Three to Tango

From San Domingo by Arthur Benjamin

Arthur Benjamin (1893-1960) was an Australian concert pianist, composer, conductor, and teacher. Having served in the Australian infantry during World War I, his plane was shot down and he was held for several years at a German internment camp outside Berlin. There he met fellow composer Edgar Bainton, who would later become the director of the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music. After 1919, Benjamin taught many distinguished students there including Benjamin Britten. His work as an examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music took him around the world, including the West Indies and Jamaica. 

Piano Sonata No.2, “Allegro Agitato”by Sergei Rachmaninoff

Rachmaninov wrote this second sonata after completing his Piano Concerto No. 3, and while his young daughters were suffering from typhoid fever. Although well-received after its premier in 1913 in Kursk, the composer felt much of the work was superfluous and began revising the work in 1931. The result was a more stream-lined composition and in 1940, Vladimir Horozitz created his own edition reincorporating some of the original work by Rachmaninoff.

Trio Elegiaque No. 1 in G minor by Sergei Rachmaninoff

This trio was written in 1892, when the composer was 18 years old and while still a student in Moscow as an homage to his elder friend and mentor, Tchaikovsky. The work was first performed on January 30 of the same year with the composer at the piano, David Kreyn at the violin and Anatoliy Brandukov at the cello. The first edition did not appear until 1947 and the trio has no designated opus number. The key to the connection with Tchaikovsky of this first trio is its repetitive opening theme, a four-note rising motif, that dominates the 15-minute work. Played backwards in the same rhythm it is exactly the opening descending motif of Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto, and the allusion would have been apparent to listeners and teachers at the university, as would the closing funeral march imitative of Tchaikovsky's elegy to Nikolai Rubinstein. The second trio, written two years later, was the true "elegiac" work mourning Tchaikovsky's death.

Le Grand Tango by Astor Piazzolla 

Argentinian born Astor Piazzolla grew up in New York’s Greenwich Village listening to his father’s tango orchestras of Carlos Gardel and Julio de Cara. His father found a bandoneon (a type of Argentinian accordion) at a pawn shop, and brought it home for Astor, who studied everything from J.S Bach to jazz on the instrument with classical pianist Béla Wilda, who was a student of Rachmaninoff. Le Grand Tango was written in 1982 and dedicated to Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, who performed its premier in 1990 in New Orleans.

Oblivion for Piano Trio by Astor Piazzolla/Brigato 

Although controversial at first, Astor Piazzolla was able to win the hearts of the Argentinian people to the style of “nuevo tango,” incorporating traditional tango rhythms and instrumentation with classical forms and jazz-like improvisation and harmonic structures. Piazzolla’s 1982 album Oblivion was recorded with an orchestra in Rome for the film Enrico IV (Henry IV in Italian), a dramatic film based on the play by Luigi Bellocchio that was entered into the 1984 Cannes Film Festival.  

“Primavera Porteña” by Astor Piazzolla/Brigato 

Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas, or the Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, is a reimagining of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons violin concerto suite. Although each section was originally conceived to stand alone, Piazzolla did perform them as a whole work on occasion. “Porteño” refers to a port city person, most commonly used to refer to residents of Buenos Aires. The order of performance Piazzolla gave to his "Estaciones Porteñas" is: Otoño (Autumn), Invierno (Winter), Primavera (Spring), Verano (Summer).

Por Una Cabeza by Carlos Gardel/Wermuth

Carlos Gardel wrote the music for this 1935 classic tango song, and the lyrics by Alfredo Le Pera describe in race-horse verbiage ‘winning by a head’ or narrowly winning the race. In the song, the narrator compares his addiction to the racetrack with his attraction to women. "Por Una Cabeza" is featured in a famous tango scene in Martin Brest's film Scent of a Woman (1992), in the opening scene of Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List (1993), and in James Cameron's True Lies (1994).