With more snow and frigid temperatures on the way – at least where I’m typing, here in the Mid-Atlantic United States – I’m thinking it might be cheering for some to reflect that it’s actually summer in the Southern Hemisphere. Who am I to deny the pleasure? This week on “Sweetness and Light,” I invite you to think warm thoughts as we take a musical journey to Latin America.
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Peru will be represented in works by Agustín Barrios, Theodoro Valcárcel Caballero, Camargo Guarnieri, Astor Piazzolla, and Heitor Villa-Lobos.
We’ll cap the hour back in New York with more cowbell and Morton Gould’s vibrant “Latin-American Symphonette.”
Join the conga line. It’s a South American getaway on “Sweetness Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EST/8:00 PST, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Argentinian master Astor Piazzolla. It also marks a year since my last live air-shift at WWFM The Classical Network.
With the white caps of Covid already beginning to crest on the horizon, hosts scrambled to get five weeks-worth of recorded shows in the can, against the event that the college would have to shut down. I mean, if everyone stayed home for five weeks, cases would dwindle to nil, and we’d all be back to work, right?
At least I am still selecting my shows from the archive, which is vast, but I think it’s high time to begin assembling a home studio already. Too many significant anniversaries have gone by – including my 25th at the station, and the 10th of “Picture Perfect” – to say nothing of missed holidays and lost musicians who should have been memorialized. At the very least, I should be producing new material. I should not be squandering my time sharing music links on Facebook.
That said…
Although Astor Piazzolla wrote in all forms, he is best remembered for reinvigorating the tango. He accomplished this by drawing on modern classical techniques to deepen its expressive possibilities.
He first discovered the bandonéon – like the accordion, a member the concertina family – when his father purchased one from a pawn shop in Greenwich Village. Piazzolla took up the instrument that would become his constant companion in 1929, at the age of 8. He composed his first tango at 11. At 13, he was invited by Carlos Gardel to join his band. His father forbade it – fortunately, it turns out, since Gardel and his musicians died in a plane crash while on tour.
Piazzolla also attracted the attention of Alberto Ginastera, with whom he studied for five years. Then, in common with many of the great composers of the 20th century, he traveled to Paris, hoping to broaden his understanding of classical composition under the guidance of Nadia Boulanger. After he played one of his tangos for her, the legendary pedagogue took his hands in hers and said, “Here is the true Piazzolla – do not ever leave him.” Her advice paid off. By embracing Argentina’s national dance, Piazzolla not only secured his place in the hearts of the public, but also in the classical concert repertoire.
Spring is a time of renewal. With this in mind, here is Piazzolla’s “Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.” The work is often performed these days by violinists – its movements interleaved with those of Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” – to charming effect. Here it is, as Piazzolla intended, with the composer on bandonéon:
Piazzolla plays “Libertango”:
Happy birthday, Astor Piazzolla!
In case you’re interested, I’ve appended the playlist, divided into hours, from my last live air shift, on March 11, 2020, which touches on some juicy birthdays: those of American mavericks Henry Cowell and Carl Ruggles, “Beethoven of Kentucky” Anthony Philip Heinrich, Catalan composer Xavier Montsalvatge, and yes, Astor Piazzolla. Not included is “Music from Marlboro,” which followed at 6 pm and consisted of Brahms’ String Sextet No. 2 and the Air from Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3. Who knew so much time would pass?
Following up on my series of posts about his family’s fascinating bookplates (on February 23, February 27, and March 5), Xavier Montsalvtage finally gets his day. Join me this afternoon on The Classical Network, as I’ll celebrate the great Catalan composer’s birthday with his “Concerto breve.”
We’ll also hear music by three American originals: Henry Cowell, Carl Ruggles, and “The Beethoven of Kentucky” (and one of the founders of the New York Philharmonic), Anthony Philip Heinrich. AND a work for guitar and bandoneón by Argentinian master Astor Piazzolla.
At 6:00, it’s another “Music from Marlboro.” The highlight this evening will be the String Sextet No. 2, by a young and ardent Johannes Brahms.
We’re always passionate about music, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
PHOTOS: Xavier Montsalvatge (left), with (top to bottom) Henry Cowell, Carl Ruggles, and Anthony Philip Heinrich
So far, this morning on WPRB, we’ve been remembering artists who died in 2016. We’ll pick up the thread with Part II, which will air next Thursday, January 5, from 6 to 11 a.m.
For the remainder of this morning, we’ll shift gears, starting at 9:00, when I’m joined by Gail Wein, president of Classical Music Communications. Gail will talk a little bit about what she does and the artists she represents. We’ll also play from some of the CDs she’s been enjoying recently. Some of those will include music by Aaron Copland, Ben Johnston, Steve Mackey, Astor Piazzolla, and Louis Vierne.
We’ll leave the dead, for the time being, and keep it lively until 11:00, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com.
In just a few minutes, I’ll be joined by Marc Uys, executive director of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, who will drop by the studio around 9:00 to tell us about a special concert that will take place at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium tonight at 8 p.m.
Violinist Daniel Rowland will be soloist in and conductor of Astor Piazzolla’s “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires,” which will be interleaved with the concertos of Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons.” Rowland has performed the program many times and has even made a very fine recording of it (from which we will sample). Then we’ll hear Piazzolla himself performing some of his own music on the bandoneon.
Also yet to come this morning, Benny Goodman plays Bartok and Keith Jarrett plays Barber, with an early work by famed film composer John Williams written for Stan Kenton, “Prelude and Fugue,” coming up in just a few minutes.
It’s classical music played by jazz artists, with perhaps just a hint of “Third Stream,” until 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM at wprb.com.
