[Tango-L] Transition of Tango Music

[Gregory]

Hello All,


	As a dedicated musician and dancer, I worry about the future of Tango – the
music and the dance.  This is why I first posted my thoughts on Tango as a
polyphonic form, comparable to Baroque music.

   	Polyphonic music is not just counterpointed. It is the whole philosophy
of structure ,phrasing, chord progression, accentuation, voice-leading, the
placement of an adornment (“melisma”), the style of playing, etc.  I used
the term polyphonic because it was the closest word I could find to describe
the style of Argentine tango.  Of course, not all tango has counterpointed
melody. By the way, not all of J.S. Bach’s and Handel’s compositions are
counterpointed, but when we think about baroque music and the polyphony, we
think about Bach and Handel.  Mozart composed amazing fugues, but for
musicians Mozart is a classical composer and not an example of polyphony.
The same is true for Beethoven, Shostakovich, Schnittke, Freidlin, Lerich,
and others.  The great romantic Felix Mendlessohn, during the Romantic Era,
composed preludes and fugues inspired by Bach’s music.  One of my music
theory teachers said that if you hear music that sounds like Bach, but you
have a feeling it’s not Bach – genius music but different phrasing, harmony,
adornments, and so on - it’s Mendlessohn.  Why?  Because it’s not the
Baroque Era anymore.  The Baroque period expired with Bach and Handel.

	In music history, the style changes when it reaches its climax, the highest
level of the composition and performance.  After Bach and Handel, who could
do better?  Composers decided, “we will never get to this level; let’s do
something different.” And after a few decades of transition, the Classical
Period began.  By the way, the romantic and simple sounds of sonatas by
Domenico Scarlatti will always be an example of counterpointed Baroque music
while the very complex sonatas by Mozart are an example of Classical, not
counterpointed music.

   	In my personal vision, the period of Tango music is already gone.
Pugliese, with his orchestral arrangements, Salgan, Piazzolla with his
virtuoso bandoneon and the complexity of his works finished the century of
traditional Tango music.  Now it’s in a transitional period.  Some may call
it a degradation of Tango music; I prefer think of it as transitional.

	Another question that is often raised – why can’t anyone compose now like
these classic Tango composers (Piazzolla, Pugliese, etc.) did and why can’t
Tango music maintain its integrity and its top-level of composition?

	I love to play Piazzolla and to dance to his music.  I asked one of the
most important contemporary composers and good friend of mine, Jan Freidlin
to contribute his talent to Tango music.  (I was the first guitarist to
perform his guitar compositions). I expected something in Piazzolla’s style.
He composed and dedicated to me his Tango suite.  The music is totally
different from traditional TANGO, or Piazzolla’s music, and I think I know
why. Such a high-caliber composer is not interested in imitating any other
composer.  He wrote his own vision of the Tango style. I am going to use
this music in a new Tango show that is being produced in Denver. I respect
all efforts to keep this music alive by the creation of new compositions.

	I also like and respect the music of Libedinsky, Gotan, and other neo-tango
composers.  It’s not so easy to come up with something as interesting and as
genius as Piazzolla, Pugliese, Troilo, Corbian, Mores, etc.

	Just one more example of the connection between Baroque music and Tango
music and dancing - Baroque music leaves you some space to improvise and to
add adornments (“melismas,” in music).  When we dance to traditional Tango
music we interpret trills, mordent, gruppeto, forshlag, etc. as volcadas,
rock steps, lapices, etc.   Alternative and Neo Tangos do not have these
melismas in their structure.

	I hope this explanation satisfies the questions asked of me in this and
previous discussions.

Best,
Gregory “Grisha” Nisnevich

www.gren-music.com