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 in G minor

E Power Biggs, organ

FUGUE

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 GolijovHow 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 MarcosSt. Mark Passion

Conducted by Maria Guinand