Libertango

CD1

1. Verano Porteno
2. Lunfardo
3. Decarissimo
4. Milonga Del Angel
5. Muerte Del Angel
6. Resurreccion Del Angel
7. Adios Nonino

CD2

1. Tristezas De Un Doble A
2. Escualo
3. Mumuki
4. Contrabajissimo
5. Libertango
6. Chin Chin

Undoubtedly, the Quintet was the instrumental setting with which Astor Piazzolla was able to build up his strongest aesthetic identity. As Pierre Boulez used to say, “There is a temptation, in the Western world, to think of the height of notes in abstract, without relating it to the sound matter each instrument requires”. Piazzolla contradicts that idea. Most of his works are inconceivable not only without bandoneón, but also without his singular treatment of the other instruments of the Quintet: double bass, piano, violin and electric guitar.

It is precisely with this formation that, in 1960, he produced an overwhelming number of works and gave them a new compositional feaure. It is with the Quintet that he premiered his signature theme “Adiós Nonino“, which was written in October of 1959, With it, he gradually designed his Estaciones porteñas, his Serie del Diablo and the “Milonga“,“Muerte“ and “Resurrección  del Angel“, which are highlights of Piazzollean composition. He also achieved, with the Quintet, a compositional synthesis between the canyengue (suburban, primitive, tango style) and the academic forms, as it happened in “Camorra I’ and “Contabajíssimo ». In the Quintet, instruments seem to expose their bodies. There is something visceral in the sound Piazzolla extracts from the violin and the double bass. The bass is a walking one, with a rough and somber pace, producing a wild vertigo with the glissando and a breathless ostinato. Piazzolla’s music cannot be untied from the instrumental score. For bandoneón, it is not only the performance criterion that matters – also the compositional style and the emphasis he puts on the performer. The Quintet, in that regard, is not only a selection of timbres and harmonic possibilities, but a choice of musicians.

In 1970, Piazzolla disbanded the Quintet with which he had been playing, on an off, since 1960. (There was to be only one reunion, in a 1973 concert, and its recording has been re-issued by this label). The magnificent Conjunto 9 of 1971-72 was followed by a European sojourn, with an orchestral design that responded more to the international demands and had a closer approach to the electric sounds of rock and jazz in those days. We cannot ascertain how much his return was influenced by a well-known opinion expressed by somebody in France: “The world is full of electric guitars, basses, synthesizers and organs, but in acoustic instruments you are one of the best. Go back to the Quintet“. But the truth is that the Quintet, more than a strategic return, was an aesthetic need. Within this context he could go back to a more complete harmonic and contrapuntal work and feel free in matters of tonality. ‘In this series of records we find one of the best examples in a version of “Tristezas de un doble A”).

It is possible to call this his second Quintet. Except for the electric guitar, the musicians are not the same as in the 1960’s group, and we should note that the sound and the performances are neither those of that decade. In June of 1978, Piazzolla hired Fernando Suárez Paz, Pablo Ziegler, Héctor Console and, again, Oscar López Ruiz.

The repertoire encompasses works of the 1960’s (“Venaro Porteño”, “Lunfardio”, ”Decarísimo », the Angel series, « Adiós Nonino ») and new compositions written or arranged specially for this new Quintet (”Escualo”, “Tristezas de un Doble A”, “Mumuki”, “Contrabajísimo”, ”Libertango”, ”Chin Chin”).

This latest stage features a greater emphasis on improvisation and, as we mentioned above, a looser use of atonality. It was all probably due to a decisive factor – the large number of concerts and world tours, which had made the group a more cohesive ensemble. It reached an unusual accuracy, it became an impeccably oiled gear that, little by little, absorbed all musicians into Piazzolla’s style. As in this case – a recording made when the Quintet had been active for more than six years – it is telling that most of the records were precisely of live concerts.

This concert, during the summer of 1984 in the South Atlantic resort of Mar del Plata, has some remarkable features that make it stand alone, well beyond the anecdote of having taken place in Astor Piazzolla’s hometown. First, it was the premiere of “Contrabajíssimo”, which can be taken almost as a reference documentation of this work, since it helps to make comparisons with subsequent compositional changes Piazzolla introduced to accent the rhythms, and with the slowed-down, definitive later versions.

On the other hand, the growing improvisation on some themes makes these versions of ”Tristezas de un doble A” and ”Chin Chin” unique. In the former, the variations derived from the motif of the song are remarkable in the bandoneón solo, as is the play of interfacing fragments between the instruments. In the latter, ”Chin Chin”, pianist Pablo Ziegler handles the tune extending it in an arbitrary fashion – an unexpected development that leads to improvisation. He forcefully afvances Piazzollean motifs and then suddenly introduced brief appeasements, as if he were thinking with his fingers. (That may well be the essence of improvisation – to think with your fingers).

Finally, we should note the infrequent inclusion in the program of one of his most accomplished works, ”Resurrección del Angel”, which was originally included in the 1965 record titled ”Piazzolla en el Philharmonic Hall de Nueva York”, which was dedicated to his mentors, Alberto Ginastera and Nadia Boulanger, and to the city of Buenos Aires.

Piazzolla’s mark in Europe and the United States was made mainly with the performances of this Quintet. In contrast with the metric monotony and dry rhythms that seem to characterize global music these days, Piazzolla offers a formidable discrepancy with his rallentandos and accelerandos.

In the 1980s, Piazzolla’s Quintet was the solitary symbol of a singular aesthetics, a beautiful and superb gesture of disdain for musical internationalism.