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To
describe Astor Piazzolla as a twentieth-century baroque figure may at first
appear rather daring and little more than a far-fetched analogy. Yet, even
taking into account all the different cultural, geographical and historical
factors, certain parallels stand out. He wrote an enormous number of compositions
(more than three hundred tangos and around fifty soundtracks during the
last ten years of his life alone); innumerable arrangements have been made
of his music by himself and others, for every conceivable ensemble. In
addition, he refused to make any distinction between 'serious' and 'popular'
music. Last but not least, he was continually making new interpretations
of his own works. In all these respects his attitude to his own work was
very similar to that of the old masters to own creations : they too adapted
their music without a qualm to suit different situations and requirements,
continually unfolding their creative lives afresh as the occasion demanded.
A further
important event for the development of the tango Nuevo was the contract
signed between Astor Piazzolla and the poet Horacio Ferrer in 1967, the
exclusive stipulations of which are very reminiscent of other artistic
partnerships in previous centuries. Ferrer committed himself to write exclusively
for Piazzolla for five years while Piazzolla, for his part, agreed to set
only texts by Ferrer. This declaration of intent took concrete form with
the libretto for an 'operita' called Maria de Buenos Aires, premiered in
1968 with the singer Amelita Baltar in the title role. In the years that
followed, a whole series of so-called tango-canciones (i.e. tango-song)
were written. These may have been a thorn in the flesh of the traditionalists,
but they appealed all the more to the public at large, above all in Latin
America.
The
Piazzolla-Ferrer collaboration was all the more successful because in Amelita
Baltar they had from the start a congenial interpreter of their songs.
Amelita Baltar was born in Buenos Aires on 24 September 1940, and initially
studied the guitar, but after 1962 devoted herself to singing. At first
she was a member of a quintet specialising in Argentine folksong, but left
it in 1966 to concentrate on a solo career which would soon make her a
star.
In
1969, at the first Buenos Aires Song Festival, Amelita Baltar presented
the first of Piazzolla and Ferrer's tango-canciones, The Balada para un
loco ('Ballad for a madman'), which immediately became a top hit. The composer
and his interpreter were to become an inseparable musical team for many
years. When, for example, the oratorio El pueblo joven, written in 1970,
was premiered in Saarbrücken during Astor Piazzolla's first Italian
tour with his newly-founded ensemble Conjunto nueve, it went without saying
that Amelita Baltar was among the performers.
In
1975 Astor Piazzolla undertook a tour which began in Sao Paulo and earned
enthusiastic notices, not only for him but also for the new interpreter
of his songs. Jose Angel Trelles had already been acclaimed as the best
performer at the Argentinian song festival 'Caniorema" in 1970. He went
on to make his first recordings and now achieved real stardom. The Brazilian
critic Walter Silva, for example, did not hesitate to compare him to Frank
Sinatra and Tony Bennet. 'Jose Angel Trelles has an extremely well articulated
baritone voice at his disposal', he wrote. Reactions were similar throughout
Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay-and Argentina too.
In
November 1975, Trelles and Piazzolla performed in the Café Chantant"
the tango-song "Las Ciudades", where day after day they had to repeat their
unsurpassable versions of "Pajaros perdidos", "Balada para mi muerte" and
other titles by popular request.
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