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ARGENTINA
South
America
What is tango?
• “Tango – a mournful thought one can
dance to”
• Characteristic rhythm?
(bump-ba-dum-dum) (1-and-3-4)
-- maybe, but not so much
Recent (2003) example:
“Bullanguera” by Sonia Possetti Quinteto
• conservatory trained pianist-composer
• several styles & ideas mixed
(from The Rough Guide to Tango Nuevo CD)
Old Guard
• 1915-1935
• Carlos Gardel
example:
“Torazos” (from The Rough Guide to Tango CD)
example:
“La Comparsita”
• performed by the Walter Ríos Orquesta
(from The Rough Guide to Tango CD)
Tango roots
• Lower classes of Buenos Aires in the 19th
century
• European high society fad in the 1910s
• WW I forces return of musicians to
Argentina
• Now legitimated by Europeans, tango is
embraced by upper class Argentines
• Cleaned up in the 1920s, the middle class
accepts it
Sexteto Mayor
• Traditional tango group
has preserved tango
styles from the 1920s &
30s
example:
“Orgullo Criollo”
(from Quejas de
Bandoneón - Tango
CD)
Astor Piazzolla
• Nuevo Tango
creator, 1940s
Instrument:
BANDONEON
Astor Piazzolla
• 1921-1992
• Nuevo Tango
creator, 1940s
• Combines jazz
and classical
(Baroque &
contemporary)
influences
Pieces often follow an ABABC
form
Often
FAST-SLOW-FAST-SLOW-FAST
example: “Verano Porteño”
(from The Rough Guide to Tango CD)
Astor Piazzolla
• Classically trained
(Nadia Boulanger)
• Championed in the
1990s and today by
classical musicians
such as Gidon Kremer
and Yo Yo Ma
example:
“Fugata” from Tango Suite
• very Bach-like tune; counterpoint
(from The Soul of the Tango: The Music of Astor Piazzolla, Yo Yo Ma CD)
Bach Listening example
FUGUE
Fugue in G minor
E Power Biggs, organ
Nuevo Tango continues . . .
Recent (2003) example:
“Bullanguera” by Sonia Possetti Quinteto
• conservatory trained pianist-composer
• several styles & ideas mixed
Adding a little electronica . . .
“Vi Luz y Subi”
(from The Rough Guide to Tango Nuevo CD)
Osvaldo Golijov
• Born in 1960
• Moved to USA in 1986
• Prominent composer today
• Complex
American/Argentine/Israeli identity
Golijov website info
Osvaldo Golijov grew up in an Eastern European Jewish household in La
Plata, Argentina. Born to a piano teacher mother and physician father,
Golijov was raised surrounded by chamber classical music, Jewish liturgical
and klezmer music, and the new tango of Astor Piazzolla. After studying
piano at the local conservatory and composition with Gerardo Gandini he
moved to Israel in 1983, where he studied with Mark Kopytman at the
Jerusalem Rubin Academy and immersed himself in the colliding musical
traditions of that city. Upon moving to the United States in 1986, Golijov
earned his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied with
George Crumb, and was a fellow at Tanglewood, studying with Oliver
Knussen.
In 2000, the premiere of Golijov's St. Mark Passion took the music world by
storm. Commissioned by Helmuth Rilling for the European Music Festival,
to commemorate the 250th anniversary of J.S. Bach's death, the piece
featured the Schola Cantorum of Caracas, with the Orquesta La Pasión
(especially assembled for this work by Golijov together with percussionist
Mikael Ringquist), all conducted by Maria Guinand. The CD of the premiere
of this work, on the Haenssler Classic label, received Grammy and Latin
Grammy nominations in 2002.
Osvaldo Golijov
How did you come to be interested in the life and music of
Astor Piazzolla?
I first saw [Piazzolla] in La Plata when I was a kid. I went
to Buenos Aires to hear him, and then to New York,
many times through the late '80s. When I first heard him,
it completely transformed my life forever. … I never had
heard music by a leading composer, let alone somebody
who could synthesize so beautifully all the music that I
love: Bach, Mozart, Stravinsky — well, not Mozart,
maybe. … And also the phrasing of the bandoneón and
all the instruments in the ensemble: It's a very clear
distillation of the way in which people spoke and walked
in the '60s in Argentina. So I could clearly see the
connection between life and music.
La Pasión Según San Marcos
St. Mark Passion
Conducted by Maria Guinand