Astor Piazzolla

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Biography

Born: March 11, 1921; Mar Del Plata, Argentina   Died: July 5, 1992; Buenos Aires, Argentina  
"For me," Astor Piazzolla once said, "tango was always for the ear rather than the feet." Piazzolla expanded upon one of the great popular dance traditions of the Western Hemisphere, constantly crossing and recrossing the line between popular and classical music.

A tango master not of the barrooms but of the concert hall, Astor Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina in 1921. His family moved to New York's Read more Little Italy, and his musical education was shaped by American jazz and pop. But his father gave him a bandoneón, a large Argentine concertina, to keep the family's connection to Argentine culture alive, and he also studied classical music. In 1934, he recorded with the Argentine tango pioneer Carlos Gardel, who soon would be killed in a plane crash. Returning to Argentina, he played the bandoneón in a Buenos Aires tango orchestra from 1936 to 1944, but the world of classical music had made a deep impression on him. A chance meeting with the great pianist Artur Rubinstein brought him into contact with Alberto Ginastera, Argentina's leading composer, and that led to several years of classical study. Piazzolla's Sinfonia Buenos Aires gained international acclaim but was poorly received in the composer's home country.

In 1954, Piazzolla went to Paris for further classical studies with the most famous composition teacher of the time, Nadia Boulanger. However, the experience led him to reconnect with the tango; Boulanger, after hearing him play one of his tango pieces, told him to discard the rest of his compositions. Back in Argentina, Piazzolla created nuevo tango (new tango), which broke sharply with the genre's traditional sound, and once again antagonized tango's Argentine partisans (he was even beaten up on the street on one occasion). Abroad, however, Piazzolla's reputation began to spread. Often written for his Quinteto Tango Nuevo (formed in 1960), featuring violin, guitar, piano, bass, and bandoneón, Piazzolla's more than 750 tango compositions included complex harmonies drawn from the world of modern concert music. The 1968 stage work Maria de Buenos Aires, inspired by Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, finally won over tango traditionalists, and for the last two decades of his life Piazzolla was an Argentine hero. Internationally, his reputation with both popular and specialized audiences continued to grow; his compositions became part of the 1986 musical Tango Argentina and also attracted progressive musicians like the members of the Kronos Quartet, who recorded Piazzolla's Five Tango Sensations of 1989. He died in Buenos Aires on July 5, 1992.

Piazzolla reawakened interest in the tango, and the international exposure given his works touched off a series of tango films, stage productions, and recordings. The key to Piazzolla's popularity was that no matter how much he experimented with the musical materials of the tango, he never lost touch with its sensual yet despairing emotional essence. The popularity of Piazzolla's unique blend of tango, classical music, and jazz continued to grow after his death. Jazz musicians, such as guitarists Al di Meola and Charlie Byrd and the vibraphonist Gary Burton have used Piazzolla's music as a point of departure, and classical performers as well took to his music; at the end of the 1990s, recordings by the famed Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer showed that despite its association with the bandoneón, Piazzolla's music could be transferred to other instruments. At the turn of the century, Piazzolla's boundary-crossing music was continuing to gain listeners of all kinds. Read less

Featured Astor Piazzolla CDs & DVDs:

Piazzolla: Tango Ballet / Gidon Kremer, Astor Quartet
Piazzolla: Tango Ballet / Gidon Kremer, Astor Quartet
Release Date: 07/06/1999   Label: Teldec  
Catalog: 22661   Number of Discs: 1
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Piazzolla: Tangos Arranged For Saxophone And Orchestra
Piazzolla: Tangos Arranged For Saxophone And Orchestra
Release Date: 08/03/1999   Label: Delos  
Catalog: 3252   Number of Discs: 1
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Piazzolla: Maria De Buenos Aires / Kremer, Zenko, Et Al
Piazzolla: Maria De Buenos Aires / Kremer, Zenko, Et Al
Release Date: 09/29/1998   Label: Teldec  
Catalog: 20632   Number of Discs: 2
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The Soul Of Tango - Bakalov, Piazzolla / Ben-dor, Et Al
The Soul Of Tango - Bakalov, Piazzolla / Ben-dor, Et Al
Release Date: 04/05/2005   Label: Delos  
Catalog: 3345   Number of Discs: 1
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Sensations - Music Of Piazzolla / Draugsvoll, Geringas
Sensations - Music Of Piazzolla / Draugsvoll, Geringas
Release Date: 06/07/2005   Label: Delos  
Catalog: 3349   Number of Discs: 1
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Work: La muerte del Angel

Browse 26-50 of 80 Available Recordings
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  • 26.
    Expressia: Tangos & Fantasies / Cadence Ensemble
    Expressia: Tangos & Fantasies / Cadence Ensemble
    Label: Signum U.k.   Catalog: 140 Release Date: 07/28/2009   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Astor Piazzolla,  Carlos Gardel,  Narine Zarifyan,  Hector Stamponi  ... 
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Cadence Ensemble
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  • 27.
    Jokes / Quintetto Bislacco
    Jokes / Quintetto Bislacco
    Label: Stradivarius   Catalog: 57909 Release Date: 07/14/2009   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Johann Strauss Jr.,  Astor Piazzolla,  Bernardo Stalman,  Traditional  ... 
    Performer:  Duilio Galfetti,  Gustavo Fioravanti,  Enrico Fagone,  Marco Radaelli  ... 
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Quintetto Bislacco
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  • 28.
    The Piazzolla Project / Artemis Quartet
    The Piazzolla Project / Artemis Quartet
    Label: Virgin Classics   Catalog: 67292 Release Date: 06/30/2009   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Astor Piazzolla
    Performer:  Jacques Ammon
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Artemis String Quartet
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  • 29.
    Asturias: The Spirit Of Spain
    Asturias: The Spirit Of Spain
    Label: Abc Classics   Catalog: 4763389 Release Date: 05/01/2009   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Manuel de Falla,  Joaquin Turina,  Astor Piazzolla,  Celso Machado  ... 
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Guitar Trek
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  • 30.
    Tango Nuevo - Piazzolla, Duran, Ginastera / Gryphon Trio
    Tango Nuevo - Piazzolla, Duran, Ginastera / Gryphon Trio
    Label: Analekta   Catalog: 29857 Release Date: 01/13/2009   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Astor Piazzolla,  Hilario Durán,  Alberto Ginastera
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Gryphon Trio
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  • 31.
    Tango! - Astor Piazzolla / Jan Vogler
    Tango! - Astor Piazzolla / Jan Vogler
    Label: Sony   Catalog: 732803 Release Date: 11/11/2008   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Astor Piazzolla
    Performer:  Nicholas Cords,  Mira Wang,  Jan Vogler,  Vanessa Perez  ... 
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  • 32.
    Piazzolla: La Muerte Del Ángel; Turina, Tansman, Surinach / Ames Piano Quartet
    Piazzolla: La Muerte Del Ángel; Turina, Tansman, Surinach / Ames Piano Quartet
    Label: Albany Records   Catalog: 1052 Release Date: 10/14/2008   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Joaquin Turina,  Alexandre Tansman,  Carlos Surinach,  Astor Piazzolla
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Ames Piano Quartet
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  • 33.
    Tango Nuevo / Craig Ogden
    Tango Nuevo / Craig Ogden
    Label: Chandos   Catalog: 9674 Release Date: 07/14/2008   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Roland Dyens,  Gerald Garcia,  Nikita Koshkin,  Jorge Morel  ... 
    Performer:  Craig Ogden
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  • 34.
    Best Guitar 100
    Best Guitar 100
    Label: Emi Classics   Catalog: 15241 Release Date: 06/24/2008   Number of Discs: 6
    Composer:  Michael Praetorius,  Joaquin Rodrigo,  Manuel de Falla,  Enrique Granados  ... 
    Performer:  Christopher Parkening,  Ernesto Bitetti,  Manuel Barrueco,  Dario Rossetti-Bonell  ... 
    Conductor:  Antoni Ros Marbà,  Jeremy Lubbock,  Elmer Bernstein,  Simon Rattle  ... 
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Philharmonia Orchestra,  London Symphony Orchestra,  City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra members  ... 
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  • 35.
    Piazzolla: Milonga Del Angel, Etc; Corea, Gismonti, Etc / Marzi, Et Al
    Piazzolla: Milonga Del Angel, Etc; Corea, Gismonti, Etc / Marzi, Et Al
    Label: Stradivarius   Catalog: 57906 Release Date: 05/13/2008   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Egberto Gismonti,  Chick Corea,  Simone Zanchini,  Hermeto Pascoal  ... 
    Performer:  Simone Zanchini,  Mario Marzi,  Paolo Zannini,  Matteo Scaioli
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  • 36.
    Viveza... In Concert
    Label: Viveza   Catalog: 70513 Release Date: 04/01/2008   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Anne Dudley,  Sir Edward Elgar,  Antonín Dvorák,  Johannes Brahms  ... 
    Performer:  Salvador Ferreras,  Rosemarie Landry
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Viveza
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  • 37.
    Guitar Classics From Latin America / Marcelo Kayath
    Guitar Classics From Latin America / Marcelo Kayath
    Label: Regis   Catalog: 1149 Release Date: 03/25/2008   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Astor Piazzolla,  Heitor Villa-Lobos,  Agustín Barrios Mangoré,  Antonio Lauro  ... 
    Performer:  Marcelo Kayath
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  • 38.
    Tango Sensations / Manuel Barrueco, Cuarteto Latinoamericano
    Tango Sensations / Manuel Barrueco, Cuarteto Latinoamericano
    Label: Tonar Music   Catalog: 186568 Release Date: 03/11/2008   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Astor Piazzolla,  Carlos Guastavino
    Performer:  Manuel Barrueco
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Cuarteto Latinoamericano
    CD: $26.99
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  • 39.
    From Mozart To Piazzolla / The Votapeks
    From Mozart To Piazzolla / The Votapeks
    Label: Blue Griffin   Catalog: 157 Release Date: 03/04/2008   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,  Franz Schubert,  Claude Debussy,  Astor Piazzolla
    Performer:  Ralph Votapek,  Albertine Votapek
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  The Votapeks
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  • 40.
    Astor Piazzolla: Tangos Y Canciones
    Astor Piazzolla: Tangos Y Canciones
    Label: Genuin Musikproduction   Catalog: 88110 Release Date: 01/01/2008   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Astor Piazzolla
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  • 41.
    Tangon / Dobal, Hiltula, Aurelia Saxophone Quartet
    Tangon / Dobal, Hiltula, Aurelia Saxophone Quartet
    Label: Challenge   Catalog: 72173 Release Date: 06/12/2007   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Astor Piazzolla
    Performer:  Juan Pablo Dobal,  Juan Pablo Hiltula
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Aurelia Saxophone Quartet
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  • 42.
    Santa Fe Guitar Quartet - Journeys
    Santa Fe Guitar Quartet - Journeys
    Label: Eroica Classical Recordings   Catalog: 3188 Release Date: 01/01/2007   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Johann Sebastian Bach,  Isaac Albeniz,  Will Ayton,  Aaron Copland  ... 
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Santa Fe Guitar Quartet
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  • 43.
    Piazzolla - Les Violons Du Roy, Jean-Marie Zeitouni
    Piazzolla - Les Violons Du Roy, Jean-Marie Zeitouni
    Label: Atma Classique   Catalog: 22399 Release Date: 12/26/2006   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Astor Piazzolla,  José Bragato
    Performer:  Michelle Seto,  Pascale Giguère,  Benoit Loiselle
    Conductor:  Jean-Marie Zeitouni
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Les Violons du Roy
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  • 44.
    Timeless Tango / Alfredo Marcucci, Ensemble Piacevole
    Timeless Tango / Alfredo Marcucci, Ensemble Piacevole
    Label: Channel Classics   Catalog: 6008 Release Date: 10/10/2006   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Astor Piazzolla,  Carlos Marcucci,  Julio De Caro,  Dirk Brossé  ... 
    Performer:  Alfredo Marcucci
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Ensemble Piacevole
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  • 45.
    Piazzolla / Zeitouni, Les Violons Du Roy
    Piazzolla / Zeitouni, Les Violons Du Roy
    Label: Atma Classique   Catalog: 2382 Release Date: 10/01/2006   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Astor Piazzolla,  José Bragato
    Conductor:  Jean-Marie Zeitouni
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Les Violons du Roy
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  • 46.
    Esencia: Cello In The Pampas And The Caribbean
    Esencia: Cello In The Pampas And The Caribbean
    Label: Klavier Records   Catalog: 11143 Release Date: 08/08/2006   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Ernesto Lecuona,  Alberto Ginastera,  Emilio Colon,  Juan Morel Campos  ... 
    Performer:  Emilio Colon,  Nariaki Sugiura
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  • 47.
    Piazzolla: Tiempo Del Angel / Astoria
    Piazzolla: Tiempo Del Angel / Astoria
    Label: Fuga Libera   Catalog: 603 Release Date: 07/25/2006   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Astor Piazzolla
    Performer:  Christophe Delporte
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Astoria Ensemble
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  • 48.
    Angel Dances / 12 Cellists Of Berlin Philharmonic
    Angel Dances / 12 Cellists Of Berlin Philharmonic
    Label: Emi Classics   Catalog: 57030 Release Date: 07/18/2006   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Astor Piazzolla,  Volker Schlott,  Giacomo Carissimi,  Claude Debussy  ... 
    Performer:  David Delacroix,  Hans-Dieter Lorenz,  Jocelyn B. Smith,  Franz Schindelbeck  ... 
    Conductor:  Simon Halsey
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Twelve Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic,  Berlin Radio Chorus members
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  • 49.
    Sones Y Danzones - Brouwer, Albeniz, Et Al / Trio Arbos
    Sones Y Danzones - Brouwer, Albeniz, Et Al / Trio Arbos
    Label: Ensayo   Catalog: 9821 Release Date: 04/25/2006   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Enrique Fernández Arbós,  Luis Gianneo,  Astor Piazzolla,  Isaac Albeniz  ... 
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Trio Arbós
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  • 50.
    Century Vol 20 - Music Of Today
    Century Vol 20 - Music Of Today
    Label: Harmonia Mundi   Catalog: 2908182 Release Date: 02/14/2006   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Maurice Ohana,  György Ligeti,  Pierre Boulez,  Luciano Berio  ... 
    Performer:  Marie-Josèphe Jude,  Lawrence Power,  Philippe Bernold,  Alexandre Tharaud  ... 
    Conductor:  Luciano Berio,  Josep Pons,  Kent Nagano,  Paul Hillier  ... 
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Musique Vivante Ensemble,  Chorale Experimentale,  Barcelona Teatre Lliure Chamber Orchestra  ... 
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