by Jarrett Hoffman
IN THIS EDITION:
•Opportunities: a beginner songwriting workshop from Piano Cleveland, adult piano classes at Steinway Gallery, Contemporary Youth Orchestra auditions, and Cleveland Orchestra Children’s Chorus open rehearsals
•Almanac: an embarrassment of riches on March 11, including Astor Piazzolla (pictured)
OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE YOUNG & OLD:
Piano Cleveland will present “Keys to Songwriting” — a free workshop focused on beginner songwriting for piano students in grades 6-12 — at Baldwin Wallace University on March 28 from 9-11 am. Send an email to register.
Steinway Piano Gallery has begun a series of adult piano classes. The monthly, hour-long sessions will each focus on a single piece of music, with the goal that attendees will be able to play it by the end of the hour. No experience is necessary. This Saturday’s session will focus on Billy Joel’s Piano Man. Register here.
Auditions for the Contemporary Youth Orchestra are being held through June 30, both in person and via recording. Find out more here.
And the Cleveland Orchestra Children’s Chorus and Children’s Preparatory Chorus are hosting open rehearsals tomorrow evening, March 12, at University Circle United Methodist Church for anyone curious about joining next season. Attendees will have the opportunity to sing with the ensembles in addition to meeting the musicians and chorus staff. Register here.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
by Mike Telin
March 11 is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to celebrating birthdays. There’s composer Henry Cowell (Menlo Park, California) in 1897, accordionist and orchestra leader Lawrence Welk (Strasburg, North Dakota) in 1903, composer Xavier Montsalvatge (Girona, Spain) in 1912, composer and bandleader Mercer Ellington (Washington D.C.) in 1919, and vocalist and conductor Bobby McFerrin (New York, N.Y.) in 1950.
But wait, there’s one more. Today we celebrate the birth of Astor Piazzolla in Mar del Plata, Argentina in 1921.
Piazzolla spent most of his early life in New York City, first in Greenwich Village and later in Little Italy. At home, he listened to recordings of tango as well as jazz and classical music. After his father bought him a bandoneon at a local pawn shop, the young Piazzolla began playing the instrument at the age of eight.
He composed his fist tango, La Catinga in 1932 and soon after began studying music with Hungarian pianist Bela Wilda, herself a student of Rachmaninoff. Wilda also encouraged him to play Bach on the bandoneon.
After returning to Mar del Plata with his family in 1936, he soon moved to Buenos Aires and was asked to join the orchestra of bandoneonist Aníbal Troilo. By 1941 Piazzolla was earning enough money to pay for music lessons and on the advice of Arthur Rubinstein — who was living in Buenos Aires at the time — he began his studies with Alberto Ginastera.
Piazzolla formed his first “Orquesta Típica” in 1946, giving him the opportunity to experiment with his own musical ideas. However, by 1950 he had disbanded the group and contemplated giving up tango and the bandoneon for good in favor of studying the music of Bartók and Stravinsky, and orchestration. Then, in 1953, his classical composition Buenos Aires Symphony in Three Movements won a grant which allowed him to study with Nadia Boulanger at Fontainebleau. It was Boulanger who encouraged Piazzolla to continue his career in tango.
While in Paris, he heard jazz saxophonist Gerry Mulligan, which inspired him to create his own octet, and in 1955 the Octeto Buenos Aires was born. The ensemble included two bandoneons (Piazzolla and Leopoldo Federico), two violins (Enrique Mario Francini and Hugo Baralis), double bass (Juan Vasallo), cello (José Bragato), piano (Atilio Stampone), and electric guitar (Horacio Malvicino), and with that ensemble, tango was forever changed.
Nuevo tango is defined by the inclusion of elements of jazz, including improvisation, extended harmonies, dissonance, and the use of counterpoint and passacaglia technique.
Although this “new tango” garnered praise in Europe and North America, in Argentina Piazzolla became a controversial figure. I can attest that I have encountered many people in Buenos Aires who, upon the mention of his name, still refer to him as “the man who killed tango.”
A creative genius, Piazzolla was a complicated man, who played a complicated instrument, created a complicated musical form, and had a complicated relationship with tango traditionalists.
Click here to watch Mike Dibb’s film Astor Piazzolla in Portrait — Tango Maestro. The documentary includes interviews with the man himself, his family and performers who have been drawn to his music — cellist Yo-Yo Ma, jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton, the Kronos Quartet, the Paris-based Gotan Project, the Tango Pasión dance company, pianist Joanna MacGregor, and accordeonist James Crabb.
If listening to a historic performance is more to your liking, click here to watch the Piazzolla Quintet — Astor Piazzolla (bandoneon), Pablo Ziegler (piano), Héctor Console (bass), Fernando Suarez Páz (violin), and Oscar Lopez Ruiz (guitar) — play an amazing set at the 1984 Montreal Jazz Festival. This is a personal favorite.
And click here to listen to cellist Mstislav Rostropovich play Le Grand Tango.