The Malta Independent on Sunday
Piazzolla: more than men in slicked-back hair dancing the tango
October is brimful of activities, parties, launches of new menus, embassy receptions and so much more. The weather is slightly cooler and that which has not taken place during the summer lull is crowded into October.
I regret to say that I missed several occasions, such as the Strauss duet evening at the Manoel because there is a limit as to how much one can socialise. Apart from the fact that some events clash the hum drum of life cannot be completely ignored as it then catches up with us.
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Diablo y Angel: homage to Astor Piazzolla by Tango Nuevo Quintet featuring Moveo Dance Company took place at the Robert Sammut Hall in Floriana and I vowed not to miss that, too.
I like this venue as it is intimate and parking is relatively easy.
The executive producer of the concert was Toni Attard of Culture Venture and the production coordinator, Elaine Falzon.
The concert programme had decent notes not only about the composer but also about the music being played that evening and each musician. Even if one does not often have time to read these notes before the concert starts many of us read them afterwards.
It was evident from the start that the musicians were enjoying making music together.
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The Tango Nuevo Quintet is made up of Fiorella Camilleri on the flute, Joe Debono on the piano, Giancarlo Palena on the accordion and bandoneon, Karl Galea on the guitar and Marco Agnetti on the double bass.
The dancers that evening were Dorian Mallia and Elena Bickle from the
Moveo Dance Company.
Both the dancers and musicians were full-bloodied and entirely involved. They are a most capable crew and coped with their parts with aplomb.
I looked at their CVs in the programme afterwards and was most impressed with their achievements – so much in so short a time.
The dancers, especially Elena Bickle, had a sense of carnality which is so essential in tango.
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I have to say that all I wanted to hear was Libertango and the likes of it again and again and again. And the hauntingly atmospheric music of Oblivion which was used in the soundtrack of Mario Bellocchio’s film Enricho IV.
No, it wasn’t tangos all the way, which I found disappointing at first but then enjoyed discovering music I had not come across before.
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The programme took off with Los Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas – a homage to the four seasons and to Buenos Aires. This was followed by Michelangelo ‘70, the name of a Buenos Aires café where Piazzolla’s quintet performed in the ‘70s.
Milonga del Ángel is one of his five milongas. It is soothing, melancholic with deep undercurrents.
I can’t say it is the kind of music I seek out but there is definitely Piazzolla in there.
It has none of the swooning romanticism which is often present in Piazzolla’s music but each and every piece has ‘soul’.
The Milonga was followed by La Muerte del Ángel, Romance del Diablo and last Concerto for Quintet.
I love the bandoneon, indeed as I do the accordion (so Piaf!) hence I particularly enjoyed the Concerto for Quintet.
As encore the musicians played Libertango, to my delight and I believe that of the rest of the audience. There is nothing like the familiar and to me this is the Piazzolla that I know.
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“My music has all the primitive tango, from the bordellos until today,” Piazzolla said in an interview taped before his death in 1992. And yes, in almost every piece of music we heard that evening the tango, Piazzolla were present.
Piazzolla manages to combine and intertwine nostalgia, melancholia, sorrow and yearning in his music thus expressing not only his emotions but also ours.
This was a vigorous performance in every way paying a grand tribute to a great master.
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To think that it all started because his father bought him a bandoneon, the principal instrument of the tango, from a junk shop when he was not yet a teenager.
Piazzolla had talent, was prepared to experiment, worked hard and produced a successful synthesis of the tango and contemporary music. Mind you, he is said to have been a very selfish man at the same time.
He also had the foresight to go and study composition in Paris with the legendary Nadia Boulanger among others.
Now he has become part of the global soundtrack, his music is played in concert halls the world over and used in films. What an achievement.
If I were asked for a comment about the evening I would give them all ‘summa cum laude’ using the mileau of Virgil and the like, of which I know nothing except the Mass in Latin which is now rarely in use.