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"Astor Piazzolla, the last great Tango composer, was at the peak of his creativity when a stroke killed him in 1992. He left us, in the words of the old tango, 'without saying good bye', and that day the musical face of Buenos Aires was abruptly frozen. The creation of that face had started a hundred years earlier from the unlikely combination of African rhythms underlying gauchos' couplets, sung in the style of Sicilian canzonettas over an accompanying Andalucian guitar. As the years passed all converged towards the bandoneon: a small accordion-like instrument without keyboard that was invented in Germany in the 19th century to serve as a portable church organ and which, after finding its true home in the bordellos of Buenos Aires' slums in the 1920's, went back to Europe to conquer Paris' high society in the 1930's. Since then it reigned as the essential instrument for any Tango ensemble. [continued...]
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| CATEGORIES | Orchestra; Chamber [without voice] |
| INSTRUMENTATION | Sting Orchestra. Nonet version available. |
| DURATION | 14'00" |
| WORLD PREMIERE | Adrian Boult Hall-Birmingham, UK October 25, 1996 |
| WORLD PREMIERE PERFORMERS | Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Stefan Asbury, conductor. |
| OTHER NOTABLE PERFORMANCES | String Orchestra version premiered by Seji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2000. |
| COMMISSION | Commissioned by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group |
| DEDICATION | To Geoff Nuttall and Barry Shiffman |
| RECORDING | Recorded by the St Lawrence String Quartet and the Ying Quartet, with Mark Dresser, double bass.
Appears on album "Yiddishbbuk" [album details] |
| SCORE AVAILABILITY | Score available for sale. Parts available for rental. [more info] |
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