Argentina - Astor Piazzolla

Astor Piazzolla was born on March 11, 1921 in Mar del Plata, Argentina. In 1925, his family relocated to New York City. When he was eight years old, his father gave him his first bandoneon. In addition to lessons on that instrument Piazzolla also studied with classical pianist Bela Wilda in 1933. Around the same time, he met and played with Carlos Gardel. He played a newspaper boy in Gardel's tango film El Día que Me Quieras. Piazzolla chose to tour South America with Gardel in 1935. A year later, Piazzolla's family returned to Mar del Plata, and his passion for tango music was fired anew by violinist Elvino Vardaro's sextet. Piazzolla then moved to Buenos Aires in 1938, seeking work as a musician. He joined the Anibal Troilo orchestra, where he spent several high-profile years. He then studied music with Alberto Ginastera and piano with Raúl Spivak.

In 1943 he began his classical works with the Suite Para Cuerdas y Arpas. This is when he decided to leave Troilo’s orchestra for a chance to lead the orchestra which accompanies singer Francisco Fiorentino. During this time he composed his first formal tango, “El Desbande (1946).”

In 1949 he decided to dedicate himself to write and pursue his musical studies, so he stopped playing the bandoneon. In 1954, he received a scholarship from the French Government to study in Paris. After this, he went back to Argentina in 1955 to form a group called Octetos Buenos in 1955. Three years later he went to New York City to work as an arranger.

In 1963 he premiered “Tres Tangos Sinfonicos” and then in 1968 began a collaboration with Horacio Ferrer, with whom he composed the “operita” Maria de Buenos Aires. In 1969 he composed “Balada Para Un Loco”, and it’s presented at the First Iberoamerican Music Festival, where he received second place. He continued to compose and in 1970, he returned to Paris to collaborate once again with Ferrer. Together they composed the oratorio “Él Pueblo Joven”.

In 1972, he played at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires for the first time, sharing the bill with other Tango orchestras. He started a series of recordings in 1973 in Italy and formed the “Conjunto Electronico.” He went back to Buenos Aires to present his work, “500 Motivaciónes’’ at the Gran Rex Theater in both 1978 and 1977. And again went back to the Teatro Colón in 1983 to play a program dedicated to his music.

In 1985 he was named an exceptional citizen of Buenos Aires and premiered in a bandoneon and guitar concert called “Homenaje a Lieja.” In his last years, Piazzolla preferred to give concerts as a soloist in the company of a symphonic orchestra, with a few performances with his quintet. This is how he traveled the world and kept on extending the magnitude of his audience in each and every continent for the good and the glory of Buenos Aires music.

Piazzolla's health turned out to be at risk and he underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 1988, but recovered well enough to mount an international tour in 1989, including United States, Germany, England, Holland and what would be his final concert in Argentina. La Camorra, was released in 1989. The year after, he recorded a short album with modern-classical iconoclasts the Kronos Quartet, titled Five Tango Sensations. A short period after Piazzolla, unfortunately, suffered a stroke that left him unable to perform. On July 4, 1992, he died in his beloved Buenos Aires.

He left as a legacy his invaluable work - which comprehends some fifty records - and the huge influence of his style. The cultural production on Piazzolla seems to be never ending. It spreads to cinema and theatre, is always reviewed by record companies and made fresh at Fundación Piazzolla which his widow, Laura Escalada runs.

When one listens to Piazzolla music we are forced to question the roots and say, “This is Piazzolla.” It is all about the language he created, which is unique and can be identified as his and only his. With mixed elements of Jazz, classical music, experiments in sound he was able to create a product of unique music under the extreme pulse of his Tango.

Source:

http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Piazzolla,_Astor/Biography/
http://www.classiccat.net/piazzolla_a/biography.htm
http://www.piazzolla.org/biography/biography-english.html



List of Works

Adiós Nonino (1960)
Bandoneón sinfónico (1990)
Buenos Aires (1976)
Concierto de Nácar (1983)
El Exilio de Gardel (soundtrack, 1985)
Enrico IV (1984)
Five Tango Sensations (1991) with Kronos Quartet
Green Studio (1984)
Hommage a Liege: Concierto para bandoneón y guitarra/Historia del Tango (1988) with Liège Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Leo Brouwer. The concerto was performed by Piazzolla with Cacho Tirao, the Historia by Guy Lukowski and Marc Grawels.
Il Pleut Sur Santiago (1976)
ION Studios (1968)
La Camorra (1989)
La Guardia Vieja (1966)
Libertango (1974)
Live in Wien Vol.1 (1984)
María de Buenos Aires (1968)
Original Tangos from Argentina (1992)
Reunión Cumbre (Summit) (1974) with Gerry Mulligan With Amelita Baltar (1974)
Roma (1972)
Suite Punta del Este (1982)
Sur (1988)
SWF Rundfunkorchester (1983)
Tango: Zero Hour (1986)
Teatro Nazionale di Milano (1984)
The Central Park Concert 1987 (1994)
The New Tango (1987) with Gary Burton
The Rough Dancer and the Cyclical Night (Tango Apasionado) (1991)
Tiempo Nuevo (1962)