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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZPIAZZOLLA, Astor(b 1921, Mar del Plata, Argentina; d 5 July 1992, Buenos Aires) Compser, arranger, bandleader. Grew up in NYC; encouraged by his father, learned to play bandoneon (an Argentine accordion) and studied music. He first heard proper tangos at 13 when Carlos Gardel performed in NYC; Piazzolla auditioned and played for Gardel in one of his Paramount films; returned to Argentina at 16 and from '39 played in all the current tango bands, also arranging for them, and formed his own tango orchestra '46. Disenchanted with a restricting genre he went to Paris, worked at formal composition and won awards; he studied with Nadia Boulanger, who persuaded him to take a new look at the tango. From mid-'50s he turned it upside down, injecting new rhythms and harmonies, called it the 'new' tango; though welcomed in concert halls in NY and Europe, danced by the world's leading ballet companies, it was not accepted in Buenos Aires. He wrote over 750 compositions including concertos, operas, film and theatre scores (but lost the assignment of Last Tango In Paris '72 to Gato Barbieri: it made Gato famous). He made over 70 records including Revolution In Tango '65 on Polydor, Live In Wien on Spalax with quintet; Tango: Zero Hour '86 on Pangaea/American Clave with the New Tango Quintet was an international breakthrough. Astor Piazzolla: Live on American Clave was recorded in Austria and may be the same as the Spalax record. Sur on Milan was the soundtrack of a film by Fernando E. Solanas. He made two albums for American Clave '80s; Astor Piazzolla on Nonesuch had him playing his concerto for bandoneon and three tangos with the Orchestra of St Luke's conducted by Lalo Schifrin; Five Tango Sensations on Nonesuch was recorded by the Kronos Quartet with the composer. He also wrote for the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival; his musical Dangerous Games: Two Tango Pieces premiered at Philadelphia's American Music Theatre Festival '89 and he was thinking about a grand opera on the life of Carlos Gardel which he hoped would star Placido Domingo. His last album Luna '91 was released on EMI's Hemisphere label; his compositions were conducted by Josep Pons on Harmonia Mundi '96, with Pablo Mainetti on bandoneon and Luis Vidal on piano. His reputation continued to grow: violinist Gidon Kremer led a quartet with piano, bass and bandoneon (Per Arne Glorvigen) on Hommage á Piazzolla: Tangos '97 on Nonesuch; Phil Woods's Astor And Elis on Chesky was a tribute; cellist Yo-Yo Ma released Soul Of The Tango '97 on Sony Classical, one track with Piazzolla dubbed on bandoneon; there were several albums '97 on Milan/BMG. He said Live At The BBC '89 was his finest hour, on Intuition '98. |