Essential Piazzolla
Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) was reared in the world of the traditional Argentine tango. His instrument was the bandoneón (a more complicated cousin of the accordion) and his talent so prodigious that as a teenager he joined Anibal Troilo's renowned tango orchestra. At first he viewed his love for tango and classical music as mutually incompatible, and even tried to hide his tanguero background from his composition teacher Nadia Boulanger (who also taught Copland). When he finally confessed and played her his own tango, 'Triunfal', she told him: "This is the true Piazzolla. Don't ever leave him!"
Read more…Starting in the late 1950s, Piazzolla began writing a new kind of tango that blended elements of classical music and jazz – 'tango nuevo' he called it, and it was meant to be listened to rather than danced. Piazzolla's tangos encompass a vast range of emotion, from the rhythmically savage to the sweetly nostalgic, yet if one were to try to isolate a single theme that runs through it all, it would be a deeply melancholy one. He said of his own bandoneón playing that he wanted his instrument to able to both ‘scream and sing’ and that he was unable to conceive of the tango "in pastel tones".
Piazzolla led a variety of ensembles throughout his life and composed new works for each of them. He also wrote for classical ensembles using traditional forms like the suite and concerto, and many musicians have made their own arrangements of his music. Yet no matter the configuration or structure, or whether the mood is brutal or tender, his style is always instantly recognizable. "Piazzolla has to sound like Piazzolla," he once said. And he always does.