Gian Luigi Zampieri

If you like your Piazzolla in grande size, you will enjoy today's video which features the full Haifa Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Gian Luigi Zampieri playing Adios Nonino. Zampieri not only conducts, he plays a version of Piazzolla's bandoneon part on the piano and he edited the original arrangement for orchestra created by José Bragato to tailor it for this performance. In comparison to any of Piazzolla's performances of the piece, I find the opening a bit vague but when the orchestra hits theme B at about a minute and a half into the video, there is a serious breakout of luscious beauty which continues to the end. Maestro Zampieri is no slouch at the piano but one can only dream of what this could sound like with a bravura pianist and proper sound mixing.

If you admire Zampieri's multi-tasking in this video, don't miss the video of Alevare from Maria de Buenos Aires, Piazzolla's operita, where Zampieri, in addition to his arranging and conducting duties, provides the narration voiced originally by Horaccio Ferrer.

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To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.

A YouTube Special

I want to know more about today's video. The song is Oblivion. The performers are talented. The arrangement is good. The production quality is high. But have the performers ever met each other? They refer to each other as "YT-friends". Günter Geurts, from Essen, plays the guitar and does the arrangement. Robert lives 596 km away in the village of Rain and plays the clarinet. Robert's other videos show he is also a fine guitarist, singer, and video multitracker. This latter skill explains the video. Two performances in two different places seamlessly edited together to provide a most enjoyable video experience.

Only on YouTube.

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To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.

Pure Piazzolla

I have been waiting all month for that perfect quintet producing pure Piazzolla. I am still waiting but don't really mind when I find music like that provided in today's video of the Camerata Porteña performing Invierno Porteño. Nine superb musicians from Argentina devoted to the performance of Piazzolla's music and providing pure Piazzolla. The Camerata Porteña was created by the current director, Marcelo Rodríguez Scilla, in 1986 and has performed the music of Piazzolla all over the world. Their CD's are unfortunately not broadly available nor is their music available on iTunes but they do have three CD's available through their website. There are also videos available on YouTube of their perfomances of Escualo and La muerte del ángel. All enjoyable, but this is my favorite.

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To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.

Piazzolla Rocks

This blog has perhaps unfairly ignored a segment of Piazzolla performers who are small but enthusiastic and who do demonstrate the reach of Piazzolla's music. That segment is the rockers. Two example have appeared this month. The first is a solo guitar interpretation of Adios Nonino by Brazilian shredder, Marcos De Ros. He is a remarkable musician and composer who shreds Schubert along with more standard heavy metal. I think he honors and respects Piazzolla in his performance here. The second is a more classic garage rock trio from Argentina, 3 de Copas, also interpreting Adios Nonino - clearly a favorite of the rockers. This performance took place in Córdoba, Argentina as part of a regular Tuesday night session held for the past seven years at a theater named "Cineclub Municipal." Their interpretation is a little looser but still respectful of the contrast between pathos and happy memories that capture the story behind the piece.

Turn up the volume and enjoy these.

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To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.

Real Jazz from Rio

In monthly summaries I classify 10-15% of the Piazzolla performances posted on YouTube as "jazz" but I think most jazz musicians would say the number is much lower than that. Most are actually "pop" tunes with a jazzy arrangement. But a "real" jazz performance appeared today from some young jazz musicians from Rio who call themselves Jazzafinado. It is the improvisation that makes it "real" jazz. Four of the six members of Jazzafinado take turns with improvisations while the bass provides a steady framework and the drummer complements rather than overwhelms the music. Their tune is Libertango and their charts are well organized and structured. These guys are "real" jazz professionals.

Surprisingly, there was a second "real" jazz performance posted today but I will save that for another day. Meanwhile, enjoy Jazzafinao.

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To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.

Is it the Violin or the Violinist?

How is it that some violinists have such a sweet tone while others have such a hard tone? Is the tonality built into the violin or is it in the bow or is it all in technique? Whichever, violinist Alexander Prushinskiy certainly plays a sweet violin in the Astor Trio's version of Oblivion. Oblivion is the third most played tune composed by Piazzolla and it sometimes drifts into emotional trivia but in the firm hands of the Astor Trio, it stays on the romantic rails. The other two musicians, Tobias Kassung on guitar and Dragan Trajkovski on double bass, are exceptional but it is Prushinskiy's sound, reminding me so much of the sound that Fernando Suárez Paz brought to Piazzolla's quintet, that makes this performance special.

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To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.

Piazzolla in Australia

Australia has many fine musicians but until this video appeared, I must admit I was unaware of Cathie Travers and her interpretations of Piazzolla. As you can see in today's video, Travers is a very fine accordionist but she is also a noted composer in a variety of genres ranging from rock to symphonic and including tango. Her tango sensibilities are very apparent in Preludio 9 which she performs here with Perth's Juniper Chamber Orchestra. The September 16, 2008 concert at which this video was made included two other Piazzolla works, Oblivion and Tanguedia, as well as a tango written by Ms. Travers. All of the Piazzolla is very well done (and viewable through the links above) but Preludio 9 works particularly well for a small chamber orchestra. Piazzolla wrote the piece for his Conjunto 9 which with its five string players was as close to a chamber orchestra as he ever got. The Conjunto 9's original version of Preludio 9 is available in a recent CD reissue.

Many thanks to the musicians of Western Australia for this video.

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To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.