When traditional tango met avant garde Argentine Astor Piazzolla, the result was a creative explosion that transformed the idiom.
And when Bertram Levy encountered Piazzolla’s “nuevo tango,” it changed his life.
The Port Townsend surgeon now performs more concerts than operations.
“I played folk music and I played strings,” Levy said. “I had played the concertina for many years and had toured in the U.S. and Europe, but I was so struck with his music that I abandoned all other musical endeavors to pursue tango.”
Piazzolla’s story, framed as “Tangoheart” and told through music and narration by Levy’s ensemble, Seattle City Sextet, opens Bloedel Reserve’s summer music series July 25.
Levy first heard Piazzolla in 1987. He was so captivated that he followed Piazzolla from city to city to hear him play.
“(Piazolla’s) music is a contrast between very rhythmic, complicated modern phrasing,” he said, “and melodies that were so familiar that you were sure you’d heard them before, although you’d never heard them in your life.”
The concerts inspired Levy to learn more about the man dubbed the “father of modern tango.”
Because Piazzolla tampered with the traditional tango form, changing the dance music to music meant for listening and allowing such diverse influences as jazz, Bach and Stravinsky to shape his compositions, he was ostracized by his fellow Buenos Aires musicians for 25 years.
He lived in cultural isolation in the Argentine capital, but continued composing.
But by the early 1980s, Piazzolla had become a cult figure in Europe – especially in Paris, where many Argentines had fled during the “Dirty War” perpetrated against the civilian population by the military junta that ruled the country from 1976-1983.
A few years before his death in 1992, Piazzolla was recognized in his homeland, as well.
Love’s triangle
To better understand Piazzolla’s music, Levy became a student of traditional tango, journeying to Buenos Aires in 1991 to learn to play the bandoneon.
Considered the national instrument of Argentina, the unique instrument resembles an accordion and functions like an organ.
He also spent years collecting and transcribing tango arrangements.
The vocabulary of tango is largely based on dramatic contrast, Levy says, between emphatic rhythm and prolonged chords, retards and fast passages.
“Tango is a unique language,” he said. “It uses the same familiar notes heard in all western music but assembled into its own dialect.
“It’s passionate music, it’s the most amazing music.”
As Levy learned more he came to accept the popular wisdom that the highest musical expression of tango could only be achieved by a sextet.
He formed his own six-person ensemble in 1999.
The sextet has, Levy believes, both the elements of a large orchestra and the triangulated dynamics of a three-way conversation.
“Basically, it’s a conversation between between the violin section, the bandoneon section with the cellos subsumed, and the piano,” he said. “Each has certain roles and the roles change as the music goes on.”
While “Tangoheart” tells the story of Piazzolla’s art, it is also a tribute to Levy, who has dedicated himself to locating, with surgical precision, the heart of nuevo tango.
“Tango is not about the long kiss or the deep embrace,” he said. “It’s about the passion of longing. The longing for a homeland, a lost lover or a sweeter past.
“It hurts, deep inside, but it makes us feel incredibly alive.”
* * * * *
Bloedel Reserve’s summer concert series offers two weekends of outstanding performances, beginning with the Seattle City Sextet’s performance at 7 p.m. July 25.
See calendar, pages A10-11, for concert descriptions, or visit www.bloedelreserve.com.
Concerts are held outdoors under a tent at the reserve’s visitor center on the Bloedel estate, overlooking Puget Sound. Light hours d’oeurves and non-alcoholic beverages are served before the concerts and are included in the $25 ticket price for each performance.
Reservations: 842-7631.
