A recent blog highlighted the group, Escalandrum. I encourage you to read that blog but the short message from it is that the jazz combo formed by Piazzolla's grandson, Daniel "Pipi" Piazzolla, is called Escalandrum and they have a new recording, Piazzolla Plays Piazzolla, featuring the music of Piazzolla (the grandfather, Astor) and that the CD has been named by Piazzolla on Video the best Piazzolla CD of the year (even though there are six months to go in the year, I am confident no one will top it). The video accompanying that blog was from the Bridgestone Music Festival in São Paulo, Brazil.
On June 15, Escalandrum took their show to one of the most important venues in Argentina, the Teatro Gran Rex in Buenos Aires. Given the fame of the Piazzolla name in that city it must have been a nervous time for Pipi and his band. They need not have worried, reports are uniformly positive about the show. I recommend this excellent review of the show from Martín Vergara of the Jade Jazz y otras músicas blog who was fortunate enough to be there.
The piece featured in today's video is titled Escualo (which translates as "shark") and is both a salute to Piazzolla's hobby of shark fishing and part of the source of the name for the group Escalandrum. It was composed in 1979, and is one of Piazzolla's most rhythmically interesting compositions. It is a favorite of jazz musicians and an absolutely perfect vehicle to demonstrate the improvisational skills of Escalandrum. This is one of the best jazz covers of the work you will find anywhere.
Hopefully, more video from the Gran Rex performance will be available soon. While you are waiting for more, I encourage you to go to iTunes or Amazon and download the music.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
Note added 3 July, 2011: More videos from this concert have now been released on YouTube. To get a good overview of the evening, watch this one.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
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Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Lo Que Vendrá - Orquesta Típica "Central" del CSMA
It's not typical - the free reeds are accordions, not bandoneóns, but it would be a terrible mistake to dismiss the Orquesta Típica "Central", featured in today's video, for such a shortcoming. "Central" is an orquesta típica that deserves time on the world's better stages not just on the stage of the Auditorio Eduardo del Pueyo at Conservatorio superior de música de Aragón where the "Central" orquesta members are students. "Central" is new, their first performance was in March of last year but rarely have I heard a contemporary orquesta típica play with such precision and rhythmic certainty. The string section has discovered the secret that in tango, the dynamic envelop does not encompass a measure or two - it often encompasses only a single note or two. And they synchronize their management of those dynamics remarkably well as a unit. That a group of students in Spain who are supported but not led by faculty can have such an authentic sound, even with those accordions, is simply astonishing.
The orquesta típica, with its banks of bandoneóns and strings, represents the peak of the arc of classic tango. Piazzolla began his professional musical career as a bandoneónist and arranger for the orquesta típica of Anibal Troilo. Later he led his own orquesta típica before leaving the arc to create his tango nuevo. He composed a few classical tangos during and after that period. Lo Que Vendrá, the subject of today's video, is one of the best of those. It was composed in 1955 or 1956 and first appeared on the rare LP, Tango Progresivo.
Today's video comes from a concert which "Central" gave on December 15, 2010 in celebration of the 5th anniversary of Aragón Radio. The video is one of fourteen videos from the concert, all of which can be found on the CSMA Youtube Channel. The videos contain performances of three other Piazzolla classic tangos: Chau Paris, Triunfal and Prepárense as well as Piazzolla's arrangement of Tierra querida. There are a few of the fourteen pieces that could benefit from a little more rehearsal time but the choices of pieces to be played is wonderful and the overall level of performance is something that would be applauded even by the demanding audiences at Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.
There are no weak musicians in "Central" but I feel compelled to single out the pianist, Ms. Pilar López, for special recognition. She seems to have a remarkable feel the music - a natural sense of canyengue. Her touch is precise and the subtleties of her timing are, in part, responsible for the authentic sound of the group. It is also worth recognizing the two solo violinist, David Merlin and Daniel Hertado - who are the founders and the source of musical inspiration of "Central." It is my understanding that "Central" is their creation and that they provide the tango insight to the group with technical support from CSMA staff member, Rolando Prusak. You can see their musical chemistry together (although one moves to piano) in the duet version of La Camparsita. Surely one or both of these young musicians grew up closer to Buenos Aires than to Aragón to bring such authenticity to the music.
I believe most of the students in the orquesta are training to be classical musicians but I hope and expect this experience with tango will change their lives. Perhaps some of the accordionists will even give the bandoneón a try.
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 orquesta típica, with its banks of bandoneóns and strings, represents the peak of the arc of classic tango. Piazzolla began his professional musical career as a bandoneónist and arranger for the orquesta típica of Anibal Troilo. Later he led his own orquesta típica before leaving the arc to create his tango nuevo. He composed a few classical tangos during and after that period. Lo Que Vendrá, the subject of today's video, is one of the best of those. It was composed in 1955 or 1956 and first appeared on the rare LP, Tango Progresivo.
Today's video comes from a concert which "Central" gave on December 15, 2010 in celebration of the 5th anniversary of Aragón Radio. The video is one of fourteen videos from the concert, all of which can be found on the CSMA Youtube Channel. The videos contain performances of three other Piazzolla classic tangos: Chau Paris, Triunfal and Prepárense as well as Piazzolla's arrangement of Tierra querida. There are a few of the fourteen pieces that could benefit from a little more rehearsal time but the choices of pieces to be played is wonderful and the overall level of performance is something that would be applauded even by the demanding audiences at Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.
There are no weak musicians in "Central" but I feel compelled to single out the pianist, Ms. Pilar López, for special recognition. She seems to have a remarkable feel the music - a natural sense of canyengue. Her touch is precise and the subtleties of her timing are, in part, responsible for the authentic sound of the group. It is also worth recognizing the two solo violinist, David Merlin and Daniel Hertado - who are the founders and the source of musical inspiration of "Central." It is my understanding that "Central" is their creation and that they provide the tango insight to the group with technical support from CSMA staff member, Rolando Prusak. You can see their musical chemistry together (although one moves to piano) in the duet version of La Camparsita. Surely one or both of these young musicians grew up closer to Buenos Aires than to Aragón to bring such authenticity to the music.
I believe most of the students in the orquesta are training to be classical musicians but I hope and expect this experience with tango will change their lives. Perhaps some of the accordionists will even give the bandoneón a try.
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.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Adios Nonino - Raúl Jaurena
A lifetime of immersion in the sound of Adios Nonino is captured in the bandoneón solo by Raúl Jaurena in today's video. For those new to Adios Nonino, this is not a performance of that work. It is a fantasia on a theme from Adios Nonino created by a master of the bandoneón, a composer, a student of the tango and a dedicated admirer of Piazzolla. There are other such fantasias but this captures the elegiac portions of Adios Nonino better than any I have heard. It is very original in concept (yes, I know the Bach is there and I think Piazzolla would appreciate the salute) but faithful to the emotion of the original and the execution has a spontaneity about it which is surprising - one feels this is the first time he has played it this way, yet, surely it the work of much practice. It is a wonderful work that holds up well to repeated listening.
Juarena has recorded extensively and has performed with many of the best tango musicians in the world. His biography indicates he has been playing the bandoneón since he was a child and was playing in a tango orchestra when he was eight. The biography also refers to his playing with Piazzolla at the Montreal Jazz Festival - something which I cannot confirm. In fact, some references refer to a teenage Juarena performing with Piazzolla at the Montreal Jazz Festival. That is highly unlikely since Juarena, born in 1941, was 39 years old when the Montreal Jazz Festival began in 1980 and 43 years old when Piazzolla played there in 1984. Surely their paths crossed - Piazzolla had a home in Juarena's native Uruguay and the world of bandoneónists is pretty small - but perhaps some stories have been conflated to create the Montreal Jazz Festival connection.
While he has recorded extensively, Juarena tends to record his own compositions or classic tangos rather than the works of Piazzolla - a recording of solo bandoneón interpretations of Piazzolla would certainly be welcome based on the evidence of today's video.
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.
Juarena has recorded extensively and has performed with many of the best tango musicians in the world. His biography indicates he has been playing the bandoneón since he was a child and was playing in a tango orchestra when he was eight. The biography also refers to his playing with Piazzolla at the Montreal Jazz Festival - something which I cannot confirm. In fact, some references refer to a teenage Juarena performing with Piazzolla at the Montreal Jazz Festival. That is highly unlikely since Juarena, born in 1941, was 39 years old when the Montreal Jazz Festival began in 1980 and 43 years old when Piazzolla played there in 1984. Surely their paths crossed - Piazzolla had a home in Juarena's native Uruguay and the world of bandoneónists is pretty small - but perhaps some stories have been conflated to create the Montreal Jazz Festival connection.
While he has recorded extensively, Juarena tends to record his own compositions or classic tangos rather than the works of Piazzolla - a recording of solo bandoneón interpretations of Piazzolla would certainly be welcome based on the evidence of today's video.
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, June 1, 2011
Tango Suite - Assad Brothers
Is it addition or subtraction? Either a minute of music was added to the original Tango Suite to create the standard work with which we are familiar or a minute was subtracted to create the performance in today's video of the Andante and Allegro sections of Tango Suite as performed by brothers, Odair and Sérgio Assad. Available data strongly suggest the latter.
Piazzolla first met and was impressed with the Assad brothers in Paris in 1983. This was early in the Assad's career but they had already received enough recognition to leave their native Brazil and tour Europe. In 1984, Piazzolla composed Tango Suite specifically for the Assad's. According to the Azzi/Collier book, Le Grand Tango, Piazzolla's guitarist, Oscar López Ruiz, reviewed the score before it was sent to the Assads and pronounced it "difficult and complicated but perfectly playable by virtuosos like the Assads." There are three parts to the suite: Deciso, Andante and Allegro, with the latter two normally played as a single unit. The Assads first recorded it in 1985, on the LP, Latin American Music for Two Guitars. They also recorded it with Yo-Yo Ma in 1997, on Soul of the Tango but their definitive performance appears on the wonderful CD, Sérgio & Odair Assad Play Piazzolla. That performance was recorded in Brussels, now home to Odair Assad, in 1999.
Today's video appears to be from a 1989 Brazilian television production. I believe it is the earliest video record of a performance of Tango Suite and for that reason, it is important. Curiously, in today's video the Assads have omitted a minute of music from the original version of the Andante section. The original consists of an A and B section, which are repeated and then followed by an extended bridge section before recapitulating A and B to end the piece. Today's video eliminates the extended bridge which in most performances fills the work from roughly the two minute to the three minute mark. Perhaps this was an experiment or perhaps it was done to meet some scheduling demand in the television programming - we may never know. There is another YouTube performance of the work by the Assads here. It is a 1997 performance from Japanese television and it is contains the missing minute although I much prefer the 1989 performance of today's video because it conveys more emotion and has a freedom of motion that is missing in later performances.
Unfortunately, I find no video record of the Assad's playing the first movement of the suite, Deciso. Let's hope it exists and will appear at a later date.
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.
Piazzolla first met and was impressed with the Assad brothers in Paris in 1983. This was early in the Assad's career but they had already received enough recognition to leave their native Brazil and tour Europe. In 1984, Piazzolla composed Tango Suite specifically for the Assad's. According to the Azzi/Collier book, Le Grand Tango, Piazzolla's guitarist, Oscar López Ruiz, reviewed the score before it was sent to the Assads and pronounced it "difficult and complicated but perfectly playable by virtuosos like the Assads." There are three parts to the suite: Deciso, Andante and Allegro, with the latter two normally played as a single unit. The Assads first recorded it in 1985, on the LP, Latin American Music for Two Guitars. They also recorded it with Yo-Yo Ma in 1997, on Soul of the Tango but their definitive performance appears on the wonderful CD, Sérgio & Odair Assad Play Piazzolla. That performance was recorded in Brussels, now home to Odair Assad, in 1999.
Today's video appears to be from a 1989 Brazilian television production. I believe it is the earliest video record of a performance of Tango Suite and for that reason, it is important. Curiously, in today's video the Assads have omitted a minute of music from the original version of the Andante section. The original consists of an A and B section, which are repeated and then followed by an extended bridge section before recapitulating A and B to end the piece. Today's video eliminates the extended bridge which in most performances fills the work from roughly the two minute to the three minute mark. Perhaps this was an experiment or perhaps it was done to meet some scheduling demand in the television programming - we may never know. There is another YouTube performance of the work by the Assads here. It is a 1997 performance from Japanese television and it is contains the missing minute although I much prefer the 1989 performance of today's video because it conveys more emotion and has a freedom of motion that is missing in later performances.
Unfortunately, I find no video record of the Assad's playing the first movement of the suite, Deciso. Let's hope it exists and will appear at a later date.
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, May 14, 2011
Libertango - Colburn Chamber Orchestra
Dear Reader,
I don't want you to read this blog posting, at least not all of it ... yet. First, please use the "click here" link at the end of this paragraph to trigger the video. As soon as the video starts to play, pause it and move the play cursor to the one minute mark. Now restart it and enjoy the performance. When it is done, please return and continue reading. Now, click here.
Now that you have enjoyed today's video of Libertango, can you believe that the arrangement was done by a seventeen year old student, Matthew John Ignacio? I have viewed, at least in part, more than 3,000 YouTube videos of Libertango performances in the past two years and can confidently say that this is one of the best chamber orchestra arrangements of the piece in existence. It is not just the arrangement that makes the video special, it is also the performance. Did you note the left-hand finger snaps used by Ignacio to start the piece? I don't know if this was a conscious tribute to Piazzolla or not but that is exactly the way that Piazzolla would set the beat and trigger the opening for his quintet in rehearsal and, frequently, in performance.
The musicians are from the Colburn School in Los Angeles, California and if you go back and watch that one minute introduction that I asked you to skip, you will learn that Libertango was developed and rehearsed by the Colburn Chamber Orchestra themselves - off of regular rehearsal times. Their performance is flawless - synchronized as if they shared an implanted timing chip - and in perfect balance. Maxim Eshkenazy usually conducts the group but it is apparent here that they are performing without a conductor - something only the best chamber orchestras can do. Colburn School has appeared in this blog once before. It is a remarkable institution and you will see the musicians here in the future on concert stages around the world. Although Colburn's focus is on college level conservatory training, they also provide musical training for children and adults.
I enjoyed Ignacio's creative use of pizzicato in the arrangement, the early syncopation in the theme, the steady habanera rhythm in the bass and the overall feeling of movement throughout the piece. That an arrangement of this sophistication could be done by a seventeen year old student is astonishing. Not that Ignacio is your typical student. At age 14 he was a graduate of Cerritos College. He is a mathematician and in addition to being a cellist and a pianist - in fact, I believe the piano and the computer are his primary instruments. He has a centered view of life which is well stated in the profile he provides on his YouTube channel. Among his many gifts, I believe composing and arranging may be his greatest and I hope he exercises that gift to create music of his own and to arrange more of Piazzolla's works in the future.
Embedding for this video has been disabled so to view it, please click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
I don't want you to read this blog posting, at least not all of it ... yet. First, please use the "click here" link at the end of this paragraph to trigger the video. As soon as the video starts to play, pause it and move the play cursor to the one minute mark. Now restart it and enjoy the performance. When it is done, please return and continue reading. Now, click here.
Now that you have enjoyed today's video of Libertango, can you believe that the arrangement was done by a seventeen year old student, Matthew John Ignacio? I have viewed, at least in part, more than 3,000 YouTube videos of Libertango performances in the past two years and can confidently say that this is one of the best chamber orchestra arrangements of the piece in existence. It is not just the arrangement that makes the video special, it is also the performance. Did you note the left-hand finger snaps used by Ignacio to start the piece? I don't know if this was a conscious tribute to Piazzolla or not but that is exactly the way that Piazzolla would set the beat and trigger the opening for his quintet in rehearsal and, frequently, in performance.
The musicians are from the Colburn School in Los Angeles, California and if you go back and watch that one minute introduction that I asked you to skip, you will learn that Libertango was developed and rehearsed by the Colburn Chamber Orchestra themselves - off of regular rehearsal times. Their performance is flawless - synchronized as if they shared an implanted timing chip - and in perfect balance. Maxim Eshkenazy usually conducts the group but it is apparent here that they are performing without a conductor - something only the best chamber orchestras can do. Colburn School has appeared in this blog once before. It is a remarkable institution and you will see the musicians here in the future on concert stages around the world. Although Colburn's focus is on college level conservatory training, they also provide musical training for children and adults.
I enjoyed Ignacio's creative use of pizzicato in the arrangement, the early syncopation in the theme, the steady habanera rhythm in the bass and the overall feeling of movement throughout the piece. That an arrangement of this sophistication could be done by a seventeen year old student is astonishing. Not that Ignacio is your typical student. At age 14 he was a graduate of Cerritos College. He is a mathematician and in addition to being a cellist and a pianist - in fact, I believe the piano and the computer are his primary instruments. He has a centered view of life which is well stated in the profile he provides on his YouTube channel. Among his many gifts, I believe composing and arranging may be his greatest and I hope he exercises that gift to create music of his own and to arrange more of Piazzolla's works in the future.
Embedding for this video has been disabled so to view it, please click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Invierno Porteño - Arrangement by Tei-Ho
Do they roast chestnuts in Buenos Aires? The young man smiling in this photo evidently thinks so. I could be wrong, but I believe that smiling young man provides arrangements of Piazzolla's works under the name of Tei-Ho or Teho which is perhaps the anglicized version of 啼鵬, his given name (although Google translate would suggest a pronunciation something more like Che Kung). Tei-Ho has a degree in music composition and is a multi-instumentalist whose instrumental mastery extends to include the bandoneón. He is a skillful bandoneónist with an authentic sound as can be seen in this video. He is clearly an admirer of Piazzolla's music.
Tei-Ho is also a musician who enjoys a challenge. Why else would he create an arrangement of Invierno Porteño for the unlikely ensemble of string quartet, two guitars and a harmonica? Today's video captures the world premiere (and given the unusual nature of the ensemble, perhaps the only performance) of the work in the Taipei National Concert Hall in December, 2007. The musicians are a notable bunch led by well known Japanese guitarist, Shin-ichi Fukuda and chromatic harmonica player, Yasuo Watani. The second guitarist is Shih-yu Liu. The string quartet is not identified but are clearly serious and talented musicians.
Tei-Ho's arrangement begins as normally as a classical piece with a harmonica lead could - sounding much like an arrangement which would flow from the pen of José Bragato, the original source of almost all of Piazzolla's quintet works converted to classics. Then at 2'18" into the work, Vivaldi enters the piece. Intertwining Vivaldi into Piazzolla has been fair game ever since Piazzolla himself added a little Vivaldi to the end of Invierno Porteño. Leonid Desyatnikov inserted Vivaldi into Piazzolla's other three seasons for Gidon Kremer and created a healthy revenue stream for himself as those have displaced Bragato's to become the standard orchestral arrangements. Tei-Ho skillfully escorts Vivaldi out of the piece a minute or so later. But, at four minutes, in an arranging masterstroke, Tei-Ho inserts the 1946 popular Christmas song by Mel Tormé and Robert Wells, Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire. To me, this is marvelous musical humor but the musicians don't smile and the audience doesn't titter - I think they would in Chicago. Piazzolla resumes just at the point where Piazzolla injects Vivaldi and the piece flows to a beautiful ending. The ensemble gets well deserved applause and I applaud Tei-Ho.
As to roasting chestnuts in Buenos Aires - the answer is, they do (search for "chestnuts" on this page).
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.
Tei-Ho is also a musician who enjoys a challenge. Why else would he create an arrangement of Invierno Porteño for the unlikely ensemble of string quartet, two guitars and a harmonica? Today's video captures the world premiere (and given the unusual nature of the ensemble, perhaps the only performance) of the work in the Taipei National Concert Hall in December, 2007. The musicians are a notable bunch led by well known Japanese guitarist, Shin-ichi Fukuda and chromatic harmonica player, Yasuo Watani. The second guitarist is Shih-yu Liu. The string quartet is not identified but are clearly serious and talented musicians.
Tei-Ho's arrangement begins as normally as a classical piece with a harmonica lead could - sounding much like an arrangement which would flow from the pen of José Bragato, the original source of almost all of Piazzolla's quintet works converted to classics. Then at 2'18" into the work, Vivaldi enters the piece. Intertwining Vivaldi into Piazzolla has been fair game ever since Piazzolla himself added a little Vivaldi to the end of Invierno Porteño. Leonid Desyatnikov inserted Vivaldi into Piazzolla's other three seasons for Gidon Kremer and created a healthy revenue stream for himself as those have displaced Bragato's to become the standard orchestral arrangements. Tei-Ho skillfully escorts Vivaldi out of the piece a minute or so later. But, at four minutes, in an arranging masterstroke, Tei-Ho inserts the 1946 popular Christmas song by Mel Tormé and Robert Wells, Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire. To me, this is marvelous musical humor but the musicians don't smile and the audience doesn't titter - I think they would in Chicago. Piazzolla resumes just at the point where Piazzolla injects Vivaldi and the piece flows to a beautiful ending. The ensemble gets well deserved applause and I applaud Tei-Ho.
As to roasting chestnuts in Buenos Aires - the answer is, they do (search for "chestnuts" on this page).
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, May 11, 2011
Lost Tango - Ute Lemper & Piazzolla Sextet
In March, the attendees of the 2011 39th Hong Kong Arts Festival were fortunate to see Lost Tango, a program of Piazzolla's music performed by German chanteuse, Ute Lemper, and a group billed as the Piazzolla Sextet. The importance the promoters of the festival assigned to the performance was signaled by the fact that it was the finale on each of the three days of the festival. There was an early teaser video for the concert on YouTube but until today's video appeared, there has been no way the rest of us could get a glimpse of the program. The video is disappointingly short of musical highlights but there is enough there to suggest it was quite an evening.
Ute Lemper does not quite have the drama of Milva or the direct lineage to the music of Amelita Baltar but she certainly comes from the same mold as those two well established Piazzolla vocalists. She has recorded some Piazzolla in the past but this appears to be the first time she has devoted a full concert to the music of tango and, apparently, mostly to the music of Piazzolla. She sings in English in the video but a review of the concert indicates she also sang in Spanish, French and German. The Piazzolla Sextet features two veterans of Piazzolla's quintets - Hector Console on contrabass and Fernando Suarez Paz on violin. They are joined by Ricardo Lew on guitar, Marcelo Nisinman on bandoneón and a pianist who is not identified but is probably Nicolas Ledesma who frequently performs with Nisinman, Lew and Suarez Paz. The final member of the sextet is Daniel "Pipi" Piazzolla, Astor Piazzolla grandson and founder of the wonderful tango/jazz group Escalandrum. The video has interviews with Nisinman, Suarez Paz and Piazzolla but unfortunately very little music from the Sextet.
Lost Tango was assembled by British music producer Pablo Farba and is going on the road. A number of appearances have been scheduled in Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland in November and December of this year with, hopefully, more to come. The scale and nature of the program suggest a DVD or at least an audio recording could be on the way.
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.
Ute Lemper does not quite have the drama of Milva or the direct lineage to the music of Amelita Baltar but she certainly comes from the same mold as those two well established Piazzolla vocalists. She has recorded some Piazzolla in the past but this appears to be the first time she has devoted a full concert to the music of tango and, apparently, mostly to the music of Piazzolla. She sings in English in the video but a review of the concert indicates she also sang in Spanish, French and German. The Piazzolla Sextet features two veterans of Piazzolla's quintets - Hector Console on contrabass and Fernando Suarez Paz on violin. They are joined by Ricardo Lew on guitar, Marcelo Nisinman on bandoneón and a pianist who is not identified but is probably Nicolas Ledesma who frequently performs with Nisinman, Lew and Suarez Paz. The final member of the sextet is Daniel "Pipi" Piazzolla, Astor Piazzolla grandson and founder of the wonderful tango/jazz group Escalandrum. The video has interviews with Nisinman, Suarez Paz and Piazzolla but unfortunately very little music from the Sextet.
Lost Tango was assembled by British music producer Pablo Farba and is going on the road. A number of appearances have been scheduled in Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland in November and December of this year with, hopefully, more to come. The scale and nature of the program suggest a DVD or at least an audio recording could be on the way.
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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