One Hundred Years of Astor Piazzolla

from the Barnes & Noble Web page for the recording being discussed

Astor Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata in Argentina on March 11, 1921. That makes this his centennial year, even if the current pandemic conditions tend to outweigh significant landmarks in music history. Nevertheless, today Centaur Records released an album to celebrate the occasion, entitled, appropriately enough, Piazzolla: Cien Años (100 years). Curiously, according to Google, the highest-priority site for purchasing this album does not involve any of the “usual suspects” (such as Amazon.com). Rather, the best (if not only) viable source appears to be a Web page on the Barnes & Noble Web site (of course, of course), which enables delivery without any extra charge for shipping.

As a performer, Piazzolla turned to the bandoneon as his primary instrument. On this album that instrument is played by Juanjo Mosalini, who performs with the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston conducted by Giselle Ben-Dor. Four of the seven tracks are world premiere recordings, although that status will probably not be what most readers anticipate. Two of the selections were commissioned by Ben-Dor, a piece composed by Mosalini entitled “Cien Años” (most likely for the centennial occasion) and Mosalini’s arrangement of “The 4 Seasons of Buenos Aires.”

Those familiar with Piazzolla’s work probably know that during his career of leading a tango band, he composed four pieces between 1965 and 1970, each of which was inspired by one of the four seasons and all in the context of his “home town” Bueno Aires. When these four pieces were collected and performed in “calendar order” they were given the overall title Estaciones Porteñas, known as The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires in English. Between 1996 and 1998 the music migrated out of the tango hall when Russian composer Leonid Desyatnikov arranged these four pieces for solo violin and string orchestra, interpolating a few clever references to Antonio Vivaldi into a mix that included some amusingly eccentric bowing techniques. The result became part of the repertoire of the Kremerata Baltica under its Artistic Director Gidon Kremer. (San Francisco listeners became familiar with this version thanks to the New Century Chamber Orchestra back when it was led by Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg.)

The other world premiere tracks on Piazzolla: Cien Años are another composition by Mosalini, “Tomá, Tocá” (take it, play it), and Mosalini’s arrangement of Piazzolla’s “Libertango.” These four premiere tracks are preceded by Piazzolla’s three-movement bandoneon concerto, given the title “Aconcagua.” This is the name of the tallest peak in the Andes mountain range, as well as the highest peak outside of Asia. It has the reputation for the highest death rate of any mountain in South America.

My guess is that any relationship between the title of this concerto and the mountain after which it was named is highly coincidental. One can almost approach it as the soundtrack of a movie that was never made (or, if looking through the other end of the telescope, what John Williams would have composed for Indiana Jones in the Andes). Nevertheless, this is Piazzolla’s own music; and, if it falls back on a familiar cliché or two, like the Andes range itself, the music still rises above all four of the world premiere tracks on this album.

What matters most is that anyone really interested in honoring Piazzolla in this centennial year would do better to look to Buenos Aires, rather than Boston.