Day 27 - “INTENTIONAL” Review

Hey! 1 Video today, plus two re-linked PDF’s

Downloads:
Fresh copies of two pages you already have:

DETAILED PRACTICE CHECKLIST
crisp self-evaluation

Today’s Recommended Listening:

Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)
The Grand Tango for Cello & Piano

(Cello & Piano Collaboration)

Carter Brey, cello & Christopher O’Riley, piano
[Spotify] - 11 minutes

The Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla grew up playing the Bandoneon (think Accordion). He traveled to Paris to study composition with Nadia Boulanger at Paris Conservatoire. Nadia was the most important composition teacher of the century - and perhaps of all time - teaching everyone from Aaron Copland to Elliot Carter and Philip Glass.

What was remarkable about Boulanger is that she knew how to cultivate whatever natural talent and inclination the student had, rather than mass-produce the same type of composition student. That’s exceptionally rare, and she did it for 50+ years [ps - she was the first woman to conduct NY Phil].

What matters about Boulanger is that when Piazzolla went to study with her, he was trying to compose typical intellectual European Classical-with-a-capital-C Music. She found out he played Bandoneon and asked him to play for her one day. As the story goes, he shyly played it, embarrassed that it wasn’t the style he expected her to want, but rather common-folk Argentinian music like tangos. She was apparently stunned and said that he needed to compose that style because he was so talented at it.

And so it is to Nadia’s encouragement that we owe the remarkable output of Astor Piazzolla, with his amazing works like the Grand Tango (which is a three-movement cello sonata in disguise) and hundreds of amazing tangos and moody-broody-sweaty-music-to-dance-to works.

This particular recording is a fun one. I have actually seen Carter Brey (principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic) and Christopher O’Riley play this, live in Cleveland ~20 years ago. If I recall a myth about Carter Brey, he apparently played on a terrible rental cello until he was 16 and it is because he had to figure out how to make a good sound on a terrible cello that he thinks he became such a good player. 

Christopher O’Riley is a great classical pianist but he is also singularly responsible for getting me obsessed with Radiohead - I had purchased Hail To The Thief in high school but never really “got it.” After seeing Carter & Christopher perform, I bought Christopher’s album of Radiohead covers and I started listening to Radiohead differently. Still obsessed to this day.

What to explore next:

    1. Piazzola - Oblivion
      [Carducci String Quartet arr. for quartet]

    2. Piazzola - Libertango
      [Yo-Yo Ma’s full album of Piazzolla music]

    3. Christopher O’Riley - Everything in its Right Place
      [Radiohead cover - then compare to original song]

See you tomorrow!
—Eric