Classical Music | Cello Music

Recorded on 06/22/2005, uploaded on 02/18/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Tango Etudes No. 3 & 4                  Astor  Piazzolla (transcribed for solo cello by W. Law)

About a year ago, I was asked by the American Creative Dance Company to come up with a few Tango pieces to collaborate with their Tango dancers. I came across these etudes and fell in love with them.  They were originally written for the flute, but I decided to transcribe them for the cello.   Having always loved Tango dancing myself, and having enjoyed playing Tango music, this collaboration was a real treat.

Astor Piazzolla (1921 - 1992) was an Argentine tango musician, bandoneon player, and composer. He is widely considered the most important tango musician of the second half of the Twentieth Century.  His nuevo tango was distinct from traditional tango in its incorporation of elements of jazz. As guidance to the performer, Piazzolla wrote of these etudes, "the performer should well exaggerate the accents and respirations, therefore inspiring of the way in which tangos are played on the bandoneon".   One wonders how to find "respiration" in the sounds of a cello.  The dancers later told me that they had been listening and dancing to the music breathe through the cello like a bandoneon.     Wendy Law

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.