Faust's deal with Mephistopheles was for ten years, Piazzolla's deal with Aldo Pagani was for six. One result of Piazzolla's deal was the 1977 work, Chant et Fugue, a truncated version of which is our featured video today. The video captures a September 20th performance at the Casa Classica (just a five minute walk from Akasaka-Mitsuke station) by the Japanese group, Trio Kardia: Manami on flute, Saori on violin and Ayumi on piano.
Pagani played a significant initial role in Piazzolla's success in Europe. He was an agent/promoter for a number of noted musicians in Italy and offered Piazzolla a contract with a steady income and an apartment in Rome in exchange for certain rights to the music he created. Many have suggested it was a Faustian bargain and, in a sense, it was. Piazzolla and Pagani maintained the contractual relationship for six years and during that time, Piazzolla lived comfortably and benefited from Pagani's many contacts in the European music world which helped establish his fame on that continent. Pagani gained a long term revenue stream from the music Piazzolla produced - roughly 30% of his recorded output comes from those six years. The royalties from Libertango, a product of that period and a composition performed by more artists than perhaps any other composition of the twentieth century, alone must have made Pagani a wealthy man. Pagani has issued and reissued the recordings Piazzolla made during that period and is the single source of many of the scores performed today. I have heard that he maintains a collection of Piazzolla's manuscripts from the period in a vault somewhere in Rome. He continues to be an active promoter of Piazzolla's music.
Chant et Fugue appeared on the Persecuta album and you can hear the original here on YouTube. It is performed by Piazzolla and nine Italian studio musicians hired by Pigani for the recording. It is a very rarely heard Piazzolla composition. The original work is roughly 6'40" long with the "Chant" lasting four minutes and the "Fugue" the remaining time. The two sections are in different keys, musically unrelated and separated by a mechanical silence. It would not surprise me to learn that Pigani created an assemblage of two unrelated pieces to fill-up the available time on the LP. Without access to the original score, we may never know.
And where did Trio Kardia get their score? I am only guessing but here is what I think happened. Someone in the trio has enjoyed watching the Lombard twins dance to Chant et Fugue on YouTube - watch it here, you will enjoy it, too. Note that the Lombard twins use only the last 28 seconds of the Chant and do all of their dancing to the Fugue. It is surely no accident that Trio Kardia starts with exactly the same 28 seconds of the Chant and play all of the Fugue. Someone in the Trio has transcribed and arranged the truncated version of Chant et Fugue they enjoyed in the Lombard twin video. My guess is that the violinist, Saori, did the transcription. After all, if you are going to go to all of the trouble to transcribe the work, you might as well give yourself the lead part in the fugue. Whether the arranger was Ms.Saori or someone else, they did a very nice job. It is not really possible to replace ten musicians with three but some good decisions were made on which parts to leave out and which to leave in. The music stands as a whole and the Trio plays it very well. I wonder if the audience at the Casa Classica recognized the uniqueness of the musical treat they received that evening - it was almost certainly the premiere of the work as performed by a trio. Maybe someday Trio Kardia will bring us the first three and a half minutes of the Chant - I'll be watching for it.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
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Friday, September 28, 2012
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Prelude, Fugue and Divertimento
In late 1971, Piazzolla expanded his Quintet to nine musicians, a group known as the Conjunto 9 or the Nonet, by the addition of a second violin, a viola, a cello and a percussionist to the existing bandoneón, electric guitar, violin, piano and contrabass. While the Conunto 9 played many arrangements of familiar Quintet tunes, Piazzolla composed a number of works uniquely for the ensemble. One of the rarer of those works is presented in today's series of videos. The work has no formal title (the Azzi/Collier book, Le Grand Tango, refers to it as "the 9's") and consists of three movements: Prelude, Fugue and Divertimento. The performance is by Orquestra Filarmonica Jovem de Piracicaba under conductor and musical director Anderson Oliveira with guest soloists Eric Lawson on violin, Pedro Huff on cello, and João Paulo Casarotti on piano. The performance, the Brazilian premiere of the work, was at the concert, Casarotti Convida, at the Piracicaba Municipal Theater on 10 August, 2012. The concert was a fund raising event for the school Passo a Passo, a
school for children with disabilities in the city of Piracicaba, Sao Paulo, Brazil. The musicians were all volunteers.
Piazzolla recorded the full work only once, on the recording Música Popular Contemporánea de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Vol. 2, although he did later record the Prelude and Divertimento without the Fugue suggesting that he may have considered the three as separate works. José Bragato, the cellist in the Conjunto 9, arranged "the 9's" for piano and chamber orchestra. This was not unusual. Bragato's musical taste and instincts were totally trusted by Piazzolla and he frequently made "classical" arrangements of Piazzolla's Quintet music (and, I have heard, converted many of Piazzolla's quickly drafted scores into readable form for the Quintet). His arrangements, even today, provide the basis for most of the "classical" music performances of Piazzolla we hear. It is probable that his arrangement of "the 9's" was performed in Buenos Aires but it was apparently never published and really got its only broad exposure through Gidon Kremer's Kremerata Baltica recording, Tango Ballet. The performance in today's video uses virtually the same Bragato arrangement although there are some subtle scoring differences and some not-so-subtle interpretive differences.
Since they use the same arrangement it is tempting to compare the Filamonica Jovem version to the Kremerata Baltica version, but such a comparison would be unfair. The Kremerata Baltica version shows the perfection of studio recording while the Filamonica Jovem version comes from a handheld video camera with limited sound capability. The sound is good enough to show that the soloists do an excellent job and that the interpretation is less lush than Kremer's although probably closer to Bragato's intent. The Jovem ensemble shows less precision than Kremer's ensemble but few can match Kremer on that count. The Orquestra Filarmonica Jovem de Piracicaba performance is internally consistant and a totally valid reading of Bragato's arrangement. I believe that pianist, João Paulo Casarotti, who is Coordinator of Piano Studies at the Southern University-Baton Rouge, Louisiana and a DMA candidate in Piano Performance at LSU is largely responsible for bringing this work back into public view and for that, I thank him.
A more interesting comparison exists between Piazzolla's original Conjunto 9's version and the Bragato arrangement. While a copy of the Conjunto 9's recording makes it possible to compare all three movements, a video recording of the Conjunto 9 playing the Divertimento which I have included below, will allow you to make a comparison of that single movement within the confines of this blog. The differences are greater than I would have expected. Admittedly, removing an electric guitar and a bandoneón from the original creates a bit of a musical hole which Bragato usually fills with the violin, but it is not the simple replacement that creates the large differences it is, rather, the music that Bragato has chosen to leave out. There are more musicians in the orchestral score but the music is simpler. Many of the character lines have been erased. As enjoyable as the Bragato version is, I believe he has "left music on the table" and that the work deserves a new and better "classical" arrangement. The same is true of many Piazzolla works. The beauty and excitement of the music from the Quintet and the Nonet and the Sextet and the Octet are too often "left on the table." Even the best, Bragato, did it.
If the videos do not appear below click here for the Prelude, here for the Fugue, here for the Divertimento and here for the Conjunto 9's version of Divertimento.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Since they use the same arrangement it is tempting to compare the Filamonica Jovem version to the Kremerata Baltica version, but such a comparison would be unfair. The Kremerata Baltica version shows the perfection of studio recording while the Filamonica Jovem version comes from a handheld video camera with limited sound capability. The sound is good enough to show that the soloists do an excellent job and that the interpretation is less lush than Kremer's although probably closer to Bragato's intent. The Jovem ensemble shows less precision than Kremer's ensemble but few can match Kremer on that count. The Orquestra Filarmonica Jovem de Piracicaba performance is internally consistant and a totally valid reading of Bragato's arrangement. I believe that pianist, João Paulo Casarotti, who is Coordinator of Piano Studies at the Southern University-Baton Rouge, Louisiana and a DMA candidate in Piano Performance at LSU is largely responsible for bringing this work back into public view and for that, I thank him.
A more interesting comparison exists between Piazzolla's original Conjunto 9's version and the Bragato arrangement. While a copy of the Conjunto 9's recording makes it possible to compare all three movements, a video recording of the Conjunto 9 playing the Divertimento which I have included below, will allow you to make a comparison of that single movement within the confines of this blog. The differences are greater than I would have expected. Admittedly, removing an electric guitar and a bandoneón from the original creates a bit of a musical hole which Bragato usually fills with the violin, but it is not the simple replacement that creates the large differences it is, rather, the music that Bragato has chosen to leave out. There are more musicians in the orchestral score but the music is simpler. Many of the character lines have been erased. As enjoyable as the Bragato version is, I believe he has "left music on the table" and that the work deserves a new and better "classical" arrangement. The same is true of many Piazzolla works. The beauty and excitement of the music from the Quintet and the Nonet and the Sextet and the Octet are too often "left on the table." Even the best, Bragato, did it.
If the videos do not appear below click here for the Prelude, here for the Fugue, here for the Divertimento and here for the Conjunto 9's version of Divertimento.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
El Gordo Triste - Mundial de Baile 2012
Tango Festival y Mundial de Baile 2012 - Buenos Aires was the official title of the event and it is appropriate - winning the dance (baile) contest at this event is the tango dancer equivalent of winning football's World Cup. This year's winners, Cristian Sosa and María Noel Sciuto, will travel broadly this year and be recognized and rewarded as the best tango dancers in the world. Some, but not all, will recognize the significance of the music to which they danced to win the finals. That music, featured at the very end of today's featured video, is a 1972 recording of Piazzolla's El Gordo Triste performed by Piazzolla's Quintet with vocalist, Roberto Goyeneche.
The Tango Festival was dedicated this year to Astor Piazzolla in honor of the twentieth anniversary of his death so it was fitting that the last dance was to a Piazzolla melody, no accident I am sure. They could not have chosen a better song - it honors not only Piazzolla but also three other giants of the tango world: Anibal Troilo, Horacio Ferrer and Roberto Goyeneche. Troilo was a mentor and great friend of Piazzolla. A bandoneónist and composer himself, he gave Piazzolla his first job as a bandoneónist in a "big time" orquesta tipica and Piazzolla soon became the arranger of the music for the group. El Gordo Triste was not, as some people believe, composed to honor Troilo after his death - it was composed in 1970 some five years before Troilo's death - and was meant to be a living tribute to the man nicknamed "El Gordo." The lyrics were composed by Horacio Ferrer and are less mystical than most, conveying some sense of Troilo's character. The singer, Goyeneche, was also a friend of Troilo and recorded some 26 records with Troilo's orchestra - it is no wonder his gravelly voice sings the work with true feelings. El Gordo Triste was first recorded by Amelita Baltar and an orchestra led by Piazzolla in 1972 but not released until 1976 on the difficult to find RCA recording, El Gordo Tristi, although a re-release can be heard on the CD, Piazzolla and Amelita Baltar. But it is the recording by Goyeneche that made the song famous. The Goyeneche version used in the Tango Festival performance was recorded live in May of 1982 at the Teatro Regina in Buenos Aires and is available in the CD, Piazzolla - Goyeneche en Vivo. Goyeneche and Piazzolla's Quintet appeared together at the Regina for nearly two weeks. According the the Azzi/Collier book, Le Grand Tango, Piazzolla composed many new songs for the concerts but as a courtesy to Goyeneche, whose health was failing, ultimately performed a concert of traditional tangos familiar to Goyeneche. It is one of the few times that Piazzolla included traditional tangos composed by others in a concert.
The video below is long and includes some wonderful traditional tango dancing as well as a performance by Piazzolla Electronico of Otoño porteño (at 24' 00" in the video) and an appearance by tango dancer legend, Maria Nieves. If you want to jump directly to the final dance performance to the music of El Gordo Triste, you can click here.
Again, if you only want to watch the final dance performance to the music of El Gordo Triste, you can click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
The Tango Festival was dedicated this year to Astor Piazzolla in honor of the twentieth anniversary of his death so it was fitting that the last dance was to a Piazzolla melody, no accident I am sure. They could not have chosen a better song - it honors not only Piazzolla but also three other giants of the tango world: Anibal Troilo, Horacio Ferrer and Roberto Goyeneche. Troilo was a mentor and great friend of Piazzolla. A bandoneónist and composer himself, he gave Piazzolla his first job as a bandoneónist in a "big time" orquesta tipica and Piazzolla soon became the arranger of the music for the group. El Gordo Triste was not, as some people believe, composed to honor Troilo after his death - it was composed in 1970 some five years before Troilo's death - and was meant to be a living tribute to the man nicknamed "El Gordo." The lyrics were composed by Horacio Ferrer and are less mystical than most, conveying some sense of Troilo's character. The singer, Goyeneche, was also a friend of Troilo and recorded some 26 records with Troilo's orchestra - it is no wonder his gravelly voice sings the work with true feelings. El Gordo Triste was first recorded by Amelita Baltar and an orchestra led by Piazzolla in 1972 but not released until 1976 on the difficult to find RCA recording, El Gordo Tristi, although a re-release can be heard on the CD, Piazzolla and Amelita Baltar. But it is the recording by Goyeneche that made the song famous. The Goyeneche version used in the Tango Festival performance was recorded live in May of 1982 at the Teatro Regina in Buenos Aires and is available in the CD, Piazzolla - Goyeneche en Vivo. Goyeneche and Piazzolla's Quintet appeared together at the Regina for nearly two weeks. According the the Azzi/Collier book, Le Grand Tango, Piazzolla composed many new songs for the concerts but as a courtesy to Goyeneche, whose health was failing, ultimately performed a concert of traditional tangos familiar to Goyeneche. It is one of the few times that Piazzolla included traditional tangos composed by others in a concert.
The video below is long and includes some wonderful traditional tango dancing as well as a performance by Piazzolla Electronico of Otoño porteño (at 24' 00" in the video) and an appearance by tango dancer legend, Maria Nieves. If you want to jump directly to the final dance performance to the music of El Gordo Triste, you can click here.
Again, if you only want to watch the final dance performance to the music of El Gordo Triste, you can click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Libertango - the Graller Version
The collection of videos of Libertango played on unusual instruments expands today with a video of the group Els Carreter performing on a set of gralles accompanied by a timbal (snare drum). The gralla is one of several Catalan versions of the ancient shawm. Shawms are usually associated with the Renaissance period but predate that period and have their roots probably in the middle East. Many European cultures have had shawm derivatives in their folk music history but only in Spain have the instruments continued to flourish - particularly in Catalonia. The name of the instrument derives from the Catalan word for Jackdaw, a noisy member of the crow family, and the double reed of the instrument can indeed be made to sound very much like the bird. The familiar oboe is a refined derivative of the shawm.
The members of Els Carreter are Els CarreterFesta Major de Vilafranca in August of this year. Els Carreter were one of thirteen gralles ensembles performing - you can find the full program here
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 members of Els Carreter are Els CarreterFesta Major de Vilafranca in August of this year. Els Carreter were one of thirteen gralles ensembles performing - you can find the full program here
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, September 2, 2012
PIAZZOLLA ELECTRÓNICO
The third generation of Piazzolla Electrónico made its debut at the recent Tango Festival of Buenos Aires. That festival was devoted to the music of Astor Piazzolla in honor of the twentieth anniversary of his death. A highlight of the festival was the performance by Daniel Astor "Pipi" Piazzolla's Electronico ensemble featured in today's video.
The first generation Piazzolla Electrónico was that created in 1975, when Astor Piazzolla decided to modernize his sound by "plugging in" and formed the Electronic Octet. He replaced the acoustic bass of his Quintet with an electric bass guitar and added synthesizer (played by his son, Daniel), electronic organ and a full set of drums to form the octet. The group had some success, they performed at Carnegie Hall, and their performances are captured in a series of eight YouTube videos which begin here. There was a brief second version of the group formed in Europe with a completely different set of musicians except for his son, Daniel. According to the Azzi/Collier book, Le Grand Tango, Piazzolla did not view the Octet as a success and fairly quickly returned to the sound of his Quintet.
Shortly after Piazzolla's death, his son Daniel, who retained the original scores of the Electronic Octet, reformed the octet, the second generation Piazzolla Electrónico, and made a recording in honor of his father. Three of the tracks on that recording follow the original Octet scores. The sound of that octet can be heard on the recording, Piazzolla by Piazzolla. Significantly, Daniel's son, Pipi, played drums in that octet recording. It was perhaps the first time that three generations of Piazzolla's had been united musically - Astor's music played by son and grandson.
And now we have the third generation Piazzolla Electrónico - not an octet but an extended version of the group, Escalandrum, which produced the album named by this blog as Piazzolla Recording of the Year, Piazzolla Plays Piazzolla. Added to Escalandrum were Lautaro Greco on bandoneón, Lucio Balduini on guitar, and Esteban Sehinkman on synthesizer. Martín Rur replaced the usual Escalandrum bass clarinetist, Martín Pantyrer. And, Pipi's father, Daniel, made his return to the stage playing percussion alongside his son.
The group performed all four of Piazzolla's Seasons. To my knowledge, Escalandrum has not previously performed the Seasons so this was new new territory for them. Escalandrum's pianist, Nicolas Guerschberg, provided the arrangements and they are excellent. In an interview, Pipi mentioned that his Electrónico's version of Verano Porteño was based on the version Piazzolla created for his Nonet which you can hear on the 1983 recording, Concierto de Nácar. You will find reviews of the concert which suggest that the other Seasons are based on the original Electronic Octet scores but in the absence of recordings from the Octet, that is difficult to confirm.
The quality of the sound in the video below is not very good but a video found here is much better suggesting that we may someday have a recording directly from the sound board - maybe even a DVD. You will hear three of the Seasons in today's video. The first is Invierno Porteño and except for the synthesizer prelude it is a very standard version of the work - modified only for the unusual instrumentation of the group. The second piece, Primavera Porteña which begins at 8'50" begins to show the jazz capabilities of Escalandrum with an improvisational section at 12'40" and a nice piano solo. The third piece, Verano Porteño, which starts at 14'30" into the video, is the most creatively arranged. It opens with a synthesizer prelude which can be described as creative but irrelevant. After the prelude, it does indeed follow the Nonet arrangement for the first five minutes, although with some liberties taken with rhythm and counter-melodies. At the five minute point, the Nonet version enters a lyrical string phase and Guerschberg wisely makes a decision that lyrical strings are not an Escalandrum strength and brings the work to a close with some of the best jazz of the concert. The Electrónico's version of Otoño Porteño is not included in the video below but is available on YouTube. Otoño opens with a drum solo, giving Pipi a chance to show his skills, and proceeds in a fairly standard manner. Greco's bandoneón work in Otoño is excellent, played with feeling and expression. Guerschberg's transposition of some of the violin parts to bass clarinet works well - I wish he had made more such decisions to give prominence to the violin parts in the other Seasons. The saxophones finally get a chance to break loose at about 8'30" into the video but the arrangement returns then to a classic ending.
All things considered, the concert was a success and a fitting tribute to Astor Piazzolla. I hope better quality audio or video of the concert is eventually made available.
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 first generation Piazzolla Electrónico was that created in 1975, when Astor Piazzolla decided to modernize his sound by "plugging in" and formed the Electronic Octet. He replaced the acoustic bass of his Quintet with an electric bass guitar and added synthesizer (played by his son, Daniel), electronic organ and a full set of drums to form the octet. The group had some success, they performed at Carnegie Hall, and their performances are captured in a series of eight YouTube videos which begin here. There was a brief second version of the group formed in Europe with a completely different set of musicians except for his son, Daniel. According to the Azzi/Collier book, Le Grand Tango, Piazzolla did not view the Octet as a success and fairly quickly returned to the sound of his Quintet.
Shortly after Piazzolla's death, his son Daniel, who retained the original scores of the Electronic Octet, reformed the octet, the second generation Piazzolla Electrónico, and made a recording in honor of his father. Three of the tracks on that recording follow the original Octet scores. The sound of that octet can be heard on the recording, Piazzolla by Piazzolla. Significantly, Daniel's son, Pipi, played drums in that octet recording. It was perhaps the first time that three generations of Piazzolla's had been united musically - Astor's music played by son and grandson.
And now we have the third generation Piazzolla Electrónico - not an octet but an extended version of the group, Escalandrum, which produced the album named by this blog as Piazzolla Recording of the Year, Piazzolla Plays Piazzolla. Added to Escalandrum were Lautaro Greco on bandoneón, Lucio Balduini on guitar, and Esteban Sehinkman on synthesizer. Martín Rur replaced the usual Escalandrum bass clarinetist, Martín Pantyrer. And, Pipi's father, Daniel, made his return to the stage playing percussion alongside his son.
The group performed all four of Piazzolla's Seasons. To my knowledge, Escalandrum has not previously performed the Seasons so this was new new territory for them. Escalandrum's pianist, Nicolas Guerschberg, provided the arrangements and they are excellent. In an interview, Pipi mentioned that his Electrónico's version of Verano Porteño was based on the version Piazzolla created for his Nonet which you can hear on the 1983 recording, Concierto de Nácar. You will find reviews of the concert which suggest that the other Seasons are based on the original Electronic Octet scores but in the absence of recordings from the Octet, that is difficult to confirm.
The quality of the sound in the video below is not very good but a video found here is much better suggesting that we may someday have a recording directly from the sound board - maybe even a DVD. You will hear three of the Seasons in today's video. The first is Invierno Porteño and except for the synthesizer prelude it is a very standard version of the work - modified only for the unusual instrumentation of the group. The second piece, Primavera Porteña which begins at 8'50" begins to show the jazz capabilities of Escalandrum with an improvisational section at 12'40" and a nice piano solo. The third piece, Verano Porteño, which starts at 14'30" into the video, is the most creatively arranged. It opens with a synthesizer prelude which can be described as creative but irrelevant. After the prelude, it does indeed follow the Nonet arrangement for the first five minutes, although with some liberties taken with rhythm and counter-melodies. At the five minute point, the Nonet version enters a lyrical string phase and Guerschberg wisely makes a decision that lyrical strings are not an Escalandrum strength and brings the work to a close with some of the best jazz of the concert. The Electrónico's version of Otoño Porteño is not included in the video below but is available on YouTube. Otoño opens with a drum solo, giving Pipi a chance to show his skills, and proceeds in a fairly standard manner. Greco's bandoneón work in Otoño is excellent, played with feeling and expression. Guerschberg's transposition of some of the violin parts to bass clarinet works well - I wish he had made more such decisions to give prominence to the violin parts in the other Seasons. The saxophones finally get a chance to break loose at about 8'30" into the video but the arrangement returns then to a classic ending.
All things considered, the concert was a success and a fitting tribute to Astor Piazzolla. I hope better quality audio or video of the concert is eventually made available.
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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