Escualo

by Astor Piazzolla

arr. Andrew Dutch

Public Domain photo by Pupeto Mastropasqua.

Public Domain photo by Pupeto Mastropasqua.

The Composer

Astor Piazzolla (1921-1994) was a renowned composer, bandleader, and bandoneon prodigy. Born in Argentina, he immigrated to the United States in 1924. Returning to Buenos Aires in 1937, he performed concerts on his bandoneon and studied classical music with composer Ginastera. While travelling broadly throughout his life, he eventually settled in Paris in 1974 where several decades beforehand he had won a scholarship for a symphony composition that allowed him to study with Boulanger in 1954. He is most well known for revolutionizing and bringing about a rebirth of the tango genre later to be classified as ‘nuevo tango.’ His compositions were known to include fugue, extreme chromaticism, dissonance, elements of jazz and, at times, expanded instrumentation which were all met with heavy resistance from his compositional forbearers. However, this did not halt his success as, in total, he composed over 750 works ranging from symphonies to film scores to concerto for bandoneon. The first musicians to believe in the unqualified value of Piazzolla’s music and to include it in their recital programs were Daniel Barenboim, Gidon Kremer, the Kronos Quartet, Yo-Yo Ma and Mstislav Rostropovich, and now his music has an abundant presence in concert programs all around the world.

References:

Campagnolo, S. (2016, January). ESCUALO PIAZZOLLA, MOLINELLI & BACALOV GIAMPAOLO BANDINI GUITAR - CESARE CHIACCHIARETTA BANDONEON. Retrieved July 22, 2020, from http://www.aranjuezartists.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/PK-E_Escualo-Bandini-Chiacchiaretta.pdf

Eisen, Cliff. "Piazzolla, Astor." Grove Music Online. 2001. Oxford University Press. Date of access 22 Jul. 2020, <https://www-oxfordmusiconline-com.ezproxy2.library.colostate.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000045192>

The Piece

Escualo by Astor Piazzolla (Spanish for ‘shark’) is a tango originally written for solo violin. The piece was inspired by Piazzolla’s fishing trips on holidays in Punta del Este, Uruguay. He was known to get very excited when catching an escualo the colloquial term for a local species of shark. Commissioned for acclaimed violinist Fernando Suarez Paz in 1978 as a part of his quintet who already had experience in classical, jazz, tango genres (which all are a part of the piece’s intersectionality). Piazzolla demanded high level of performances and with his dry sense of humor, it is said that he put the music on the stand of Paz and exclaimed: “Let’s see if you can play this!” It is a very demanding piece, even more so on saxophone, and utilizes a fast candombe rhythm in 4/4 time (accents on the first, fourth and seventh 8th notes).

References:

Campagnolo, S. (2016, January). ESCUALO PIAZZOLLA, MOLINELLI & BACALOV GIAMPAOLO BANDINI GUITAR - CESARE CHIACCHIARETTA BANDONEON. Retrieved July 22, 2020, from http://www.aranjuezartists.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/PK-E_Escualo-Bandini-Chiacchiaretta.pdf

Siewers, M. I. (n.d.). Canciones de Cuna. Retrieved July 23, 2020, from http://www.moz.ac.at/user/siewers/notes/piazzolla_tango-eng.html