Young Piazzolla: musical diversity that created the genius

Astor Piazzolla is still the best known composer of Argentine tango in the world. He achieved this position partially by talent, partially by hard work and partially by good fortune of being exposed to the wide diversity of music from his childhood.

I am greatly in debt to Le Grand Tango: The Life and Music of Astor Piazzolla by Maria Susana Azzi and late Simon Collier. It is the only extensive biography of Piazzolla available in English. I highly recommend it to everybody who wants to know about the history of tango music. Well written and informative.

In essence, these two shows are the soundtracks to the first several chapters of this book.

A little note about the wooden sculpture of a gaucho given by Vincente Piazzolla to Carlos Gardel: the story has a strange ending. Listen to Piazzolla telling it himself.

Ginastera's milonga El árbol del olvido hauntingly performed by Daniel Binelli and Polly Ferman is the superb addition to any serious music collection. There is another version with Argentine opera tenor Jose Cura on album Anhelo: Argentinian Songs , which I love too.

For the origins of all the pieces used in those audios see the Playlists below.

Interesting albums: Roberto di Filippo's Intimo is hard to find (see the YouTube clip with him below), but here are two albums with the early Piazzolla's recordings (before and after studying in Paris in 1954-55):

Playlists

Track 1:

Carlos Gardel - Arrabal Amargo
Juanjo Dominguez - Rubias de New York [background] - Corazon Guitarrero
Juanjo Dominguez - El día que me quieras [background] Corazon Guitarrero
Carlos Gardel - El dia que me queiras
Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Neville Marriner - 25, Allegro con brio [fragment] - Mozart Symphonies 21 - 25
Jascha Heifetz Bach - Partita No- 3 – Prelude [background] - Heifetz Violin Greatest Hits
Hugo Diaz - Tocata y Fuga en Do Mayor - Tango Argentino - Baroque Classics
George Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue [fragment] - Rhapsody In Blue First Recording 1924 From Rare Piano Rolls
Annibal Troilo - El Chupete - Obra completa en RCA vol 2
Annibal Troilo - Un placer [background] Obra completa en RCA vol 2
Carlos Prieto, Edison Quintana - Triste [background] - Le Grand Tango
Daniel Binelli, Polly Ferman - El arbol del olvido - Imagenes Argentina and Uruguay

Track 2:

Aníbal Troilo con Francisco Fiorentino - Ficha De Oro
Aníbal Troilo - Chique [background]
Annibal Troilo - Quejas de bandoneon [fragment] - Tango Lesson soundtrack
Astor Piazzolla - Quejas de bandoneon - Se armó- Piazzolla y su orquesta típica (1946-1948)
Roberto di Fillippo - Corazon de oro - Intimo
Robert Craft (conductor) with London Philharmonic Orchestra - The Rite of Spring (Le sacre du printemps) Part I (Adoration of the Earth) The Augurs of Spring - Dances of the Young Girls [fragment] - STRAVINSKY: Vol III (Robert Craft Collection)
English Chamber Orchestra - Modere / Three Pieces for cello and piano [by Nadia Bouranger, background] - Shulamit Ran: Three Fantasy Movements; Nadia Boulanger: Three Pieces for cello and piano
Astor Piazzolla - Triunfal - Otros tiempos y otros hombres
Gerry Mulligan - Bark for Barksdale [fragment] - Immortal Concerts, Paris 1954
Astor Piazzolla - Marrón y azul - Buenos Aires Octet
Astor Piazzolla & Gerry Mulligan - Deus Xango [fragment] - Summit (Reunión Cumbre)

Links

Piazzolla's discography by Natalio Gorin