New Music Release: Piazzolla: Buenos Aires

Violinist Tomás Cotik and conductor Ken Selden.

PSU music professors Ken Selden and Tomás Cotik recently recorded an album titled Piazzolla: Buenos Aires, featuring Selden's world-premiere arrangements of music by Astor Piazzolla for solo violin and string orchestra, performed by violinist Cotik and the Martingale Ensemble.

The album was released earlier this year on the Naxos label, and on Spotify and YouTube. It includes eleven pieces originally composed by the legendary Argentinian musician for his tango ensemble, the Quinteto Nuevo Tango, including "The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires," arranged by Leonid Desyatnikov, and seven works arranged by Selden.

"The members of Piazzolla's quintet 'Nuevo Tango' were all accomplished improvisers, steeped in the tango tradition," writes Selden. "Therefore the printed scores often contain just the harmonic, melodic and rhythmic outlines, which were used as a point of departure for the players during the course of rehearsals and performances. The improvisations of solo passages were often wildly creative and virtuosic, varying greatly from performance to performance."

The listener's experience of this culturally rich album may be enhanced by reading the liner notes which elaborate on the Argentine tango, why Piazzolla's music was rejected by his contemporaries, and how his music has become a powerful influence for a new generation of tango composers. In these writings, Selden explains the improvisational nature of Piazzolla's works, and Cotik offers in-depth analysis of Piazzolla's music from the perspective of being a fellow Argentine and world traveler.

Watch a video recording of Tomás Cotik performing "Chin Chin" on violin, accompanied by the Martingale Ensemble and conducted by Ken Selden.

Both Selden and Cotik are faculty at Portland State University's School of Music & Theater, and Cotik is currently finishing a sabbatical year in Spain as a Fullbright scholar.

Hear the album.