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Programme note

Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)
The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires (1970)

Few composers can boast the cosmopolitan upbringing of Astor Piazolla, who was born in Argentina to Italian parents, but spent most of his childhood living in New York, where he learned to speak English, French, Spanish and Italian. This eclectic upbringing translated into his music, which was so unusual that a new musical genre was invented in his wake – nuevo tango. While the traditional tango is usually played by a standard ensemble (or orquesta típica) comprising bandonéon, violins, piano and double bass, Piazzolla’s works eventually included electric bass and guitar, synthesizer, and other distinctly ‘non-típica’ instruments. He also channelled non-Argentinean elements into his compositions, such as jazz, fusion and even elements of the classical baroque.

Piazzolla’s years spent studying with renowned teacher Nadia Boulanger were central to his development as a composer. Writing in his autobiography, he remembered his pivotal first lesson: ‘When I met her, I showed her my kilos of symphonies and sonatas. She started to read them and suddenly came out with a horrible sentence: “It's very well written.”... After a long while, she said: “Here you are like Stravinsky, like Bartók, like Ravel, but you know what happens? I can't find Piazzolla in this.” And she began to investigate my private life: what I did, what I did and did not play, if I was single, married, or living with someone, she was like an FBI agent! And I was very ashamed to tell her that I was a tango musician... She kept asking: “You say that you are not pianist. What instrument do you play, then?” And I didn't want to tell her that I was a bandonéon player... Finally, I confessed and she asked me to play some bars of a tango of my own. She suddenly opened her eyes, took my hand and told me: “You idiot, that's Piazzolla!” And I took all the music I composed, ten years of my life, and sent it to hell in two seconds.’

The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires was written in the years 1967-1970, but was originally a work for Piazzolla’s folk quintet, comprising bandoneón, piano, violin, electric guitar, and electric bass. Though allusions to Vivaldi’s work, both in the title and in the programmatic nature of the four movements, arise from this original composition, it was not until the work was arranged for string orchestra and soloist after Piazzolla’s death (by Russian composer and arranger Leonid Desyatnikov), that Piazzolla’s Four Seasons came to closely shadow that of Vivaldi. As well as the textural similarities, Desyatnikov also heightened the relationship between the two by weaving into the new arrangement fragments of Vivaldi’s score. While each of the four concertos that make up Vivaldi’s work each comprise three individual movements, Piazzolla’s piece has just one movement per season – but even within this framework there is a remarkable breadth of variety. In Spring, for example, a lively, even frenetic, syncopated fugue frames the movement, while at its centre is a more languorous, sleepy interlude. While Piazzolla’s Winter is somewhat sly and melancholic, with solo violin and cello winding around each other like the tango dancers they are depicting, Desyatnikov cannot resist inserting a tiny fragment of Vivaldi’s Summer, which lifts the mood once more and sends shafts of sunlight to brighten the rather menacing winter.

© Jo Kirkbride

Programme note

Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)
The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires (1970)

Few composers can boast the cosmopolitan upbringing of Astor Piazolla, who was born in Argentina to Italian parents, but spent most of his childhood living in New York, where he learned to speak English, French, Spanish and Italian. This eclectic upbringing translated into his music, which was so unusual that a new musical genre was invented in his wake – nuevo tango. While the traditional tango is usually played by a standard ensemble (or orquesta típica) comprising bandonéon, violins, piano and double bass, Piazzolla’s works eventually included electric bass and guitar, synthesizer, and other distinctly ‘non-típica’ instruments. He also channelled non-Argentinean elements into his compositions, such as jazz, fusion and even elements of the classical baroque.

Piazzolla’s years spent studying with renowned teacher Nadia Boulanger were central to his development as a composer. Writing in his autobiography, he remembered his pivotal first lesson: ‘When I met her, I showed her my kilos of symphonies and sonatas. She started to read them and suddenly came out with a horrible sentence: “It's very well written.”... After a long while, she said: “Here you are like Stravinsky, like Bartók, like Ravel, but you know what happens? I can't find Piazzolla in this.” And she began to investigate my private life: what I did, what I did and did not play, if I was single, married, or living with someone, she was like an FBI agent! And I was very ashamed to tell her that I was a tango musician... She kept asking: “You say that you are not pianist. What instrument do you play, then?” And I didn't want to tell her that I was a bandonéon player... Finally, I confessed and she asked me to play some bars of a tango of my own. She suddenly opened her eyes, took my hand and told me: “You idiot, that's Piazzolla!” And I took all the music I composed, ten years of my life, and sent it to hell in two seconds.’

The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires was written in the years 1967-1970, but was originally a work for Piazzolla’s folk quintet, comprising bandoneón, piano, violin, electric guitar, and electric bass. Though allusions to Vivaldi’s work, both in the title and in the programmatic nature of the four movements, arise from this original composition, it was not until the work was arranged for string orchestra and soloist after Piazzolla’s death (by Russian composer and arranger Leonid Desyatnikov), that Piazzolla’s Four Seasons came to closely shadow that of Vivaldi. As well as the textural similarities, Desyatnikov also heightened the relationship between the two by weaving into the new arrangement fragments of Vivaldi’s score. While each of the four concertos that make up Vivaldi’s work each comprise three individual movements, Piazzolla’s piece has just one movement per season – but even within this framework there is a remarkable breadth of variety. In Spring, for example, a lively, even frenetic, syncopated fugue frames the movement, while at its centre is a more languorous, sleepy interlude. While Piazzolla’s Winter is somewhat sly and melancholic, with solo violin and cello winding around each other like the tango dancers they are depicting, Desyatnikov cannot resist inserting a tiny fragment of Vivaldi’s Summer, which lifts the mood once more and sends shafts of sunlight to brighten the rather menacing winter.

© Jo Kirkbride