in 1976 when Agri left that first octet to return to classical music and was replaced by flutist Arturo Schneider. That octet made a famous appearance in New York City's Carnegie Hall with a concert attended by many of New York's jazz greats - Gerry Mulligan, Paul Desmond, Chick Corea and Herbie Mann among others. The first octet's final performances were in October of 1976 in Brazil with Luis Ferreyra replacing Schneider on flute.
When an opportunity to tour Europe with the octet appeared, the only members of the first octet available were Piazzolla, son Daniel and flutist Ferreyra. Five new members were recruited from the jazz and rock scene in Buenos Aires and the group did twenty-two concerts at the Olympia theater in Paris. That concert was captured on the French LP, Olympia '77. The sound of this group represents a clear step away from the sound of the Quintet. The group then toured France, Italy, Switzerland and Belgium before disbanding - ending the Octeto Electronico experiment. The video of the group playing Zita comes from a televised performance of the group in Switzerland. To my knowledge, this is the only video which captures a performance of the group.
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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