Whose song is it, anyway? Libertango took form as one of eight songs on an album, Libertango, designed to attract radio play in 1974. The album became a hit, even reviewed in Playboy magazine, and the song, Libertango, was covered by many artists around the world. It is today, without a doubt, the most frequently performed song composed by Piazzolla. In 2009, there were nearly 1,200 live performance versions of it posted on YouTube representing 27% of the posted Piazzolla performances. Performances spread across all genres - rock, pop, jazz, classical, tango - it seems to belong to everybody. No doubt part of the attraction is the simple chord structure, accessible to the most amateur of musicians, and the earworm nature of the melody but the creative ability of the performers to find something new in the song continues to amaze me. Five videos posted in recent days provide a good example of the range of covers.
Caution: this level of Libertango approaches a lethal dose.
First, a guitar focused version by Esteban Morgado and his quartet in the London tango club, Negracha. Libertango is a bit of a trademark for Morgado - you will find many covers by him on YouTube, all of them different and all of them good. The music is a bit difficult to classify - a blend of classical guitar, flamenco, jazz and tango (note the dancers in the club).
Second, a nightclub version by Luis Stazo and his octet for Tango Pasión at the Theatre des Champs Elysees in Paris. This is a slick, uptown version featuring two bandoneóns and is closer to the sound and intent of the original recording than any of the others in this blog.
Third, an orchestral version which begins with a bandoneón solo, becomes a classical orchestral version and ends with a touch of jazz including a 37 second wail on a high A by clarinetist Corrado Giuffredi. The bandoneón solo by Cesare Chiacchiaretta sounds like a traditional tango but Pedro-with-the-golden ears tells me it is Tocata Rea from Piazzolla's Maria de Buenos Aires with perhaps a touch of Tristezas, Seperacion near the end. The orchestra is the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana on their 2010 opening night concert in Lugano. The video opens with a ten second lens cap problem but be patient, it is worth it.
Fourth, an Eastern European ethnic version posted from Russia. Such a conversion is not as uncommon as you might think, many a domra and balalaika have been strummed to the tune of Libertango. The group here is unnamed but very accomplished. One could easily imagine this is a traditional Russian folk dance tune right up to the totally delightful ending.
Fifth and final, a whimsical, jazzy version by the Japanese duo, TTCafe, performing for members of the Kobe ukulele club at a chapter meeting at the Kobe Fashion Museum. Do you think that Piazzolla could have imagined such a performance when he composed the piece?
With that, I will try to refrain from featuring Libertango for a few more days lest I be required to retitle the blog as "Libertango on Video."
If the videos do not appear below, click here for Esteban, here for the nightclub version, click here for the orchestral version, click here for the Eastern European version, and click here for the ukulele version.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Early Piazzolla - Opus 15
By 1953, Piazzolla had assigned opus numbers to nineteen of his works. This I learned from the Azzi/Collier book, Le Grand Tango. The same book indicates that Opus 8 was written in in 1947. Today's video features a performance of Contemplación y Danza which is Opus 15, probably written in 1951. Around that time, Piazzolla had completed his formal composition lessons with Alberto Ginastera and "retired" from the tango world. He was determined to make his mark as a composer in the classical music world. We know today that he succeeded but it was not the result of works such as Opus 15 - it was the result of his synthesis of the nuevo tango as guided by his second composition teacher, Nadia Boulanger. As a result, his early works are rarely heard.
Today's video was my first exposure to Contemplación y Danza. It was composed for clarinet and string orchestra and the first section of it is performed here by Corrado Giuffredi on clarinet with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana(OSI) under the baton of Alexander Vedernikov. The notes accompanying the video and the informality of the musicians suggest this is a rehearsal but the performance is excellent. The orchestra has a full, smooth sound and Giuffredi's performance is controlled and nuanced - very fitting for the music. The piece reminds me of some of Ginastera's work but the contrasting second part of Contemplación y Danza, which unfortunately does not appear to exist on YouTube, hints strongly not of Ginastera, but of Stravinsky - one of Piazzolla's heros. You can hear that second part as played by the Orchestre de Chambre de Toulouse on their CD, Piazzolla: Contemplación e Danza (or download just the missing second part at the same website). The performance from Toulouse is good although I think Vedernikov and the OSI have a richer interpretation of the piece.
Contemplación y Danza, along with several other Piazzolla works, was performed by the OSI on January 9 in Lugano. A video from that performance will be featured in this blog tomorrow and if we are lucky, a video of the full performance of Contemplación y Danza will appear in the future. You may also want to view a second piece from the rehearsal, Adios Nonino, which also features the clarinet of Corrado Giuffredi.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Today's video was my first exposure to Contemplación y Danza. It was composed for clarinet and string orchestra and the first section of it is performed here by Corrado Giuffredi on clarinet with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana(OSI) under the baton of Alexander Vedernikov. The notes accompanying the video and the informality of the musicians suggest this is a rehearsal but the performance is excellent. The orchestra has a full, smooth sound and Giuffredi's performance is controlled and nuanced - very fitting for the music. The piece reminds me of some of Ginastera's work but the contrasting second part of Contemplación y Danza, which unfortunately does not appear to exist on YouTube, hints strongly not of Ginastera, but of Stravinsky - one of Piazzolla's heros. You can hear that second part as played by the Orchestre de Chambre de Toulouse on their CD, Piazzolla: Contemplación e Danza (or download just the missing second part at the same website). The performance from Toulouse is good although I think Vedernikov and the OSI have a richer interpretation of the piece.
Contemplación y Danza, along with several other Piazzolla works, was performed by the OSI on January 9 in Lugano. A video from that performance will be featured in this blog tomorrow and if we are lucky, a video of the full performance of Contemplación y Danza will appear in the future. You may also want to view a second piece from the rehearsal, Adios Nonino, which also features the clarinet of Corrado Giuffredi.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Syrinx
Syrinx, definition: a fluid-filled cavity within the spinal cord; or, a fully customizable twitter client; or, a Greek nymph known for her chastity; or a Romanian pan pipe player whose real name is Simion Stanciu. The last three of these definitions are related and lead to today's video which features a performance of Bordel 1900 on the pan pipe.
According to Greek mythology, the nymph Syrinx escaped the clutches of the god Pan by running to the edge of the river and asking the river nymphs for help. The river nymphs responded by turning her into hollow river reeds. The frustrated Pan collected the reeds and tied them together into the instrument we know as a pan pipe. Simion Stanciu, one of the best pan pipe players in the world, adopted Syrinx as his stage name. As to the twitter client, their ads include a sketch of a pan pipe and the motto, "It's where the tweets come from."
Stanciu was born into a family of musicians in Romania and plays many instruments including violin, viola, piano, guitar and flute. But it is the pan pipe on which he is a virtuoso. He has played his pan pipe with groups as varied as Moody Blues and the London Philharmonic and as a soloist on some of his half dozen albums. You will note in today's video that he has astonishing breath control - the pan pipe is a simple instrument but the variety of his tonguing techniques, the control of sound volume and the subtle management of vibrato bring an amazing amount of emotion to the music.
Bordel 1900 is the first movement of Piazzolla's Histoire du tango which was originally composed as a duet for flute and guitar. In one sense, it is a small translation step to go from the transverse flute to the pan pipe but the physical difficulty of executing large interval jumps, and there a lot of these in Bordel, must make the piece quite a challenge on the pan pipe. Stanciu is accompanied in the video by Romanian guitarist, Razvan Grigorescu. If you enjoy this video, or want to see Stanciu in a larger format, there is also a YouTube video of Stanciu on pan pipe playing the second movement of the Histoire, Cafe 1930, with guitarist Leo Christophe. It's also excellent but, to my ear, not quite as accomplished as the featured video.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
According to Greek mythology, the nymph Syrinx escaped the clutches of the god Pan by running to the edge of the river and asking the river nymphs for help. The river nymphs responded by turning her into hollow river reeds. The frustrated Pan collected the reeds and tied them together into the instrument we know as a pan pipe. Simion Stanciu, one of the best pan pipe players in the world, adopted Syrinx as his stage name. As to the twitter client, their ads include a sketch of a pan pipe and the motto, "It's where the tweets come from."
Stanciu was born into a family of musicians in Romania and plays many instruments including violin, viola, piano, guitar and flute. But it is the pan pipe on which he is a virtuoso. He has played his pan pipe with groups as varied as Moody Blues and the London Philharmonic and as a soloist on some of his half dozen albums. You will note in today's video that he has astonishing breath control - the pan pipe is a simple instrument but the variety of his tonguing techniques, the control of sound volume and the subtle management of vibrato bring an amazing amount of emotion to the music.
Bordel 1900 is the first movement of Piazzolla's Histoire du tango which was originally composed as a duet for flute and guitar. In one sense, it is a small translation step to go from the transverse flute to the pan pipe but the physical difficulty of executing large interval jumps, and there a lot of these in Bordel, must make the piece quite a challenge on the pan pipe. Stanciu is accompanied in the video by Romanian guitarist, Razvan Grigorescu. If you enjoy this video, or want to see Stanciu in a larger format, there is also a YouTube video of Stanciu on pan pipe playing the second movement of the Histoire, Cafe 1930, with guitarist Leo Christophe. It's also excellent but, to my ear, not quite as accomplished as the featured video.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Two To Watch
If you haven't found time to watch any Piazzolla this year, the two videos featured today are a good place to start. All of the musicians in these videos have appeared in this blog before: Mario Parmisano as a pianist with Al Dimeola and Misha Rachlevsky with the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin in Russian Seasons. Parmisano is perhaps the leading jazz pianist in the Piazzolla world. Rachlevsky and Chamber Orchestra Kremlin are one of the leading chamber orchestras in the Piazzolla world. Somewhere in Moscow, perhaps in the Argentine embassy, lives a genius who had the idea of bringing the two together. The result was a December 10th concert at the Cultural Center of GlavUpDK in Moscow - highlights of which appear in today's two videos.
Both videos feature samples from the concert - sometimes just a few minutes of a piece, sometimes essentially the whole piece. Highlights for me included Parmisano and his trio playing Tango Suite No. 3 and the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin plus Parmisano playing Michelangelo 70, Chiquilin de bachin and Libertango. The arrangements are excellent although I would agree with those who say that some of the raw tango energy has been lost. That loss is more than made up in the beauty of the music.
If you live in the right part of the world, you will find a new recording, Remembering Astor, by Parmisano's trio and a Vivaldi/Piazzolla Four Seasons recording by the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin. Otherwise, you will have to be satisfied with these videos unless a CD or DVD from the concert is forthcoming - this fan certainly hopes that is the case.
If the videos do not appear below, click here for part 1 and here for part 2.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Both videos feature samples from the concert - sometimes just a few minutes of a piece, sometimes essentially the whole piece. Highlights for me included Parmisano and his trio playing Tango Suite No. 3 and the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin plus Parmisano playing Michelangelo 70, Chiquilin de bachin and Libertango. The arrangements are excellent although I would agree with those who say that some of the raw tango energy has been lost. That loss is more than made up in the beauty of the music.
If you live in the right part of the world, you will find a new recording, Remembering Astor, by Parmisano's trio and a Vivaldi/Piazzolla Four Seasons recording by the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin. Otherwise, you will have to be satisfied with these videos unless a CD or DVD from the concert is forthcoming - this fan certainly hopes that is the case.
If the videos do not appear below, click here for part 1 and here for part 2.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Libertango - A Bass Version
The International Society of Basses has 3,000 members and like their cousins, the tubas, they enjoy getting together to make music without those irritating treble instruments. One such recent gathering (November 7, 2009) was a bass festival in Bucharest, Romania where the final concert included a double bass orchestra version of Libertango.
The concert was dedicated to Professor Ion Cheptea on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Prof. Cheptea was a well know teacher of the double bass at National University of Music in Bucharest. One of Prof. Cheptea's former students, Daisuke Soga, arranged and conducted a thirty-three piece bass orchestra, most of the members former students of Prof. Cheptea, in the performance of Libertango. There are four soloists in the performance: Catalin Rotaru, Sandel Smarandescu, Petru Iuga, and Botond Kostyak. The arrangement is excellent. It is rhythmically interesting and avoids most of the cliches which tarnish so many such arrangements. Soga is to be congratulated - the piece deserves to be repeated at every bass festival in 2010.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
The concert was dedicated to Professor Ion Cheptea on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Prof. Cheptea was a well know teacher of the double bass at National University of Music in Bucharest. One of Prof. Cheptea's former students, Daisuke Soga, arranged and conducted a thirty-three piece bass orchestra, most of the members former students of Prof. Cheptea, in the performance of Libertango. There are four soloists in the performance: Catalin Rotaru, Sandel Smarandescu, Petru Iuga, and Botond Kostyak. The arrangement is excellent. It is rhythmically interesting and avoids most of the cliches which tarnish so many such arrangements. Soga is to be congratulated - the piece deserves to be repeated at every bass festival in 2010.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Monday, January 4, 2010
December Review of Piazzolla Videos
There were 481 videos of Piazzolla’s music posted on YouTube in the month of December, 2009. 349 (73%) 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.
Thirty-two percent of the performance videos were in the classical mode, 26% in Nuevo tango, 30% in pop and 12% in jazz.
Here are the most frequently performed pieces this month (Libertango was the most frequently played – 27% of the total; the others follow in order):
1. Libertango
2. Adios Nonino
3. Oblivion
4. Verano Porteño
5. Primavera Porteña
6. La Muerte del ángel
7. Invierno Porteño
8. Histoire du tango – Café 1930
9. Milonga del ángel
10. Balada para un Loco, Michelangelo 70, Tango Suite, Tango etudes (tie)
The top three on this list seem to be fairly stable month-to-month but the bottom seven change every month.
The performance videos came from 40 different countries. Argentina posted the most videos: 60. The top ten posting countries are listed in order here:
1. Argentina
2. Italy
3. USA
4. Spain
5. Brazil
6. Russia
7. Japan
8. Germany
9. France
10. Mexico
There were eighteen Piazzolla original performances posted. Only one of these was new to YouTube: Balada para mi muerte. In addition, the first complete video of Bandoneón from Suite Troiliana was posted. 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 Raúl Lavié and Piazzolla’s Quintet of Balada para mi muerte.
The choice for most bizarre this month is a video of a man sniffing a burning Piazzolla record while listening to Extasis.
I have put a table with links to all 481 videos as well as some more information on the videos on the December link in my Piazzolla on Video website.
Thirty-two percent of the performance videos were in the classical mode, 26% in Nuevo tango, 30% in pop and 12% in jazz.
Here are the most frequently performed pieces this month (Libertango was the most frequently played – 27% of the total; the others follow in order):
1. Libertango
2. Adios Nonino
3. Oblivion
4. Verano Porteño
5. Primavera Porteña
6. La Muerte del ángel
7. Invierno Porteño
8. Histoire du tango – Café 1930
9. Milonga del ángel
10. Balada para un Loco, Michelangelo 70, Tango Suite, Tango etudes (tie)
The top three on this list seem to be fairly stable month-to-month but the bottom seven change every month.
The performance videos came from 40 different countries. Argentina posted the most videos: 60. The top ten posting countries are listed in order here:
1. Argentina
2. Italy
3. USA
4. Spain
5. Brazil
6. Russia
7. Japan
8. Germany
9. France
10. Mexico
There were eighteen Piazzolla original performances posted. Only one of these was new to YouTube: Balada para mi muerte. In addition, the first complete video of Bandoneón from Suite Troiliana was posted. 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 Raúl Lavié and Piazzolla’s Quintet of Balada para mi muerte.
The choice for most bizarre this month is a video of a man sniffing a burning Piazzolla record while listening to Extasis.
I have put a table with links to all 481 videos as well as some more information on the videos on the December link in my Piazzolla on Video website.
Libertango - A Single Charango Version
Since we closed 2009 with a double charango version of Libertango, it seems appropriate to open 2010 with a single charango version of Libertango.
Some definite similarities between the two: hats, jazz and an unidentified musician with considerable instrumental expertise. The single charango is the traditional form of the instrument and I must admit that not much was added, musically, by the addition of 10 more strings in the double charango version.
If the video does bit appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Some definite similarities between the two: hats, jazz and an unidentified musician with considerable instrumental expertise. The single charango is the traditional form of the instrument and I must admit that not much was added, musically, by the addition of 10 more strings in the double charango version.
If the video does bit appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
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