After sitting in a box for more than twenty years a long forgotten video tape of a full Piazzolla concert has been found and shared this week on YouTube. There are very few videos of full concerts which makes this video of particular interest to Piazzolla fans. Today's featured video of the Quintet's performance of Adios Nonino is just one of the eight posted videos which fully capture the concert.
According to the Azzi/Collier book, Le Grand Tango, Piazzolla's Quintet made a quick tour of Mexico and Central America in the summer of 1984. Vocalist, Raúl Lavié, joined the quintet on the tour (and is featured in four of the videos). While not mentioned in Le Grand Tango, that tour evidently also included a stop in Caracas, Venezuela where today's video was made. The notes with the video suggest it was a brief visit with no time to assemble an audience, to rehearse, or to do a proper sound check (and apparently no time to tune the piano). The video was preserved on a U-Matic tape and is one of the first broadcasts in Venezuela to be recorded in stereo. The quality of the sound is quite good as is most of the video.
Many thanks to "BlackbirdRabbit" for finding and sharing the video.
If the video does not appear below, click here. Links to the other videos from the concert are provided below.
Additional concert videos: Lunfardo/Michelangelo 70, Los Pájaros Perdidos, La Bicicleta Blanca, Balada para mi Muerte, Balada para un Loco, Verano Porteño, and Mumuki.
Full audio of the concert can be downloaded here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Note added on 23 December, 2011: The poster of this video has added an additional piece of information about the arrangements behind this television performance. Hugo Carregal, an Argentine actor, singer and producer who lived in Venezuela and was very influential at RCTV convinced Piazzolla to fit the performance into a busy schedule. Were it not for Mr. Carregal's efforts, we would not be enjoying this video.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Without the Bongos
Pablo Aslan issued a very interesting album this week: Piazzolla in Brooklyn. The album takes nine tracks from a 1959 Piazzolla LP titled, Take Me Dancing, and reinterprets them in contemporary jazz format. Aslan talks about the concept behind the new recording and you hear quite a bit of the track titled Counterpoint in today's video.
The 1959 version was recorded in New York City during Piazzolla's ultimately unsuccessful attempt to establish a musical career in that city. He recorded six LP's during that period. In five of those, Piazzolla was a band leader and instrumentalist playing other people's music. Take Me Dancing is the only LP of the six in which he was able to play a significant amount of his own music, which he termed Jazz-Tango. That album contains eight tracks composed by Piazzolla and four standards. The music is, for the most part, forgettable - the textures are bland, the tempos metronomic and the bongos are irritating. For many years the music on the LP was available to only a few who were lucky enough to find a copy of it in a dustbin but I note that today, you can download the full contents of the LP.
But Aslan heard something else in the music. As he says in the video, "There is a lot of great music in there, if you can get past the bongos." Aslan, himself a bassist, assembled a quintet: Gustavo Bergalli on trumpet, Nicolas Enrich on bandoneón, Abel Rogantini on piano, and Daniel “Pipi” Piazzolla on drums. He, Enrich and Rogantini transcribed seven of the pieces that Piazzolla had composed, two of the standards and added a tenth piece, La Calle 92 (La Calle translates as "the street" and one of Piazzolla's addresses in NYC was 202 West 92nd Street) which was composed in 1961. All of the musicians are seasoned jazz musicians who also know tango. They recorded the music in Buenos Aires over a period of days. The pattern for each track is roughly the same: they open with essentially a direct reading of the score and after the full thread of the original has been spun they begin to improvise around Piazzolla's music - frequently playing above and around the original themes. They make good music - a clear improvement over 1959. If you are a jazz fan you will enjoy the music. If you are a jazz fan who enjoys Piazzolla, you will love the music. If you are looking for a nuevo tango recording - this one is not for you.
In addition to the interesting comments and snippets of the recording session, you will hear a significant portion of the work Counterpoint (also known as Contratiempo) starting at 3:25 in today's video. You can compare what you hear to Piazzolla's 1959 recording in this video. You may recognize the fugue that opens the piece - Piazzolla recycled it into Fuga y misterio in the operita, Maria de Buenos Aires.
The concept for the album is creative and the execution respects the music that Piazzolla composed. The improvisation is excellent and left me wanting to hear these five musicians take on some of Piazzolla's more successful music rather than his more obscure music.
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 1959 version was recorded in New York City during Piazzolla's ultimately unsuccessful attempt to establish a musical career in that city. He recorded six LP's during that period. In five of those, Piazzolla was a band leader and instrumentalist playing other people's music. Take Me Dancing is the only LP of the six in which he was able to play a significant amount of his own music, which he termed Jazz-Tango. That album contains eight tracks composed by Piazzolla and four standards. The music is, for the most part, forgettable - the textures are bland, the tempos metronomic and the bongos are irritating. For many years the music on the LP was available to only a few who were lucky enough to find a copy of it in a dustbin but I note that today, you can download the full contents of the LP.
But Aslan heard something else in the music. As he says in the video, "There is a lot of great music in there, if you can get past the bongos." Aslan, himself a bassist, assembled a quintet: Gustavo Bergalli on trumpet, Nicolas Enrich on bandoneón, Abel Rogantini on piano, and Daniel “Pipi” Piazzolla on drums. He, Enrich and Rogantini transcribed seven of the pieces that Piazzolla had composed, two of the standards and added a tenth piece, La Calle 92 (La Calle translates as "the street" and one of Piazzolla's addresses in NYC was 202 West 92nd Street) which was composed in 1961. All of the musicians are seasoned jazz musicians who also know tango. They recorded the music in Buenos Aires over a period of days. The pattern for each track is roughly the same: they open with essentially a direct reading of the score and after the full thread of the original has been spun they begin to improvise around Piazzolla's music - frequently playing above and around the original themes. They make good music - a clear improvement over 1959. If you are a jazz fan you will enjoy the music. If you are a jazz fan who enjoys Piazzolla, you will love the music. If you are looking for a nuevo tango recording - this one is not for you.
In addition to the interesting comments and snippets of the recording session, you will hear a significant portion of the work Counterpoint (also known as Contratiempo) starting at 3:25 in today's video. You can compare what you hear to Piazzolla's 1959 recording in this video. You may recognize the fugue that opens the piece - Piazzolla recycled it into Fuga y misterio in the operita, Maria de Buenos Aires.
The concept for the album is creative and the execution respects the music that Piazzolla composed. The improvisation is excellent and left me wanting to hear these five musicians take on some of Piazzolla's more successful music rather than his more obscure music.
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, November 9, 2011
Invierno Porteño - Pitango Quartet
Who you gonna call? If you have a ghost problem, you call Ghostbusters. If you want an arrangement of a Piazzolla tune, you call Norberto Vogel. That is who the Pitango Quartet called when offered the opportunity to perform with the Netanya Kibbutz Orchestra. The very successful result of that call can be sampled in today's video of Invierno Porteño.
The Pitango Quartet is one of the leading tango ensemble in Israel. The group, formed by classically trained musicians, has been in existence since 2003 and provides tango "shows" as well as performing as a chamber group and with symphony orchestras as in today's video. Their repertoire covers the full range of tango music which they present with respect and authenticity. Members of the group are Amijai Shalev on bandoneón, Hadar Cohen on violin, Shachar Ziv on piano and Rinat Avisar on contrabass. I believe that all but the violinist are part of the original 2003 quartet. Pitango has recorded two CD's of tango music but they are difficult to find outside of Israel. You can find and purchase a limited selection of their music at their myspace website.
Invierno Porteño was the final of the four seasons composed by Piazzolla and the only one in which he purposefully inserted an hommage to Vivaldi. While originally composed for a quintet it is frequently played in orchestral arrangements, the most famous being those of José Bragato and Leonid Desyatnikov. The former is a bit formal but authentic; the latter is a delight to the ear but takes many liberties with the score. Mr. Vogel's is quite different and in many respects better than the others. It opens with beautifully written bandoneón solo - a perfect overture to the piece which captures both the Vivaldi and the tango essence embedded in the work. Mr. Vogel is a skilled bandoneónist himself and that skill shows in the this opening gem. The piece then moves alternatively but seamlessly between sections scored for full orchestra and for the quartet. The audience receives the full impact of an orchestral work but also has the opportunity to hear portions of the work in something closer to the original format. You will find Pitango and the Netanya Kibbutz Orchestra performing the other three seasons at the CarouselArtists YouTube Channel.
So, who are you gonna call? Mr. Vogel is an "arranger for hire" with a specialty in tango music. If you want a special arrangement of a Piazzolla work for your ensemble, give him a call at (011) 5197-6461 in Buenos Aires (or an email 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 Pitango Quartet is one of the leading tango ensemble in Israel. The group, formed by classically trained musicians, has been in existence since 2003 and provides tango "shows" as well as performing as a chamber group and with symphony orchestras as in today's video. Their repertoire covers the full range of tango music which they present with respect and authenticity. Members of the group are Amijai Shalev on bandoneón, Hadar Cohen on violin, Shachar Ziv on piano and Rinat Avisar on contrabass. I believe that all but the violinist are part of the original 2003 quartet. Pitango has recorded two CD's of tango music but they are difficult to find outside of Israel. You can find and purchase a limited selection of their music at their myspace website.
Invierno Porteño was the final of the four seasons composed by Piazzolla and the only one in which he purposefully inserted an hommage to Vivaldi. While originally composed for a quintet it is frequently played in orchestral arrangements, the most famous being those of José Bragato and Leonid Desyatnikov. The former is a bit formal but authentic; the latter is a delight to the ear but takes many liberties with the score. Mr. Vogel's is quite different and in many respects better than the others. It opens with beautifully written bandoneón solo - a perfect overture to the piece which captures both the Vivaldi and the tango essence embedded in the work. Mr. Vogel is a skilled bandoneónist himself and that skill shows in the this opening gem. The piece then moves alternatively but seamlessly between sections scored for full orchestra and for the quartet. The audience receives the full impact of an orchestral work but also has the opportunity to hear portions of the work in something closer to the original format. You will find Pitango and the Netanya Kibbutz Orchestra performing the other three seasons at the CarouselArtists YouTube Channel.
So, who are you gonna call? Mr. Vogel is an "arranger for hire" with a specialty in tango music. If you want a special arrangement of a Piazzolla work for your ensemble, give him a call at (011) 5197-6461 in Buenos Aires (or an email 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.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Campo, Camino y Amor - Episodio Trio
It is an unlikely song writing pair: Astor Piazzolla and Atahualpa Yupanqui. But José Pons and his wife provided the opportunity for the two to work together and create the piece, Campo, camino y amor in their Paris home in 1974. The canción is rarely performed but a performance of it by the Episodio Trio is featured in today's video.
Héctor Roberto Chavero Aramburo was born in 1908 - his father a descendant of the indigenous people of Argentina, his mother from the Basque country of Europe. As a performer, he took the stage name Atahualpa Yupanqui to honor the names of two great Inca kings. Until his death in 1992, he was the most famous folk musician in Argentina and shared his music and the music of the country people of Argentina with the world. He challenged the political system of Argentina and spent time in exile and in prison as a result. While his music bears little relationship to that of Piazzolla, during their lifetimes they shared a common bond of rejection within their shared homeland. And, today they share a common veneration. That these two almost legendary figures created together the canción, Campo, camino y amor, is almost as remarkable as the fact that the canción remains an almost undiscovered gem today.
The story of their meeting in Paris at the home of Argentine architect, José Pons, himself an exile from Argentina, is well documented as a result of the publication of a small book, Astor Atahualpa: Los Caminos de la Identidad (the full text is at that link), written by Piazzolla's daughter, Diana, and Atahualpa's son, Roberto Chavero, with a third author,Fuentes Rey, describing the origin of today's featured song, Campo, camino y amor. The story of this canción as extracted in this blog is roughly this: Piazzolla and Atahualpa were both performing in Paris. They met as dinner guests at the Pons home and Atahualpa told the story of how his parents met. All present thought the story would make a good canción. Atahualpa agreed to write a poem about it and Piazzolla agreed to put the poem to music. Unlike many such ideas hatched over wine and good food, it actually happened that way. Hopefully, Piazzolla had a chance to introduce the canción to the Pons family but I find no evidence that he did. In December of 1974 at Teatro Coliseo in Buenos Aires, the work was performed by Amelita Baltar, Piazzolla's vocalist, companion and presumed fellow guest at the Pons dinner. Ms. Baltar later recorded the work on the CD, Referencias. The only other recording of the work I find is by María Estela Monti on the CD, Solo Piazzolla.
And who are the Episodio Trio that perform the work in today's video? I don't know. There is no information accompanying the video and I can find no helpful reference to the group on the web. Hopefully someone reading this blog will recognize them and tell us a little more about them in the comment section below. Their performance, which is the only presentation of Campo, camino y amor on YouTube, is excellent - they deserve recognition.
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.
Héctor Roberto Chavero Aramburo was born in 1908 - his father a descendant of the indigenous people of Argentina, his mother from the Basque country of Europe. As a performer, he took the stage name Atahualpa Yupanqui to honor the names of two great Inca kings. Until his death in 1992, he was the most famous folk musician in Argentina and shared his music and the music of the country people of Argentina with the world. He challenged the political system of Argentina and spent time in exile and in prison as a result. While his music bears little relationship to that of Piazzolla, during their lifetimes they shared a common bond of rejection within their shared homeland. And, today they share a common veneration. That these two almost legendary figures created together the canción, Campo, camino y amor, is almost as remarkable as the fact that the canción remains an almost undiscovered gem today.
The story of their meeting in Paris at the home of Argentine architect, José Pons, himself an exile from Argentina, is well documented as a result of the publication of a small book, Astor Atahualpa: Los Caminos de la Identidad (the full text is at that link), written by Piazzolla's daughter, Diana, and Atahualpa's son, Roberto Chavero, with a third author,Fuentes Rey, describing the origin of today's featured song, Campo, camino y amor. The story of this canción as extracted in this blog is roughly this: Piazzolla and Atahualpa were both performing in Paris. They met as dinner guests at the Pons home and Atahualpa told the story of how his parents met. All present thought the story would make a good canción. Atahualpa agreed to write a poem about it and Piazzolla agreed to put the poem to music. Unlike many such ideas hatched over wine and good food, it actually happened that way. Hopefully, Piazzolla had a chance to introduce the canción to the Pons family but I find no evidence that he did. In December of 1974 at Teatro Coliseo in Buenos Aires, the work was performed by Amelita Baltar, Piazzolla's vocalist, companion and presumed fellow guest at the Pons dinner. Ms. Baltar later recorded the work on the CD, Referencias. The only other recording of the work I find is by María Estela Monti on the CD, Solo Piazzolla.
And who are the Episodio Trio that perform the work in today's video? I don't know. There is no information accompanying the video and I can find no helpful reference to the group on the web. Hopefully someone reading this blog will recognize them and tell us a little more about them in the comment section below. Their performance, which is the only presentation of Campo, camino y amor on YouTube, is excellent - they deserve recognition.
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.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
500 Motivaciones
Piazzolla "plugged in" in the mid-70's with several versions of an Octeto Electronico. Influenced by Chick Corea's sound and with the encouragement of his son, Daniel, who was among the pioneers playing the electronic synthesizer, he gathered seven musicians, including Daniel, and "electrified" his nuevo tango sound. You can see a 1975 example of that group here.
In 1976, influenced not by Corea but by the young musicians who were bringing a rock sound to tango, he very significantly changed the sound of the music to bring the aggressive sound of rock into his neuevo tango. The young rockers applauded the move but the Azzi/Collier book, Le Grand Tango, indicates that Piazzolla was not so sure it was the right sound for him. The piece, 500 motivaciones, may be the best example of that sound. The work was featured in a famous concert in December, 1976 at Teatro Gran Rex in Buenos Aires. Unfortunately, the Piazzolla discography contains no recording of 500 motivaciones. But, rumors have long persisted that a recording was made at Teatro Gran Rex and this week, a recording of 500 motivaciones made directly from the mix board at the Gran Rex made its way to the web. You can hear that recording, at least as I write this you can here it, at this link. There are many Piazzolla fans who have waited for years to hear this recording.
The sound is a bit rough, in the sense that the music does not sound as well rehearsed as usual - perhaps that is part of aiming for a looser rock sound. There are places where it seems that the flutist just can't quite keep up with the group (note that the Luis Ferreyra had replaced the Octeto's original flutist, Arturo Schneider, at this time) but it is a relentlessly driving work that still clearly comes from the pen of Piazzolla. The Octeto was disbanded shortly after the Gran Rex concert only to be reassembled with an almost totally different set of musicians (only Astor and Daniel were in both groups) for a series of performances at the Olympia Theater in France which have been captured on a French LP, Olympia 77. 500 motivaciones was featured at those concerts and was well received. But things never really gelled with this second version of the Octeto and Piazzolla disbanded it and abandoned the "electrified" sound for the rest of his career.
To my knowledge there is only one commercial recording of the work and it is a quite good one by the Ensamble Nuevo Tango. In 1986, Piazzolla gave that group his original manuscript for 500 motivaciones so their performance, other than instrumentation, is quite authentic. Fortunately, they have provided a video of their performance which can be viewed below. The rough, rock edges have been removed and it is well rehearsed but it is still a relentlessly driving work. To me, their version sounds more like Piazzolla than Piazzolla's own Octeto Electronico version.
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.
In 1976, influenced not by Corea but by the young musicians who were bringing a rock sound to tango, he very significantly changed the sound of the music to bring the aggressive sound of rock into his neuevo tango. The young rockers applauded the move but the Azzi/Collier book, Le Grand Tango, indicates that Piazzolla was not so sure it was the right sound for him. The piece, 500 motivaciones, may be the best example of that sound. The work was featured in a famous concert in December, 1976 at Teatro Gran Rex in Buenos Aires. Unfortunately, the Piazzolla discography contains no recording of 500 motivaciones. But, rumors have long persisted that a recording was made at Teatro Gran Rex and this week, a recording of 500 motivaciones made directly from the mix board at the Gran Rex made its way to the web. You can hear that recording, at least as I write this you can here it, at this link. There are many Piazzolla fans who have waited for years to hear this recording.
The sound is a bit rough, in the sense that the music does not sound as well rehearsed as usual - perhaps that is part of aiming for a looser rock sound. There are places where it seems that the flutist just can't quite keep up with the group (note that the Luis Ferreyra had replaced the Octeto's original flutist, Arturo Schneider, at this time) but it is a relentlessly driving work that still clearly comes from the pen of Piazzolla. The Octeto was disbanded shortly after the Gran Rex concert only to be reassembled with an almost totally different set of musicians (only Astor and Daniel were in both groups) for a series of performances at the Olympia Theater in France which have been captured on a French LP, Olympia 77. 500 motivaciones was featured at those concerts and was well received. But things never really gelled with this second version of the Octeto and Piazzolla disbanded it and abandoned the "electrified" sound for the rest of his career.
To my knowledge there is only one commercial recording of the work and it is a quite good one by the Ensamble Nuevo Tango. In 1986, Piazzolla gave that group his original manuscript for 500 motivaciones so their performance, other than instrumentation, is quite authentic. Fortunately, they have provided a video of their performance which can be viewed below. The rough, rock edges have been removed and it is well rehearsed but it is still a relentlessly driving work. To me, their version sounds more like Piazzolla than Piazzolla's own Octeto Electronico version.
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, October 19, 2011
Boulouris 5
Many musicians play all the notes, only a few make beautiful music. Boulouris 5 makes beautiful music (and they don't miss any notes, either). This Lausanne, Switzerland based quintet is on my short list of groups I would like to see in concert. Their interpretations are unique and extraordinarily musical. It is only a slight exaggeration to say that they are Piazzolla specialists. They have issued four albums - three of which are virtually devoted to the music of Piazzolla. Part of their success is due to the fact that they understand and have mastered all of Piazzolla's musical gestures and can execute them not just with precision but with feeling. I could not decide which of two recently posted videos was best so have featured them both: La Muerte del Angel and Contrabajissimo. The videos are from a live performance at Vevey. The music from that performance is available for download from Amazon.com or iTunes.
The composition of the group is not what you would expect for Piazzolla specialists: Stéphanie Joseph on violin, Jean-Samuel Racine on clarinet, Anne Gillot on bass clarinet, Ignacio Lamas on guitar, and Jocelyne Rudasigwa on contrabass. Racine and Lamas do their arrangements. While I would be content to just listen to their Piazzolla, they do need to make a living and seem to be understandably reluctant to leave the Suisse Romande so they have packaged their talents into a series of eight musical spectacles which can attract much larger audiences. The most recent such spectacle, Newman Waits Here, covers the work of Tom Waits and Randy Newman. You can see examples of their vocal, mime and comedy talents in the fifteen videos posted on JeansamRacine's YouTubeChannel.
I prefer just the music and the two videos below illustrate why. If they do not appear below, click here and then here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
The composition of the group is not what you would expect for Piazzolla specialists: Stéphanie Joseph on violin, Jean-Samuel Racine on clarinet, Anne Gillot on bass clarinet, Ignacio Lamas on guitar, and Jocelyne Rudasigwa on contrabass. Racine and Lamas do their arrangements. While I would be content to just listen to their Piazzolla, they do need to make a living and seem to be understandably reluctant to leave the Suisse Romande so they have packaged their talents into a series of eight musical spectacles which can attract much larger audiences. The most recent such spectacle, Newman Waits Here, covers the work of Tom Waits and Randy Newman. You can see examples of their vocal, mime and comedy talents in the fifteen videos posted on JeansamRacine's YouTubeChannel.
I prefer just the music and the two videos below illustrate why. If they do not appear below, click here and then here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Royal Command Whiskey
I don't know if it was a labor of love or a simple opportunity to pick up a spot of quick and easy cash, but in 1979 Piazzolla made the television commercial for a local whiskey called Royal Command that is our featured video today.
According to the Azzi/Collier book, Le Grand Tango, the video was made shortly after his fifty-eighth birthday. The book provides this translation of his message: "The world is moving away from its roots. People are moving away from their origins. Everyone is searching for something."
So far as I know it is the only commercial ever made starring Piazzolla although his music has been and is still being used in a variety of unlikely television commercials.
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.
According to the Azzi/Collier book, Le Grand Tango, the video was made shortly after his fifty-eighth birthday. The book provides this translation of his message: "The world is moving away from its roots. People are moving away from their origins. Everyone is searching for something."
So far as I know it is the only commercial ever made starring Piazzolla although his music has been and is still being used in a variety of unlikely television commercials.
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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