Astor Piazzolla’s Primavera Porteña

My favorite composer and musician of the modern era is Astor Piazzolla — I’m in love with anything and everything he writes, especially his Quintet pieces. The Quintet is made up of bandoneon, violin, piano, electric guitar, and double bass.

Piazzolla’s work is a seamless combines tango, jazz, and classical music. At times, its a carefully crafted fugue (@0:00 — its the Bandoneon, who passes the theme to the Guitar, who then passes the it to the Violin). At other times, its improvisational jazz (The Bandoneon cadenza @4:18).

Listen to @3:16, where Piazzolla dictates the jarring chords his quintet lands on the down beat (I like to imagine Piazzolla as the quarterback making the play call). Then @3:22, Piazzolla restates the main theme, while the guitarist plays some insane runs all over the place (note: every instrument in the quintet is doing something completely different at this point). Then listen to the cathartic chords at 3:47.

Here’s a live recording of the piece. I love the studio and live recording for both… I think the live recording captures more of the spirit and raw energy of Piazzolla’s tango.