Astor and Nadia

When he left for Paris, Piazzolla was resentful of his past as a tango musician.

He aspired to become something better. He wanted to be a composer of music for the concert hall. Symphonies, concertos, etc.

A “respected” composer.

But, he was in for a surprise.

His new teacher in Paris was none other than the most important teacher of the 20th century: Nadia Boulanger.

After their first meeting, Piazzolla handed his compositions over to Boulanger who took them and studied them for a few days.

She found his music to be skilfully written, but lacking originality. She couldn´t find Astor´s personality and didn´t quite know what to make of it.

In a later meeting at her home, Boulanger asked him: “Astor, what music did you play back home? What instrument do you play?”

He was ashamed but had to admit it: he was nothing more than a tango man.

“Ah, I love tango music”, said Boulanger.

Piazzolla was puzzled, and probably amazed.

After she insisted, he sat at the piano and played one of his tangos.

Nadia immediately told him: “This is the real Astor. Do not ever leave him.”

Piazzolla received many great lessons from Boulanger and became an even more skilled composer. But probably the greatest lesson in his life was that one.

Thanks to this, he created a new style of music. One that combined his origins, tango, with his Classical and other influences. He is nowadays one of the most widely performed composers around the world.

Today, I´d like to share with you an older video of mine but that I particularly like. In it, I´m performing my own piano arrangement of Piazzolla´s Tango Ballet, a fantastic masterpiece that brilliantly merges both worlds: Tango and Classical.

See the performance by clicking here.

Enjoy, and have a great day.

Claudio.