Ravinia 2025 Issue 6

BENNETT GORDON HALL 7:30 PM TUESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2025 LINCOLN TRIO DESIRÉE RUHSTRAT, violin DAVID CUNLIFFE, cello MARTA AZNAVOORIAN, piano Fantasies of Buenos Aires PIAZZOLLA Verano porteño from Las cuatro estaciones porteñas (arr. Bragato) BINELLI Rainbows I–III from Fantasías de Buenos Aires * PIAZZOLLA Café 1930 from Histoire du Tango (arr. Lincoln Trio) BINELLI Gratitude from Fantasías de Buenos Aires * PIAZZOLLA Oblivion (arr. Bragato) GINASTERA Danza de la moza donosa , op. 2, no. 2 (arr. Floristán) GARDEL “Por una cabeza” (arr. Ayasta) PIAZZOLLA Otoño porteño from Las cuatro estaciones porteñas (arr. Bragato) There is no intermission in this program. * First performance at Ravinia ASTOR PIAZZOLLA (1921–1992) Las cuatro estaciones porteñas (The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires) (arranged by José Bragato) Inventor and grandmaster of Nuevo Tango, As- tor Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata, Argen- tina—the cradle of tango. While still a child, Pi- azzolla moved with his family to New York City. There, he learned to play the bandoneón, an ac- cordion-like instrument whose sound remains inextricably linked to tango music. Established tango performers recognized a unique talent in this teenage musician. When the family re- turned to Argentina during the 1930s, Piazzolla easily made his way into the tango scene. Piazzolla also had aspirations of becoming a classical composer. One day, he approached the Polish pianist Artur Rubinstein, a resident of Buenos Aires, asking his evaluation of a recently composed piano concerto, despite having not yet written the orchestral part. Rubinstein gra- ciously agreed and immediately arranged les- sons for this audacious youth with another emerging Argentinean musician, Alberto Gin- astera. Piazzolla remained his student for six years. On Ginastera’s urging, he entered a com- position competition in 1953 and won first prize with his Sinfonietta. The French government offered Piazzolla a scholarship to study with the legendary peda- gogue Nadia Boulanger in Paris. After viewing many of his competent but uninspired composi- tions, she convinced Piazzolla to play examples of his tango music for her on a bandoneón. Pi- azzolla described Boulanger’s reaction in a 1989 interview published in El Mercurio : “She sud- denly opened her eyes, took my hand, and told me: ‘You idiot, that ’s Piazzolla!’ And I took all the music I composed, ten years of my life, and sent it to hell in two seconds.” A clear musical path opened for Piazzolla, one that combined the rhythmic and melodic sensu- ality of tango with modern dissonances and in- strumental effects. His Quinteto Tango Nuevo, a Astor Piazzolla RAVINIAMAGAZINE • AUG. 18 – AUG. 31, 2025 64 GIANNIMESTICHELLI