While many aficionados of traditional tango music-especially in Piazzolla’s native country, Argentina-are less than thrilled with his approach, he has garnered an enthusiastic following around the world with audiences and a variety of professional musicians. Ravel did something like that in his La valse, but that was just once. That would be personal, indeed! Yet, Piazzolla with his more than one thousand compositions has achieved something like that. Just one genre subjected to almost every new cutting edge technique. His achievement might be compared to a hypothetical situation wherein Stravinsky decided to base all of his compositions-with all of his modernist, challenging elements-on a transformed Viennese waltz. Jazz, Stravinsky, Bartók, dissonance, counterpoint, ubiquitous chromaticism, and varied orchestration-they all are incorporated into Piazzolla’s musical take on the tango. Single handedly he created a musical genre and style that began with the traditional elements of the Argentine tango, but was infused with so much of advanced twentieth century “classical” techniques, that the result almost obscures its popular roots.
The music of Astor Piazzolla is just that. But few arrive at a style so personal and so reflective of a unique vision that, while nonetheless achieving great international popularity, it is strictly sui generis. Every artist aspires to develop a personal voice, and every good artist eventually does so.
0 kommentar(er)
