Music on Thursdays - Online
Thursday 11th June 2020
Cello Tango
Artistes: 52 Cellists
Starts: when you are ready
Note: latecomers will be admitted at your personal discretion
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Cello Tango
Programme
Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual (1860-1909)
from the suite España Op 165 (1890)
2 Tango in D major Andantino grazioso Gentle pace, with grace
performed by UNT 2009 Cello Ensemble, Eugene Osadchy, artistic director
Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla (1921-1992)
arr Kazumasa (Kaz) Takasugi
from Histoire du Tango / The Tango Story / History of Tango
Café 1930 (1986)
performed by cellists Kendra Grittani and Sahara von Hattenberger
Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla
from the opera Maria de Buenos Aires (early 1970s)
Fuga y Misterio
performed by Die 12 Cellisten der Deutschen Stiftung Musikleben
German Foundation for Musical Life
Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)
Assobio a Jato The Jet Whistle, W 493 (1950)
I Allegro non troppo fast, but not too fast
II Adagio slowly
III Vivo lively
performed by Alice K Dade, flute, and Bion Tsang, cello, in February 2015 at the Temple Beth David
Carter Brey (b1954)
Two Tangos for Solo Cello (2013)
1 Tango para Ilaria
performed by Arlen Hlusko, cello
2 Study for Tango
performed by Carter Brey
Carlos Gardel (1890-1935)
Lyrics: Alfredo le Pera (1900-1935)
Por una Cabeza By a head (1935)
performed y The 4Cellists: Young Song • Claes Gunnarsson • Li-Wei Qin • Joel Marosi
Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla
Libertango (1974)
performed by the 12 cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
from the suite España Op 165 (1890)
2 Tango in D major Andantino grazioso Gentle pace, with grace
performed by UNT 2009 Cello Ensemble, Eugene Osadchy, artistic director
Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla (1921-1992)
arr Kazumasa (Kaz) Takasugi
from Histoire du Tango / The Tango Story / History of Tango
Café 1930 (1986)
performed by cellists Kendra Grittani and Sahara von Hattenberger
Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla
from the opera Maria de Buenos Aires (early 1970s)
Fuga y Misterio
performed by Die 12 Cellisten der Deutschen Stiftung Musikleben
German Foundation for Musical Life
Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)
Assobio a Jato The Jet Whistle, W 493 (1950)
I Allegro non troppo fast, but not too fast
II Adagio slowly
III Vivo lively
performed by Alice K Dade, flute, and Bion Tsang, cello, in February 2015 at the Temple Beth David
Carter Brey (b1954)
Two Tangos for Solo Cello (2013)
1 Tango para Ilaria
performed by Arlen Hlusko, cello
2 Study for Tango
performed by Carter Brey
Carlos Gardel (1890-1935)
Lyrics: Alfredo le Pera (1900-1935)
Por una Cabeza By a head (1935)
performed y The 4Cellists: Young Song • Claes Gunnarsson • Li-Wei Qin • Joel Marosi
Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla
Libertango (1974)
performed by the 12 cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
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Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual (1860-1909) from the suite España Op 165 (1890) 2 Tango in D major Andantino grazioso Gentle pace, with grace performed by UNT 2009 Cello Ensemble Eugene Osadchy, artistic director |
To be sure we all know it is cello week, we begin with a number of cellists playing together. That number is probably 18. The piece with which they open today's concert is Albéniz' popular Tango in D. This slow, gentle piece is probably the most famous tango, familiar to many. Although fairly short, it shows a number of tango styles. Russian cellist Eugene Osadchy is professor of cello at the University of North Texas (UNT) College of Music. |
Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla (1921-1992) arr Kazumasa (Kaz) Takasugi from Histoire du Tango / The Tango Story / History of Tango Café 1930 (1986) Cellists Kendra Grittani and Sahara von Hattenberger |
We remain in tango mode for our next piece.
Piazzola produced the four-part suite Histoire du Tango in 1986, for flute and guitar. Each part represents a different era in the development of the tango. Café 1930 is the second part and here is the composer's description or programme note: Café 1930: This is another age of the tango. People stop dancing it as they did in 1900, preferring instead simply to listen to it. The young arranger Kaz Takasugi is a highly talented instrumentalist, composer and arranger who completed his Masters in Performance in 2018 at Canada's Schulich School of Music, McGill University, Montreal. Mostly known for his trumpet and horn playing, after spending 11 years in education in Canada, Kaz is now based in Tokyo. |
If you'd like to understand Piazzolla a little more, I have seen no better than this article on last.fm:
...Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina in 1921 to immigrant Italian parents. He spent most of his childhood with his family in New York City. While there, he acquired fluency in four languages: Spanish, English, French, and Italian. He also started playing the bandoneon, quickly rising to the status of child prodigy.
While still quite young, he met Carlos Gardel, another great figure of Argentine tango. He returned to Argentina in 1937, where strictly traditional tango still reigned, and he played in night clubs with a series of groups. The pianist Arthur Rubinstein (then living in Buenos Aires) advised him to study with the Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera. Delving into scores of Stravinsky, Bartók, Ravel, and others, he gave up tango temporarily and worked as a modernist classical composer.
At Ginastera's urging, in 1953 Piazzolla entered his Buenos Aires Symphony in a composition contest, and won a grant from the French government to study in Paris with the French composer and conductor Nadia Boulanger. The insightful Boulanger turned his life around in a day, as Piazzolla tells beautifully in his own words:
"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.’ And stopped, with a big period, round like a soccer ball. 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. Finally I said, “I play in a ‘night club.’” I didn't want to say “cabaret.” And she answered, “Night club, mais oui, but that is a cabaret, isn't it?” “Yes,” I answered, and thought, “I'll hit this woman in the head with a radio….” It wasn't easy to lie to her.
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 bandoneon player, because I thought, “Then she will throw me from the fourth floor.” 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."
Piazzolla returned to Argentina in 1955, formed the Octeto Buenos Aires to play tangos, and never looked back.
...Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina in 1921 to immigrant Italian parents. He spent most of his childhood with his family in New York City. While there, he acquired fluency in four languages: Spanish, English, French, and Italian. He also started playing the bandoneon, quickly rising to the status of child prodigy.
While still quite young, he met Carlos Gardel, another great figure of Argentine tango. He returned to Argentina in 1937, where strictly traditional tango still reigned, and he played in night clubs with a series of groups. The pianist Arthur Rubinstein (then living in Buenos Aires) advised him to study with the Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera. Delving into scores of Stravinsky, Bartók, Ravel, and others, he gave up tango temporarily and worked as a modernist classical composer.
At Ginastera's urging, in 1953 Piazzolla entered his Buenos Aires Symphony in a composition contest, and won a grant from the French government to study in Paris with the French composer and conductor Nadia Boulanger. The insightful Boulanger turned his life around in a day, as Piazzolla tells beautifully in his own words:
"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.’ And stopped, with a big period, round like a soccer ball. 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. Finally I said, “I play in a ‘night club.’” I didn't want to say “cabaret.” And she answered, “Night club, mais oui, but that is a cabaret, isn't it?” “Yes,” I answered, and thought, “I'll hit this woman in the head with a radio….” It wasn't easy to lie to her.
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 bandoneon player, because I thought, “Then she will throw me from the fourth floor.” 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."
Piazzolla returned to Argentina in 1955, formed the Octeto Buenos Aires to play tangos, and never looked back.
The beautiful instrumental piece Fuga y Misterio comes from Piazzolla's unsuccessful opera Maria de Buenos Aires. Most of the instruments play tango-based music, but for the percussion the theme is based on jazz rhythms. This piece comes in the fifth scene of the opera, in which the heroine Maria leaves the suburbs and walks into the heart of Buenos Aires. |
Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla from the opera Maria de Buenos Aires (early 1970s) Fuga y Misterio performed by Die 12 Cellisten der Deutschen Stiftung Musikleben German Foundation for Musical Life cellists: Andrei Ioniță, Christoph Heesch, Katarina Schmidt, Tony Rymer, Simone Drescher, Olena Guliei, Jakob Stepp, Stanislas Kim, Svenja Schmidt-Rüdt, Lionnel Martin, Wassily Gerassimez, Benedict Kloeckner |
Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)
Assobio a Jato The Jet Whistle, W 493 (1950) I Allegro non troppo • II Adagio • III Vivo i fast but not too fast • ii slowly • iii lively performed by Alice K Dade, flute, and Bion Tsang, cello, in February 2015 at the Temple Beth David There are, of course, many Temples and Synagogues of the Congregation Beth David across the USA. I believe this to be the modern synagogue at San Luis Obispo, California (note the Torah Ark (cabinet holding the Torah scrolls) and the chair designs).
It was built to be the greenest synagogue in the world. It embodies the Jewish doctrine of tikkun olam, repairing the world, by using sustainable design and materials that have minimal or no environmental impact. If you'd like to read more about this interesting relilgious buiding project here's the link |
One popular pairing of the cello with another instrument is with the flute. On The Jet Whistle by Villa-Lobos John Mangum comments on the LA Phil website: Villa-Lobos composed Assobio a Jato (The Jet Whistle) in New York in 1950. The composer named his work to describe the technique he calls on the flutist to use during its last movement. |
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Carter Brey (b1954)
Two Tangos for Solo Cello (2013) 1 Tango para Ilaria 2 Study for Tango performed by Arlen Hlusko, cello at her 2015 Graduation Recital in the Field Concert Hall, Curtis Institute of Music, a private conservatory in Philadelphia Carter Brey is a member of the Faculty at Curtis. Since 1996 he has been principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic. 2 Study for Tango performed by Carter Brey, who says: This was composed as a followup to my Tango para Ilaria. It focuses more on the left hand and irregular rhythms. Like the first tango, it owes a lot stylistically to my contact with Astor Piazzolla in the 1980s. |
Here's an interesting little insight into the working life of Carter Brey, New York Philharmonic's Principal Cellist and Professor of Cello at Curtis Institute of Music. |
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Carlos Gardel was a French Argentinian singer, songwriter, composer and actor, born in Toulouse. He is known to have written over 300 songs.
Lyricist Alfredo Le Pera was an Argentinian, born in Brazil, son of Italian immigrants. Le Pera and Gardel died in an airplane crash in Medellín, Colombia, on Monday, June 24, 1935, along with several fellow musicians and business associates and the pilot. The lyrics of Por una Cabeza speak of a compulsive gambler who compares his addiction for horses with his attraction to women. The starting phrase in the B section may be inspired by Mozart's Rondo for violin and orchestra in C major, K373. The song was originally composed in A major. It was later adapted for the violin and the piano, sometimes in A major, sometimes in G major. Por Una Cabeza is featured in a famous tango scene in Martin Brest's film Scent of a Woman (1992), in the opening scene of Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List (1993) and in James Cameron's True Lies (1994). Nicola Benedetti performs an arrangement, without vocals, on her 2012 album The Silver Violin. |
Carlos Gardel (1890-1935) Lyrics: Alfredo le Pera (1900-1935) Por una Cabeza By a head (1935) performed by The 4Cellists Young Song • Claes Gunnarsson • Li-Wei Qin • Joel Marosi in Seoul, South Korea in 2014 |
Libertango - joins tango, and liberty, or freedom. Freedom from the traditional tango form, marking the move to the era of nuovo tango, new tango.
Like our opening tango, this recording reminds us of the expressive warmth of cello performance.
Like our opening tango, this recording reminds us of the expressive warmth of cello performance.
Producer: Peter Steadman |
Astor Piazzolla
Libertango (1974) performed by the 12 cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra cellists: Dávid Adorján • Andreas Grünkorn • Solène Kermarrec • Martin Menking • David Riniker • Dietmar Schwalke • Richard Duven • Christoph Igelbrink • Olaf Maninger • Ludwig Quandt • Nikolaus Römisch • Knut Weber recorded in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, 2008 |
We hope you have enjoyed your Cello Tango Concert Online
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