Astor Piazzolla | Biography & History | AllMusic google+ Artist Biography by Steve Huey It's not hyperbole to say that Astor Piazzolla is the single most important figure in the history of tango, a towering giant whose shadow looms large over everything that preceded and followed him. Piazzolla 's place in Argentina's greatest cultural export is roughly equivalent to that of Duke Ellington in jazz -- the genius composer who took an earthy, sensual, even disreputable folk music and elevated it into a sophisticated form of high art. But even more than Ellington , Piazzolla was also a virtuosic performer with a near-unparalleled mastery of his chosen instrument, the bandoneon, a large button accordion noted for its unwieldy size and difficult fingering system. In Piazzolla 's hands, tango was no longer strictly a dance music; his compositions borrowed from jazz and classical forms, creating a whole new harmonic and rhythmic vocabulary made for the concert hall more than the ballroom (which was dubbed "nuevo tango").

Some of his devices could be downright experimental -- he wasn't afraid of dissonance or abrupt shifts in tempo and meter, and he often composed segmented pieces with hugely contrasting moods that interrupted the normal flow and demanded the audience's concentration. The complexity and ambition of Piazzolla 's oeuvre brought him enormous international acclaim, particularly in Europe and Latin America, but it also earned him the lasting enmity of many tango purists, who attacked him mercilessly for his supposed abandonment of tradition (and even helped drive him out of the country for several years). But Piazzolla always stuck to his guns, and remained tango's foremost emissary to the world at large up until his death in 1992. Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina, on March 11, 1921. His parents were poor Italian immigrants who moved to New York City in 1924, affording the young Piazzolla extensive exposure to jazz artists like Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway . His father also played tango records by the early masters, especially the legendary vocalist/composer Carlos Gardel , and gave Astor a bandoneon for his ninth birthday.

In addition to lessons on that instrument (which encompassed American music, like Gershwin , as well as tango), Piazzolla also studied with classical pianist Bela Wilda in 1933, becoming an ardent fan of Bach and Rachmaninoff . Around the same time, the budding prodigy met and played with Carlos Gardel , appearing as a newspaper boy in Gardel 's watershed tango film El Dia que Me Quieras. The teenaged Piazzolla turned down an offer to tour South America with Gardel in 1935, a fortuitous decision that kept him out of the tragic plane crash that claimed Gardel 's life. In 1936, Piazzolla 's family returned to Mar del Plata, and his passion for tango music was fired anew by violinist Elvino Vardaro 's sextet. The still-teenaged Piazzolla moved to Buenos Aires in 1938, seeking work as a musician. After about a year of dues-paying, he caught on with the widely renowned Anibal Troilo orchestra, where he spent several high-profile years.

In the meantime, he continued his study of piano and music theory, counting future classical composer Alberto Ginastera (1941) and pianist Raul Spivak (1943) as his teachers. He began composing for Troilo during this period, although his more ambitious, classically influenced pieces were often edited for accessibility's sake. In 1944, Piazzolla left Troilo 's group to become the orchestra leader behind singer Francisco Fiorentino ; two years later, he formed his own group, playing mostly traditional tangos, yet already with hints of modernism. This group broke up in 1949, and Piazzolla , unsure of his musical direction, sought a way to leave tango behind for more refined pursuits. He studied Ravel , Bartók , and Stravinsky , also immersing himself in American jazz, and worked mostly on his compositional skills for a few years. His 1953 piece "Buenos Aires" caused a stir for its use of bandoneon in a classical orchestral setting.

In 1954, Piazzolla won a scholarship to study in Paris with the hugely influential Nadia Boulanger , who also taught Aaron Copland , Philip Glass , and Quincy Jones , among many others. Boulanger encouraged Piazzolla not to ignore tango, but to reinvigorate the form with his jazz and classical training. Piazzolla returned home in 1955 and immediately set the tango world on its ear, forming an octet that played tango as self-contained chamber music, rather than accompaniment for vocalists or dancers. The howls of protest from traditionalists continued unabated until 1958, when Piazzolla disbanded the group and went to New York City; there he worked as an arranger and experimented with a fusion of jazz and tango, also composing the famed "Adios Nonino," a lovely ode to his recently departed father. Returning to Buenos Aires in 1960, Piazzolla formed his first quintet, the Quinteto Tango Nuevo , which would become the primary vehicle for his forward-looking vision.

Over the course of the '60s, Piazzolla would refine and experiment heavily, pushing the formal structure of tango to its breaking point. In 1965, he made a record of his concert at New York's Philharmonic Hall, and also cut an album of poems by Jorge Luis Borges set to music. In 1967, Piazzolla struck a deal with poet Horacio Ferrer to collaborate exclusively with each other, resulting in the groundbreaking so-called "operita" Maria de Buenos Aires, which was premiered by singer Amelita Baltar in 1968 (she would later become Piazzolla 's second wife). Piazzolla and Ferrer next collaborated on a series of "tango-canciones" (tango songs) which produced his first genuine commercial hit, "Balada Para un Loco" ("Ballad of a Madman"). In addition to composing songs and more elaborate pieces for orchestra (such as 1970's El Pueblo Joven), Piazzolla also flexed his muscles scoring numerous films of the period.

The '70s started out well for Piazzolla , as an acclaimed European tour brought the opportunity to form a nine-piece group to play his music in especially lush fashion. However, all was not well. Argentina's government was taken over by a conservative military faction, and everything that Piazzolla symbolized -- modern refinement, an ostensible lack of respect for tradition -- suddenly became politically unwelcome. In 1973, Piazzolla suffered a heart attack, and after recovering, he decided that, with sentiments running high against him, it would be wiser for him to live in Italy. There he formed a group called the Conjunto Electronico, which placed bandoneon at the forefront of what was essentially, instrumentation-wise, an electric jazz ensemble; this period also produced one of his most celebrated compositions, "Libertango." In 1974, Piazzolla cut an album with jazz baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan called Summit , with backing by Italian musicians; the following year, he found a new favorite vocal interpreter in Jose Angel Trelles .

1976 brought a major concert back in Buenos Aires, with the Conjunto Electronico premiering the piece "500 Motivaciones." Tiring of electric music, Piazzolla formed a new quintet in 1978 and toured extensively all over the world, also composing new chamber and symphonic works in the meantime. His reputation grew steadily, making him a prime candidate for exposure in the U.S. during the world-music craze of the latter half of the '80s. In 1986, Piazzolla entered the studio with his quintet and American producer Kip Hanrahan and recorded what he considered the finest album of his career, Tango: Zero Hour . The same year, he played the Montreux Jazz Festival with vibraphonist Gary Burton , resulting in the live set Suite for Vibraphone and New Tango Quintet . The official follow-up to Tango: Zero Hour , The Rough Dancer and the Cyclical Night , won equally glowing reviews, and Piazzolla staged a major homecoming concert in New York's Central Park in 1987.

Unfortunately, at the height of his international fame (and belated celebration at home), Piazzolla 's health began to fail him. He underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 1988, but recovered well enough to mount an international tour in 1989, including what would be his final concert in Argentina. La Camorra , another excellent recording, was released in 1989, the same year Piazzolla formed a new sextet with an unheard-of two bandoneons. In 1990, he recorded a short album with modern-classical iconoclasts the Kronos Quartet , titled Five Tango Sensations . Sadly, not long afterward, Piazzolla suffered a stroke that left him unable to perform or compose. Almost two years later, on July 4, 1992, he died in his beloved Buenos Aires due to the lingering after-effects, leaving behind a monumental legacy as one of South America's greatest musical figures ever, and a major composer of the 20th century.

Astor Piazzolla | New Music And Songs | Astor Piazzolla About Astor Piazzolla It's not hyperbole to say that Astor Piazzolla is the single most important figure in the history of tango, a towering giant whose shadow looms large over everything that preceded and followed him. Piazzolla's place in Argentina's greatest cultural export is roughly equivalent to that of Duke Ellington in jazz -- the genius composer who took an earthy, sensual, even disreputable folk music and elevated it into a sophisticated form of high art. But even more than Ellington, Piazzolla was also a virtuosic performer with a near-unparalleled mastery of his chosen instrument, the bandoneon, a large button accordion noted for its unwieldy size and difficult fingering system. In Piazzolla's hands, tango was no longer strictly a dance music; his compositions borrowed from jazz and classical forms, creating a whole new harmonic and rhythmic vocabulary made for the concert hall more than the ballroom (which was dubbed "nuevo tango").

Some of his devices could be downright experimental -- he wasn't afraid of dissonance or abrupt shifts in tempo and meter, and he often composed segmented pieces with hugely contrasting moods that interrupted the normal flow and demanded the audience's concentration. The complexity and ambition of Piazzolla's oeuvre brought him enormous international acclaim, particularly in Europe and Latin America, but it also earned him the lasting enmity of many tango purists, who attacked him mercilessly for his supposed abandonment of tradition (and even helped drive him out of the country for several years). But Piazzolla always stuck to his guns, and remained tango's foremost emissary to the world at large up until his death in 1992. Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina, on March 11, 1921. His parents were poor Italian immigrants who moved to New York City in 1924, affording the young Piazzolla extensive exposure to jazz artists like Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway. His father also played tango records by the early masters, especially the legendary vocalist/composer Carlos Gardel, and gave Astor a bandoneon for his ninth birthday.

In addition to lessons on that instrument (which encompassed American music, like Gershwin, as well as tango), Piazzolla also studied with classical pianist Bela Wilda in 1933, becoming an ardent fan of Bach and Rachmaninoff. Around the same time, the budding prodigy met and played with Carlos Gardel, appearing as a newspaper boy in Gardel's watershed tango film El Dia que Me Quieras. The teenaged Piazzolla turned down an offer to tour South America with Gardel in 1935, a fortuitous decision that kept him out of the tragic plane crash that claimed Gardel's life. In 1936, Piazzolla's family returned to Mar del Plata, and his passion for tango music was fired anew by violinist Elvino Vardaro's sextet. The still-teenaged Piazzolla moved to Buenos Aires in 1938, seeking work as a musician. After about a year of dues-paying, he caught on with the widely renowned Anibal Troilo orchestra, where he spent several high-profile years.

In the meantime, he continued his study of piano and music theory, counting future classical composer Alberto Ginastera (1941) and pianist Raul Spivak (1943) as his teachers. He began composing for Troilo during this period, although his more ambitious, classically influenced pieces were often edited for accessibility's sake. In 1944, Piazzolla left Troilo's group to become the orchestra leader behind singer Francisco Fiorentino; two years later, he formed his own group, playing mostly traditional tangos, yet already with hints of modernism. This group broke up in 1949, and Piazzolla, unsure of his musical direction, sought a way to leave tango behind for more refined pursuits. He studied Ravel, Bartók, and Stravinsky, also immersing himself in American jazz, and worked mostly on his compositional skills for a few years. His 1953 piece "Buenos Aires" caused a stir for its use of bandoneon in a classical orchestral setting.

In 1954, Piazzolla won a scholarship to study in Paris with the hugely influential Nadia Boulanger, who also taught Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, and Quincy Jones, among many others. Boulanger encouraged Piazzolla not to ignore tango, but to reinvigorate the form with his jazz and classical training. Piazzolla returned home in 1955 and immediately set the tango world on its ear, forming an octet that played tango as self-contained chamber music, rather than accompaniment for vocalists or dancers. The howls of protest from traditionalists continued unabated until 1958, when Piazzolla disbanded the group and went to New York City; there he worked as an arranger and experimented with a fusion of jazz and tango, also composing the famed "Adios Nonino," a lovely ode to his recently departed father. Returning to Buenos Aires in 1960, Piazzolla formed his first quintet, the Quinteto Tango Nuevo, which would become the primary vehicle for his forward-looking vision.

Over the course of the '60s, Piazzolla would refine and experiment heavily, pushing the formal structure of tango to its breaking point. In 1965, he made a record of his concert at New York's Philharmonic Hall, and also cut an album of poems by Jorge Luis Borges set to music. In 1967, Piazzolla struck a deal with poet Horacio Ferrer to collaborate exclusively with each other, resulting in the groundbreaking so-called "operita" Maria de Buenos Aires, which was premiered by singer Amelita Baltar in 1968 (she would later become Piazzolla's second wife). Piazzolla and Ferrer next collaborated on a series of "tango-canciones" (tango songs) which produced his first genuine commercial hit, "Balada Para un Loco" ("Ballad of a Madman"). In addition to composing songs and more elaborate pieces for orchestra (such as 1970's El Pueblo Joven), Piazzolla also flexed his muscles scoring numerous films of the period.

The '70s started out well for Piazzolla, as an acclaimed European tour brought the opportunity to form a nine-piece group to play his music in especially lush fashion. However, all was not well. Argentina's government was taken over by a conservative military faction, and everything that Piazzolla symbolized -- modern refinement, an ostensible lack of respect for tradition -- suddenly became politically unwelcome. In 1973, Piazzolla suffered a heart attack, and after recovering, he decided that, with sentiments running high against him, it would be wiser for him to live in Italy. There he formed a group called the Conjunto Electronico, which placed bandoneon at the forefront of what was essentially, instrumentation-wise, an electric jazz ensemble; this period also produced one of his most celebrated compositions, "Libertango." In 1974, Piazzolla cut an album with jazz baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan called Summit, with backing by Italian musicians; the following year, he found a new favorite vocal interpreter in Jose Angel Trelles.

1976 brought a major concert back in Buenos Aires, with the Conjunto Electronico premiering the piece "500 Motivaciones." Tiring of electric music, Piazzolla formed a new quintet in 1978 and toured extensively all over the world, also composing new chamber and symphonic works in the meantime. His reputation grew steadily, making him a prime candidate for exposure in the U.S. during the world-music craze of the latter half of the '80s. In 1986, Piazzolla entered the studio with his quintet and American producer Kip Hanrahan and recorded what he considered the finest album of his career, Tango: Zero Hour. The same year, he played the Montreux Jazz Festival with vibraphonist Gary Burton, resulting in the live set Suite for Vibraphone and New Tango Quintet. The official follow-up to Tango: Zero Hour, The Rough Dancer and the Cyclical Night, won equally glowing reviews, and Piazzolla staged a major homecoming concert in New York's Central Park in 1987.

Unfortunately, at the height of his international fame (and belated celebration at home), Piazzolla's health began to fail him. He underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 1988, but recovered well enough to mount an international tour in 1989, including what would be his final concert in Argentina. La Camorra, another excellent recording, was released in 1989, the same year Piazzolla formed a new sextet with an unheard-of two bandoneons. In 1990, he recorded a short album with modern-classical iconoclasts the Kronos Quartet, titled Five Tango Sensations. Sadly, not long afterward, Piazzolla suffered a stroke that left him unable to perform or compose. Almost two years later, on July 4, 1992, he died in his beloved Buenos Aires due to the lingering after-effects, leaving behind a monumental legacy as one of South America's greatest musical figures ever, and a major composer of the 20th century.

~ Steve Huey, Rovi Hear more of Tango 5: The Music of Astor Piazzolla ‹ Events at Lancaster Arts ‹ Welcome to Lancaster Arts Tweet The Argentine tango composer and bandonÈon player, Astor Piazzolla transformed the tavern dance into a highly expressive form, developing its structure and blending its original rhythms with harmonic influences of jazz and contemporary European classical music. Tango 5 is a newly formed group made up of leading North West musicians each with a passion for Piazzollaís music and keen for audiences to share their enjoyment of its thrilling sound. Tonight offers a rare opportunity to hear a concert of Piazzollaís music in its original version for tango quintet, the ensemble with which Piazzolla was most at home both as composer and bandonÈonist. Tango ñ which has its roots in the bordellos of Buenos Aires ñ is now as frequently heard in the great concert halls of the world as the waltz. MEET THE ARTIST: 6.45pm Argentina Art Argentina Art Col�n Opera House - Buenos Aires City The Tango , an intricate dance performed to a rhythmic, emotional song, was born in Buenos Aires .

Although it is now considered a sophisticated, elegant dance, it originated in the slums in the 1880s as a way for poor people to act out the conflicts in their lives. In the 1920s and 1930s, the singer Carlos Gardel l made the tango famous around the world. The instruments used to play tango music are the bandone�n (similar to an accordion), the violin and the guitar. Traditional tango music has been combined with modern jazz to create the "new tango" made popular by musicians such as Astor Piazzolla and, during the last decade, Dino Saluzzi . This Argentine bandoneon master has recorded 10 albums, and each one tells it's own endlessly inventive musical story. The spirit of Dino Saluzzi 's work is derived from the oral tradition of Argentina's music and its value on melody and simplicity. Outside Buenos Aires , other dances are popular, such as the stately zamba and the lively escondido, the dance of the gauchos, performed to music that sounds like galloping horses.

Argentina's musical heritage is kept alive in folk clubs by musicians such as Atahualpa Yupanqui, Mercedes Sosa and Ramona Galarza. Opera is also popular, and Buenos Aires has a beautiful opera house, the Teatro Col�n. The operas of Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera, Bomarza and Don Rodrigo, have been performed around the world. Jorge Luis Borges Argentinian sculpture and painting was influenced by European styles in the 19th century, but distinctive Argentinian artistic styles emerged in the 20th century. One popular group of young Argentinians to come out of the 1970s was the "New Image Painters." Their paintings display familiar objects from daily life in unusual contexts. The viewer must make up a story to account for the picture. Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) wrote short stories that blend fantasy, myths and symbols. His books include Ficciones (Fictions) andOtras inquisiciones (Other Inquisitions). Julio Cort�zar (1914-84) was a novelist and short story writer.

The British movie Blow Up was based on one of his short stories, Las babas del diablo (The Devil's Drool). Ernesto S�bato (1911- ) is a novelist and essayist whose most famous novel is Sobre heroes y tumbas (On Heroes and Tombs). Manuel Puig (1932-90) wrote El beso de la Mujer Ara�a (Kiss of the Spider Woman), which became famous as a play and as a film. Astor Piazzolla - Biography Astor Piazzolla (1921 - 1992) Argentinian Astor Piazzolla is widely regarded as the greatest exponent of the traditional Argentinian musical genre, the tango, steering it away from its origins as an accompaniment to dance into the concert hall - although his experiments and innovations were not without controversy in Argentina itself. Born in Mar de Plata, Argentina, in 1921, Piazzolla spent much of his childhood in New York, his family finally returning to Argentina in 1936.

He began to learn the bandoneon at the age of 8, whilst also studying briefly with the Hungarian pianist Bela Wilda, disciple of Rachmaninov , from whom Piazzolla later said that he learned a love of Bach . Here lies perhaps the source of an internal struggle that affected him for a number of years: whether to concentrate as a performer of the traditional tango, or whether to advance musically as a serious composer. In 1938 he moved to Buenos Aires and started to play with a number of tango orchestras, finally, in 1939, joining one of the greatest tango orchestras of that time, the Anibal Troilo Orchestra. Then in 1941 he began studying composition with the great Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera , later commencing piano studies with Raúl Spivak. Piazzolla formed his own tango orchestra, the Orquesta Típica, in 1946, which gave him his first opportunity to experiment. At the same time his first ‘classical’ works were being performed and he was also starting to be commissioned to write film scores.

Believing that his future lay in serious composition, in 1949 he disbanded the orchestra, dropped the bandoneon and decided to focus on his musical studies. In 1954 Piazzolla won first prize at the Fabien Sevitzky competition with his ‘three symphonic pieces’ Buenos Aires – a work using two bandoneons within the symphony orchestra. One of the prizes was a scholarship from the French government to study in Paris with the legendary teacher Nadia Boulanger . At first, Piazzolla tried to hide his tanguero past and bandoneon work from Boulanger, believing that his destiny lay in classical music. This situation was quickly remedied when he opened his heart to Boulanger and played his tango “Triunfal” for her. She gave him the historic recommendation: “Astor, your classical pieces are well written, but the true Piazzolla is here: never leave it behind.” When Piazzolla returned to Argentina in 1955 he formed a group, the Octeto Buenos Aires .

Comprised of two bandoneons, two violins, double bass, cello, piano, and an electric guitar, he produced innovative works and interpretations which broke away from classic tango and the mould of an “orquesta tipica” and created chamber music instead - music without a singer or any dancers. Between 1958 and 1960 Piazzolla worked in the US, where he experimented with jazz-tango. Upon his return to Argentina, he created the first of many famous quintets, comprising bandoneon, violin, bass, piano, and electric guitar. This was Piazzolla’s most beloved formation; the one most conducive to expressing his ideas. In 1970 Piazzolla form his band Conjunto 9 . The band gave many performances in Italy, also making numerous recordings for RAI, and in 1973 Piazzolla settled there. Over the next first years he made many of his best known recordings, including the famous Libertango .

During these years he also formed the Conjunto Electronico: an octet made up of bandoneon, electric piano and/or acoustic piano, organ, guitar and electric bass, drums, synthesizer and violin, which was later substituted for flute or saxophone. Later, in 1975 Jose A. Trelles was incorporated as a singer. This group had nothing to do with the previous ones, and many considered the group’s music to be closer to jazz-rock than anything else. But according to Piazzolla, “that was my music, it had more to do with tango than with rock.” The 1980s were the best years for Piazzolla, at least as regards his popularity. He intensified his concerts all over the world: Europe, South America, Japan, and the United States. He gave numerous performances with his own bands, and also as a symphonic solo performer and as a chamber musician. In 1982 he wrote Le Grand Tango for cello and piano, dedicated to Russian cellist, Mstislav Rostropovich and premiered by him in 1990 in New Orleans.

In June of 1983 a concert of his music was given at at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. For this occasion he regrouped the Conjunto 9 and played the solo part in his Concerto for Bandoneon and Orchestra. In 1988, a few months after recording what would be his final record with the quintet (La Camorra), he underwent a quadruple bypass. Shortly thereafter, early in 1989, he formed what would be his last group: the New Tango Sextet, with which he toured throughout the US, Germany, England, and Holland. Towards the end of 1989 he dissolved his group, concentrating on performing as a soloist with chamber groups and orchestras. However on August 4, 1990, while in Paris, Piazzolla suffered a stroke. He finally died in Buenos Aires on July 4, 1992. Piazzolla’s oeuvre, comprising more than 1000 works, continues to influence some of the greatest musicians in the world.

The violinist Gidon Kremer, the cellist Yo-Yo-Ma, the Kronos Quartet, the pianists Emanuel Ax and Arthur Moreira Lima, the guitarist Al Di Meola, the Assad brothers, and numerous chamber music and symphonic orchestras have all performed and recorded arrangements of his music. His output included symphonic and chamber works, the ‘operita’ Maria de Buenos Aires , written in collaboration with the poet Horacio Ferrer , and the oratorio El Pueblo Joven (also written with Ferrer). But he will be remembered above for his contribution to the evolution and international fame of the tango. Site Search PIAZZOLLA | Tango Nuevo Tango Nuevo Tomas Cotik, violin • Tao Lin, piano Besides Oblivion and Libertango, two of Piazzolla’s most popular and enduring pieces, renowned Argentinian violinist Tomas Cotik’s special arrangements also include Histoire du Tango, a summation of the genre’s entire evolution, as well as Melodia en la menor. and Le Grand Tango, a virtuoso show-stopper.

Watch a Behind-the-Scene Video of the Recording Sessions Click here to watch our video trailer Nuevo Tango – In the artist’s own words I was born in Buenos Aires and spent my formative years there at a time when the traditional tango wasn't fashionable. Some of my earliest memories recall hearing it played by bandoneon players busking on the subway stations, as background radio music while riding old-fashioned elevators, and channel-hopping on the family’s black-and-white TV. Although the main focus of my career was always classical music, I remember packing one cassette of Carlos Gardel when, aged 18, I left home to live abroad. During those years spent in Germany, Canada and the United States, the music on that recording spurred within me a commitment to the music of my homeland, planting the first seeds of an interest to both play and research the music of Astor Piazzolla. In Piazzolla’s music I hear all the aggression and madness, the honking chaos, drunken dizziness and sheer energy of the megalopolis of Buenos Aires.

In his slow melodies I perceive smoky atmospheres and veiled feelings, vegetative states of mind and the wistfulness of nostalgic love, like an old person’s sorrowful reminiscences of a younger love, expressed in melodies sung inside the head, at other times sung out loud. I made sporadic attempts to get this project off the ground during several return trips to Buenos Aires, but it was the twentieth anniversary of Piazzolla’s death in 2012 that motivated me to realise my dream. The goal was to authentically recreate the language of the nuevo tango in arrangements employing a variety of styles, from extremely simple to near-virtuosic, reviving the violence and sensuality of Piazzolla's music by using the highest recording quality. Tomas Cotik About the Artists The Argentinian violinist Tomas Cotik was the First Prize Winner of the 1997 National Broadcast Music Competition in Argentina and winner of the Government of Canada Award 2003–2005. He has collaborated extensively in chamber music with renowned musicians, including members of the Miami, Cleveland, Pro Arte, Bergonzi and Vogler String Quartets.

He holds a doctoral degree and was educated in Canada, the United States, and Germany where he has undertaken research into Piazzolla's music. He has worked closely with the Vermeer, Tokyo and Endellion String Quartets, as well as notable artists including Midori, Christian Tetzlaff, Nicolas and Ana Chumachenko, Heinz Holliger and Leon Fleischer. Shanghai native and Florida resident Tao Lin has been a prize-winner at the Palm Beach International Invitational Competition, the International Piano e-Competition, the William Kapell International Piano Competition and the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition. He has given recitals at the Kennedy Center, National Gallery, 92nd Street Y, Rockefeller University, Chautauqua Institute, Minnesota Orchestra Hall, Izumi Hall (Osaka, Japan) and Norway's Edvard Grieg Museum. He has collaborated with the St Petersburg, Miami and Bergonzi Quartets, as well as distinguished colleagues Elmar Oliveira, Roberto Díaz and Eugenia Zukerman.

Piazzolla's Music on Naxos Binelli, Tianwa Yang, Nashville Symphony, Guerrero ClassicFM Disc of the Month, CT.com disc of the month Astor Piazzolla’s name has become synonymous with tango, the signature dance of his native country, Argentina. In the Sinfonía Buenos Aires, Piazzolla’s development of symphonic tango is notable for brilliant, original and often complex orchestration. His Bandoneón Concerto, nicknamed ‘Aconcagua’ after the highest Andean mountain, provides the soloist with ample opportunities for drama, pathos and virtuosity. Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas (The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires), a series of single tango movements with several references to Vivaldi’s famous work, is a vivid sequence in which the changing moods of the seasons are expressed by means of an almost limitless emotional range and depth. Naxos 8.572596 PIAZZOLLA, A.: Tango Distinto Liarmakopoulos Legendary tango performer and composer Astor Piazzolla gained experience of jazz in New York and classical form and technique through studies with Alberto Ginastera.

His work lends itself perfectly to arrangement for all kinds of ensemble, and this is the first recording with solo trombone. These popular pieces showcase the stunning playing of multi-award winning soloist Achilles Liarmakopoulos in a variety of moods, including the famous Oblivion, and Le Grand Tango, a virtuoso show-stopper originally written for cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. Naxos 8.572611 PIAZZOLLA, A.: Tangos for Violin, Brass Quintet and Percussion Tacchi, Quintetto di Ottoni e Percussioni della Toscana Astor Piazzolla’s much-loved tangos have been arranged for all manner of instrumental line-ups, this album presenting an exuberant selection specially arranged for the acclaimed Tuscan Brass and Percussion Quintet whose members are professors of their instruments in leading Italian conservatories. The Quintet is joined by guest violinist Andrea Tacchi. The result is a thrilling new take on nuevo tango, passionate yet poised, sharp and shiny as a knife-blade.

The centrepiece of this album, Piazzolla’s witty Four Seasons Suite takes Vivaldi’s famous violin concertos for a stroll through the docklands of Buenos Aires, the original home of tango itself. Naxos 8.572331 PIAZZOLLA, A.: Best Tangos Delle-Vigne Astor Piazzolla’s tangos, beloved around the world for their pathos, passion, longing and sensibility, are here given fresh interpretations in arrangements for piano by the Argentinean-born, Brussels-based pianist Aquiles Delle-Vigne. A disciple of Claudio Arrau and winner of the Grand Prix ‘Alberto Williams’, the most prestigious competition in South America, he has been hailed by Le Figaro as a ‘fantastic, incomparable pianist and artist’, while The New York Times characterized his playing as ‘aristocratic, sophisticated and charming’. Piazzolla’s earthy yet highly developed music gains a new dimension of intimacy but also of power in the hands of this master of the keyboard.

Naxos 8.570523 PIAZZOLLA, A.: Maria de Buenos Aires Suite / Verano Porteno / Milonga del Angel Versus Ensemble The Argentinian bandoneon-player and composer Astor Piazzolla, by his creation of the ‘new tango’, brought the popular dance form into the concert hall. His own experience as a performer was further developed by study as a composer with Nadia Boulanger and Ginastera, allowing him to create a new synthesis, exemplified in compositions that include the operatic María de Buenos Aires, in collaboration with Horacio Ferrer. Naxos 8.554760 PIAZZOLLA, A.: Flute and Guitar Music (Complete) Gaido, Toepper This seductive sound and renewed interest in the Tango has brought the music of Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla into the world of the popular classics. His large catalogue of works is unique in using the Tango as the basis for all of his compositions, though he developed the art to the point where it is at times difficult to detect the dance in his complex and strictly classical music.

Of his many works for chamber groups, the Histoire du Tango, scored for flute and guitar, is one of his most popular and frequently performed. In tracing the history of the Tango, Piazzolla illustrates how the sensuality of this ever-popular dance rose from shady beginnings to the respectability of the concert hall. View our special weekly features: Ástor Piazzolla- Bio, Albums, Pictures – Naxos Classical Music. ÁSTOR PIAZZOLLA (1921 - 1992) Astor Piazzolla was born in Argentina in 1921 and became one of the major classical composers of that country. He became so besotted by the music of the South American dance, The Tango, that he destroyed his early works and devoted his life to writing music with that rhythm as its basis. He has developed this art to the point where it is difficult to detect the dance in his complex and strictly classical music. Outside of the South American continent his music was little known until the past decade, when a renewed interest in the dance, mainly through major exposure in the cinema, has taken his works back into the concert hall.

Though there are examples of the dance used in its most basic and popular form, Piazzolla has composed most of his music for small chamber groups or solo instruments. Most is written in a very contemporary 20th century style, usually calling for virtuosity of performance. Articles about Astor Piazzolla - tribunedigital-chicagotribune A rare revival of Astor Piazzolla's tango opera August 12, 2011 The tango music of Astor Piazzolla sways to a seductive beat, its rhythms unhurried but relentless, its harmonies yearning for resolution. People even casually familiar with tango music have heard Piazzolla's work (whether they know it or not), but the composer's magnum opus remains all too rarely performed. Which is why the new, Chicago-based production of Piazzolla's only opera, "Maria de Buenos Aires," merits particular attention. Though noted violinist Gidon Kremer and...

ENTERTAINMENT The next accordion star: Julien Labro Howard Reich | May 13, 2014 The accordion doesn't get much respect in the United States - not since "The Lawrence Welk Show" and uncounted polka bands placed the instrument well outside the realm of chic. Nevertheless, the glorious squeezebox holds a noble tradition in jazz, with artists such as Art Van Damme, Leon Sash, Guy Klucevsek, Richard Galliano and Astor Piazzolla (playing bandoneon) proving the instrument can convey lightning virtuosity and profound musicality as eloquently as any other. The latest and... Advertisement Astor Piazzolla By Erenesto Lechner | March 27, 2005 A visionary and often misunderstood artist who took tango to radical new levels of creativity by merging it with jazz, avant-garde and classical music, bandoneon player Astor Piazzolla never made a bad record. This explains why this compilation, although far from definitive, is still satisfying.

Perhaps the most inspired choice is the inclusion of "20 Years Ago," a dreamy track from a largely forgotten 1975 collaboration with saxophonist Gerry Mulligan. Unfortunately, many of Piazzolla's classic anthems are... FEATURES Get Out: A few ways to make Sunday the best day of your week By Jenniffer Weigel, Tribune Newspapers | February 23, 2014 History comes alive Author David Joens will discuss his book, "From Slave to State Legislature: John W. E. Thomas, Illinois' First African American Lawmaker" (Southern Illinois University Press), as part of the Winter Lecture Series at the Historic Pullman Center. 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Free. 614 E. 113th St. 773-568-2441 or tallskinny.com/pullman. More than music The Fifth House Ensemble, a chamber music group, performs "Invoking the Muse," which...

ENTERTAINMENT Tangling With Tango By Howard Reich | May 14, 1989 Here is a look at some of Piazzolla's recent recordings: Tango: Zero Hour (Astor Piazzolla and Quinteto Tango Nuevo; Pangea). Here's the recording that put Piazzolla on the map in the U. S. and elsewhere, and for good reason. Each of the recording's seven numbers is a beautifully crafted, economical little masterpiece. Piazzolla and his band bend pitches and explore intense chromatic harmonies, ever emphasizing Piazzolla's essentially wistful message. (Reviewed on CD.) Sur (Astor Piazzolla and... ENTERTAINMENT COT's 'Maria de Buenos Aires' a dark tango with history John von Rhein and Classical music critic | April 21, 2013 With acts of terror again splashed across front pages, the sheer immediacy of Chicago Opera Theater's production of "Maria de Buenos Aires" hits you like a blow to the solar plexus. The show, which opened Saturday at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, may at times be uncomfortable to watch but is nevertheless essential viewing.

Just as the composer, Astor Piazzolla, breathed new life into the tango as a musical form, so has Andreas Mitisek, COT's brilliant general... ENTERTAINMENT Various artists The Story of Tango (Hemisphere... By Achy Obejas | March 20, 1998 Various artists The Story of Tango (Hemisphere) (star) (star) (star) As an introduction to tango music, "The Story of Tango" is pretty incomplete. Although it spans the 20th Century and includes some of the genre's greatest exponents, the album features Astor Piazzolla as a composer but not as a player. And the florid liner notes don't do much to explain the form's roots or context. But what's here -- classics such as "La Cumparsita," the voice of Carlos Gardel and...

ENTERTAINMENT 'Maria de Buenos Aires' at Chicago Opera Theater: Tango opera spills blood instead of cliches John von Rhein and Classical music critic | April 16, 2013 Andreas Mitisek is only half-kidding when he says he's lost count as to exactly how many hats he will be sporting for the production of "Maria de Buenos Aires" his Chicago Opera Theater will open Saturday night at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance. The company's general director will not only conduct the first staged performances of Astor Piazzolla's "tango operita" to be given in Chicago but he also will direct, design and... NEWS Tracing Astor: Gidon Kremer Plays Astor Piazzolla... By John von Rhein | July 8, 2001 Tracing Astor: Gidon Kremer Plays Astor Piazzolla Works by Piazzolla, Sollima, Desyatnikov, Pelecis; Gidon Kremer, violin, with string soloists and the Kremerata Baltica (Nonesuch).

This is the third CD to combine the classically oriented Northern European temperament of Gidon Kremer with the Latin sultriness of Astor Piazzolla, and it is every bit as satisfying as the previous discs. With superb support from his Kremerata Baltica ensemble, Kremer performs tangos... ENTERTAINMENT Jazz meets tango in Pablo Aslan's grand experiment Howard Reich and Arts critic | April 11, 2013 In 1959, Astor Piazzolla - a genius of tango composition and performance - released "Take Me Dancing," an album he later deemed an artistic "sin. " The jazz-inspired recording, which Piazzolla had hoped would enable him to break through to the American audience, made scant impact and inspired deep regret from its creator. "I sold my soul to the devil," Piazzolla later remarked. But Piazzolla's contempt for the project didn't stop contemporary tango musician Pablo Aslan... ENTERTAINMENT Tangazo: Music of Latin America (New World Symphony...

By John von Rhein | May 16, 1993 Tangazo: Music of Latin America (New World Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor; Argo). Argo's spicy assortment of Tex-Mex tapas helps to atone for the poor representation of Latin-American classical music in the CD catalogue. Alongside such familiar items as Copland's "Danzon Cubano," Chavez's "Sinfonia India" and Ginastera's "Estancia" dances, conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and his fine, Miami-based youth orchestra give us some less-well-known short pieces... ENTERTAINMENT Rare Piazzolla revival sounds better than it looks Howard Reich and Arts critic | August 13, 2011 By now, anyone even vaguely familiar with tango music must know the name of Astor Piazzolla. The Argentine composer and bandoneon master, who died in 1992 at age 71, proved definitively that tango music can flourish not only as accompaniment to dance but as a concert art form unto itself.

No single work by Piazzolla, however, makes that point more emphatically than the composer's lone opera, "Maria de Buenos Aires," a heady, surreal piece that received a rare revival Friday... FEATURES Mexican Fine Arts, CSO in festive mood By John von Rhein | June 18, 2001 The Chicago Symphony Orchestra will join with the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum to present a daylong family arts festival and concert July 22 in Harrison Park, adjoining the museum in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. The "Plazas de Mexico" festival will begin at 11 a.m. and conclude at 6 p.m. with a free outdoor concert by the CSO with Daniel Barenboim as conductor and pianist. The first half of the program will hold symphonic works by Ravel, Revueltas and Moncayo. The second half will feature...

ENTERTAINMENT 'Maria de Buenos Aires,' a summer tango August 12, 2011 "Maria de Buenos Aires": Thrill to the seductive sound of the Argentine tango when the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, in partnership with the city's Office of Tourism and Culture, presents the tango operita by Astor Piazzolla and Horacio Ferrer. Soprano Catalina Cuervo, above, stars as Maria, and Elbio Barilari narrates the fully staged production, to be conducted by Gerardo Moreira, with guest dancer Victoria Vargas and dancers of Tango 21. 7:30 p.m.... ENTERTAINMENT 'Maria de Buenos Aires,' a summer tango August 12, 2011 "Maria de Buenos Aires": Thrill to the seductive sound of the Argentine tango when the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, in partnership with the city's Office of Tourism and Culture, presents the tango operita by Astor Piazzolla and Horacio Ferrer.

Soprano Catalina Cuervo, above, stars as Maria, and Elbio Barilari narrates the fully staged production, to be conducted by Gerardo Moreira, with guest dancer Victoria Vargas and dancers of Tango 21. 7:30 p.m.... ENTERTAINMENT A rare revival of Astor Piazzolla's tango opera August 12, 2011 The tango music of Astor Piazzolla sways to a seductive beat, its rhythms unhurried but relentless, its harmonies yearning for resolution. People even casually familiar with tango music have heard Piazzolla's work (whether they know it or not), but the composer's magnum opus remains all too rarely performed. Which is why the new, Chicago-based production of Piazzolla's only opera, "Maria de Buenos Aires," merits particular attention. Though noted violinist Gidon Kremer and... ENTERTAINMENT Astor Piazzolla The Complete Late Recordings on...

By David Duckman | April 25, 1997 Astor Piazzolla The Complete Late Recordings on American Clave (American Clave) (star) (star) (star) (star) Pee Wee Russell Jazz Original (Commodore) (star) (star) (star) (star) Russell was a clarinetist of the Dixieland school, and Piazzolla was an Argentinean composer and bandoneon player associated with tango. What they share is that they are considered by many to be the ultimate in expression at their respective arts while somehow standing outside... ENTERTAINMENT Chamber series pursues lofty mission in intimate space By John von Rhein and Classical music critic | January 16, 2011 Giving important push and exposure to deserving young classical musicians on the brink of major careers has been the shining mission of Music in the Loft for the last 17 years. It's gratifying to see the series going strong despite the bad economy. Bookings extend into 2013, and general director Elinor Olin and board president Lincoln Ellis have recently taken on new administrative and artistic duties. The latest Loft concert, presented to a standing-room-only audience...

DMA Chamber Recital Program Notes | Joseph V. Williams II Joseph V. Williams II DMA Chamber Recital Program Notes August 10, 2012 | By Joe | May 2nd 2012 Jessen Auditorium, University of Texas at Austin with Chia-Jung Lee- flute, Elizabeth Lher- bass, Joseph Palmer- guitar, Caleb Polashek- violin and the Texas Guitar Quartet. The first half of this program is made up of compositions derived from popular music. Argentinian composer, Astor Piazzolla, was introduced to jazz, tango and classical music at an early age and began his musical career as a child prodigy on the bandoneón (a button accordion). In the 1940’s he performed in Anibal Troilo’s band, one of the great tango ensembles of the century. Concurrently, he studied composition with the Alberto Ginastera in Buenos Aires, and later with Nadia Boulanger in France in the 1950’s. Despite his dedicated efforts in classical composition, Boulanger famously counseled him to pursue the tango as his principal art form.

This urging was the impetus for him to fully embrace tango music and develop what he called Nuevo Tango, a modern style of tango infused with elements of jazz harmony and rhythm as well as techniques from classical composition. L’histoire du Tango was written in 1986, during a period when he was financially independent and able to write freely. The piece catalogues the history of tango in 30 year intervals. The four movements are entitled Bordel 1900, Café 1930, Nightclub 1960 and Concert d’aujourd’hui. Bordel 1900 playfully recalls the tango in its original setting: the brothels of Buenos Aires. The duple meter (2/4) is characteristic of tangos until 1915 with dotted habanera and a syncopated milonga rhythm. The Café 1930 is the tango for the smoky cafes where it was it was created for listening rather than dancing. It is filled with melancholic harmonies and flexibility of tempo. The Nightclub 1960 is the tango performed in venues much like contemporaneous jazz.

This piece exemplifies exemplifies many of Piazzolla’s mature tangos in its striking changes of tempo and aggressive rhythms and in its form (fast-fast-slow-coda). Tom Waits (b. 1949) is an American songwriter, composer, actor and performance artist. He is frequently described as one of the last beatniks of contemporary music with a voice sounding “like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car” (Daniel Durchholz, critic). He is a self-described maker of “adventure songs and Halloween music” and his lyrics explore a fantastical underworld on seedy, sentimental, grotesque and sometimes maudlin subject matter. His first nine albums (recorded from 1973-1983) are mainly written in the style Tin Pan Alley over a jazz and blues framework and instrumentation. Beginning with Swordfishtrombones (1983), his music starkly departs from this style and he developed a new orchestration and evolving sound palette that continues to the present.

He employs accordions, organs, bagpipes, rare instruments, instruments of his own design and some invented by composer Harry Partch. Furthermore, he has created concept albums developed and presented in theatrical productions (Franks Wild Years, Black Rider, Alice, and Blood Money) and explores forms that are rarely present in popular music (vaudeville, rumba, polka, tango, spoken word). Homage to Tom Waits (2012) is dedicated to this second period of his music. The titles of each movement are taken from Tom Waits songs: Deal out jacks or better from Tango til they’re sore; The fields are soft and green from Innocent when you dream; and Step right up from the song of the same name. Each movement paraphrases musical motives from Tom Waits works. The first and second movement draw their material from their respective songs and the final movement’s material is a re-imagining of the main theme from Knife Chase. The first and second movements are in simple forms (ABA, three verse song) and the last movement is a carnival dance which organically develops its material in a through-composed form.

The first version of Homage to Tom Waits was scored for bassoon, guitar, and double bass and has since been through many manifestations. The current version has been thoroughly reworked and was completed in 2012. The second half of this program are compositions in abstract forms. John Mayrose is an American composer as well as active performer of new music. He is is an Assistant Professor of Music at the Raclin School of the Arts at Indiana University South Bend. He holds the Ph.D. in music composition from Duke University and a B.M. degree from the University of South Carolina Honors College. Mayrose’s musical compositions have been played throughout North America, Europe, and Australia and frequently employ electronic media within a minimalist framework. He is the recipient of the first place prize in the Percussive Arts Society Composition Contest (2009), the 2010 ASCAP Plus Award, the Aliénor Harpsichord Composition Prize (2008), and the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer’s Award (2004). On Trigger (2005), the composer states: “Trigger is my first work to incorporate elements of interactive electronic music in an acoustic composition.

Instead of treating the duo as two independent musicians, I envisioned a single performer using one instrument to trigger events in another. This approach is extremely applicable to guitar and violin, both string instruments with similar left hand techniques, but with drastically different methods of producing sound: the pluck of the guitar is percussive, but lacks sustain, while the bowing of the violin provides sustain with a nuance of timbre. By writing essentially the same music for both instruments, my goal was to create what sounds like a violin/guitar hybrid, a combinatorial timbre of the two instruments. After a brief solo introduction, the violin leads the first half of Trigger. Any deviation in the guitar’s incessant, pulsing drones is triggered the violin’s disjunct melodic interjections. With a slightly more relaxed tone, the guitar begins the second half of the work directing the violin through a reworking of previous material. The melodic fragments begin to smooth out and extend, and Trigger ends with both performers working in conjunction.” Red (2011) is a multi-movement work inspired by the string quartet genre. The individual movements evoke three very different, but interrelated, perspectives on life and death.

Try not to die is the most complex and varied movement and abstractly depicts the myriad qualities of an individual’s life. At the core of our existence, beyond daily experience (such as work, having sex, reading books, wine, traffic, advertisements, success, failure, the internet, backflips…) we manage to live despite certain death. The second movement is dedicated to the birth of my niece, Juliana Williams. It explores the innocence of a newborn, the imposing task set before each parent, and the simultaneous bewildering and joyful uncertainty of a Birth day. The final movement is life from the perspective of microbiology. At the smallest level, cells continue to make cells without regard for our hopes, dreams or desires. Fortunately, life continues at a cellular level long after our triumphs and failures in a raucous and swirling torrent of cellular growth. Categories Astor Piazzolla — Listen for free on Spotify Astor Piazzolla Play on Spotify It's not hyperbole to say that Astor Piazzolla is the single most important figure in the history of tango, a towering giant whose shadow looms large over everything that preceded and followed him.

Piazzolla's place in Argentina's greatest cultural export is roughly equivalent to that of Duke Ellington in jazz -- the genius composer who took an earthy, sensual, even disreputable folk music and elevated it into a sophisticated form of high art. But even more than Ellington , Piazzolla was also a virtuosic performer with a near-unparalleled mastery of his chosen instrument, the bandoneon, a large button accordion noted for its unwieldy size and difficult fingering system. In Piazzolla's hands, tango was no longer strictly a dance music; his compositions borrowed from jazz and classical forms, creating a whole new harmonic and rhythmic vocabulary made for the concert hall more than the ballroom (which was dubbed "nuevo tango"). Some of his devices could be downright experimental -- he wasn't afraid of dissonance or abrupt shifts in tempo and meter, and he often composed segmented pieces with hugely contrasting moods that interrupted the normal flow and demanded the audience's concentration.

The complexity and ambition of Piazzolla's oeuvre brought him enormous international acclaim, particularly in Europe and Latin America, but it also earned him the lasting enmity of many tango purists, who attacked him mercilessly for his supposed abandonment of tradition (and even helped drive him out of the country for several years). But Piazzolla always stuck to his guns, and remained tango's foremost emissary to the world at large up until his death in 1992. Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina, on March 11, 1921. His parents were poor Italian immigrants who moved to New York City in 1924, affording the young Piazzolla extensive exposure to jazz artists like Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway . His father also played tango records by the early masters, especially the legendary vocalist/composer Carlos Gardel , and gave Astor a bandoneon for his ninth birthday.

In addition to lessons on that instrument (which encompassed American music, like Gershwin , as well as tango), Piazzolla also studied with classical pianist Bela Wilda in 1933, becoming an ardent fan of Bach and Rachmaninoff . Around the same time, the budding prodigy met and played with Carlos Gardel , appearing as a newspaper boy in Gardel 's watershed tango film El Dia que Me Quieras. The teenaged Piazzolla turned down an offer to tour South America with Gardel in 1935, a fortuitous decision that kept him out of the tragic plane crash that claimed Gardel 's life. In 1936, Piazzolla's family returned to Mar del Plata, and his passion for tango music was fired anew by violinist Elvino Vardaro's sextet. The still-teenaged Piazzolla moved to Buenos Aires in 1938, seeking work as a musician. After about a year of dues-paying, he caught on with the widely renowned Anibal Troilo orchestra, where he spent several high-profile years.

In the meantime, he continued his study of piano and music theory, counting future classical composer Alberto Ginastera (1941) and pianist Raul Spivak (1943) as his teachers. He began composing for Troilo during this period, although his more ambitious, classically influenced pieces were often edited for accessibility's sake. In 1944, Piazzolla left Troilo's group to become the orchestra leader behind singer Francisco Fiorentino; two years later, he formed his own group, playing mostly traditional tangos, yet already with hints of modernism. This group broke up in 1949, and Piazzolla, unsure of his musical direction, sought a way to leave tango behind for more refined pursuits. He studied Ravel , Bartók , and Stravinsky , also immersing himself in American jazz, and worked mostly on his compositional skills for a few years. His 1953 piece "Buenos Aires" caused a stir for its use of bandoneon in a classical orchestral setting.

In 1954, Piazzolla won a scholarship to study in Paris with the hugely influential Nadia Boulanger , who also taught Aaron Copland , Philip Glass , and Quincy Jones , among many others. Boulanger encouraged Piazzolla not to ignore tango, but to reinvigorate the form with his jazz and classical training. Piazzolla returned home in 1955 and immediately set the tango world on its ear, forming an octet that played tango as self-contained chamber music, rather than accompaniment for vocalists or dancers. The howls of protest from traditionalists continued unabated until 1958, when Piazzolla disbanded the group and went to New York City; there he worked as an arranger and experimented with a fusion of jazz and tango, also composing the famed "Adios Nonino," a lovely ode to his recently departed father. Returning to Buenos Aires in 1960, Piazzolla formed his first quintet, the Quinteto Tango Nuevo, which would become the primary vehicle for his forward-looking vision.

Over the course of the '60s, Piazzolla would refine and experiment heavily, pushing the formal structure of tango to its breaking point. In 1965, he made a record of his concert at New York's Philharmonic Hall, and also cut an album of poems by Jorge Luis Borges set to music. In 1967, Piazzolla struck a deal with poet Horacio Ferrer to collaborate exclusively with each other, resulting in the groundbreaking so-called "operita" Maria de Buenos Aires, which was premiered by singer Amelita Baltar in 1968 (she would later become Piazzolla's second wife). Piazzolla and Ferrer next collaborated on a series of "tango-canciones" (tango songs) which produced his first genuine commercial hit, "Balada Para un Loco" ("Ballad of a Madman"). In addition to composing songs and more elaborate pieces for orchestra (such as 1970's El Pueblo Joven), Piazzolla also flexed his muscles scoring numerous films of the period.

The '70s started out well for Piazzolla, as an acclaimed European tour brought the opportunity to form a nine-piece group to play his music in especially lush fashion. However, all was not well. Argentina's government was taken over by a conservative military faction, and everything that Piazzolla symbolized -- modern refinement, an ostensible lack of respect for tradition -- suddenly became politically unwelcome. In 1973, Piazzolla suffered a heart attack, and after recovering, he decided that, with sentiments running high against him, it would be wiser for him to live in Italy. There he formed a group called the Conjunto Electronico, which placed bandoneon at the forefront of what was essentially, instrumentation-wise, an electric jazz ensemble; this period also produced one of his most celebrated compositions, "Libertango." In 1974, Piazzolla cut an album with jazz baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan called Summit, with backing by Italian musicians; the following year, he found a new favorite vocal interpreter in Jose Angel Trelles.

1976 brought a major concert back in Buenos Aires, with the Conjunto Electronico premiering the piece "500 Motivaciones." Tiring of electric music, Piazzolla formed a new quintet in 1978 and toured extensively all over the world, also composing new chamber and symphonic works in the meantime. His reputation grew steadily, making him a prime candidate for exposure in the U.S. during the world-music craze of the latter half of the '80s. In 1986, Piazzolla entered the studio with his quintet and American producer Kip Hanrahan and recorded what he considered the finest album of his career, Tango: Zero Hour. The same year, he played the Montreux Jazz Festival with vibraphonist Gary Burton , resulting in the live set Suite for Vibraphone and New Tango Quintet. The official follow-up to Tango: Zero Hour, The Rough Dancer and the Cyclical Night, won equally glowing reviews, and Piazzolla staged a major homecoming concert in New York's Central Park in 1987.

Unfortunately, at the height of his international fame (and belated celebration at home), Piazzolla's health began to fail him. He underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 1988, but recovered well enough to mount an international tour in 1989, including what would be his final concert in Argentina. La Camorra, another excellent recording, was released in 1989, the same year Piazzolla formed a new sextet with an unheard-of two bandoneons. In 1990, he recorded a short album with modern-classical iconoclasts the Kronos Quartet , titled Five Tango Sensations. Sadly, not long afterward, Piazzolla suffered a stroke that left him unable to perform or compose. Almost two years later, on July 4, 1992, he died in his beloved Buenos Aires due to the lingering after-effects, leaving behind a monumental legacy as one of South America's greatest musical figures ever, and a major composer of the 20th century. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi Read More Show less

Question: The Argentinean composer Astor Piazzola made an art form of which dance?
Answer: TANGO