This one-day Zoom symposium explores the latest research in Piazzolla Studies, re-evaluating the legacy of Piazzolla's music and its evolving reception since his death in 1992. The proceedings unite some of the leading world experts currently working on the composer, with papers presented by Omar García Brunelli, Carlos Kuri, Leandro Martin and Bárbara Varassi Pega - all Argentine scholars. The day will conclude with a round-table discussion, chaired by Vera Wolkowicz from the University of Cambridge. Please note that the event is open to all, but all  sessions will be presented in Spanish.

​

1.00pm

Omar García Brunelli

Instituto Nacional de Musicología 'Carlos Vega', Argentina

Piazzolla in Europe: 'Camorra' and 'Le grand tango' as Culminations of his Nomadic Tango

 

Beginning with his first trip to Paris in 1954 to study with Nadia Boulanger, Piazzolla's experiences in Europe had a definitive impact on his music and  career. They provided the catalyst that would lead him to compose his chamber works and the bandoneon concerto of his latter years that he is now best known for in the concert hall. Europe took Piazzolla to a point of equilibrium between the poles of popular and classical music which had, alternately, previously been his main focus.

 

1.45pm

Carlos Kuri

Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina

The Style and Reception of Piazzolla's Music

​

This presentation will examine two key moments in the development of the 'listener' of Piazzolla's music: the formation of the Octeto Buenos Aires (1956) and the release of the album Astor Piazzolla Y Su Quinteto Nuevo Tango: Concierto De Tango En El Philharmonic Hall De Nueva York (1965). From these points of departure follows a development of perspectives on the aesthetics of reception, and a conceptualisation of style, as informed by Pierre Boulez.

 

2.30pm

Leandro Martin

Conservatorio Superior de Música de Canarias, Spain

Use of Texture in the Music of Astor Piazzolla

​

Piazzolla's innovative use of texture diversified the  tango and its subsequent legacy. Beginning with an analytical taxonomy of the various types of relationship between configurations of texture, as theorised by Daniel Belinche and Elena Larregle in Apuntes de Apreciación Musical, this paper deals with one of the most attractive syntactic aspects of Piazzolla's music in terms of understanding the evolution of the tango, and also one of those least studied by academics.

​

3.15pm

Break

​

4.15pm

Bárbara Varassi Pega

Codarts University for the Arts, Rotterdam, and Fontys University of Fine and Performing Arts, Tilburg, Netherlands

Adiós Nonino: the Iconic Piece by Astor Piazzolla

 

Adiós Nonino – which Piazzolla himself believed to be the best of all his works – has many typical features of the composer's unique musical language while maintaining some attributes of traditional tango. This presentation will unfold main aspects of the piece through an analysis of the 1969 recording for quintet and fragments of the score copied by José Bragato.

​

5.00pm

Round-Table Discussion

 

Vera Wolkowicz moderator

​

Organised by ILAMS as part of Echoes Festival 2021 in collaboration with the Instituto Cervantes, with the kind support of the Embassy of Argentina