Astor Piazzolla

90,496 listeners (1,152,996 plays)

tango, jazz, argentina, contemporary classical, tango nuevo… see all

Born in Argentina in 1921 to immigrant Italian parents, Piazzolla spent most of his childhood with his family in New York City. While there, he acquired fluency in four languages: Spanish, English, French, and Italian. He also started playing the bandoneon, quickly rising to the status of child prodigy. While still quite young, he met Carlos Gardel, another great figure of Argentine tango. He returned to Argentina in 1937, where strictly traditional tango still reigned, and played in night clubs with a series of groups. The pianist Arthur Rubinstein (then living in Buenos Aires) advised him to study with the Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera. Delving into scores of Stravinsky, Bartók, Ravel, and others, he gave up tango temporarily and worked as a modernist classical composer.

At Ginastera’s urging, in 1953 Piazzolla entered his “Buenos Aires” Symphony in a composition contest, and won a grant from the French government to study in Paris with the French composer and conductor Nadia Boulanger. The insightful Boulanger turned his life around in a day, as Piazzolla tells beautifully in his own words:

“When I met her, I showed her my kilos of symphonies and sonatas. She started to read them and suddenly came out with a horrible sentence: ‘It’s very well written.’ And stopped, with a big period, round like a soccer ball. After a long while, she said: “Here you are like Stravinsky, like Bartók, like Ravel, but you know what happens? I can’t find Piazzolla in this.

1	Libertango full track	584
2	Milonga del Angel full track	279
3	Adios Nonino full track	262
4	Oblivion full track	137
5	Chau Paris full track	115
6	Por una cabeza	106
7	Meditango full track	104
8	Mumuki	102
8	Tango Apasionado full track	102
10	Concierto Para Quinteto	100
11	Tanguedia III	99
12	Fuga Y Misterio full track	95
13	Tres Minutos con la Realidad full track	91
14	Adiós Nonino full track	81
15	El tango	80

Top Albums

Libertango
Astor Piazzolla
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El Porteno
Astor Piazzolla
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Tango: Zero Hour
Astor Piazzolla
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Labyrinth OST
Astor Piazzolla
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zestycoyote wrote:
12 hours ago

Tango: Zero Hour is an all time great album. Anybody who is unsure of whether to buy and album should definitely take a listen.

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ladyjofranco wrote:
Tuesday afternoon

Piazzola can get inside the soul...

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cellarflux wrote:
7 days ago

this is fucking edible

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Green-Day8 wrote:
9 days ago

GOAL! Soundtrack

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rinistiltskin wrote:
12 days ago

Ought to be merged with Ástor Piazzolla.

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myagito wrote:
15 days ago

I love his music!

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bensimon19 wrote:
19 days ago

it is just as simple as this kind of music is outstanding, for he's the best.

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invalidka wrote:
21 days ago

gorgeous!

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lotus-flower wrote:
24 days ago

哀愁を感じる音楽

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mariamanterola wrote:
27 days ago

Beautiful

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codziennie wrote:
last month

absolutely awesome guy !

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Robert_P_Yorke wrote:
last month

Он положительно прекрасен. В любое время, в любом настроении.

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axelmr wrote:
last month

Estupendo y más en la música de la peli argentina "Sur"

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pliiskuole wrote:
last month

Amazing.

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mUsiKotico wrote:
last month

sobrenatural ¡¡¡

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jplovecraft wrote:
last month

GENIO

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garatuja wrote:
June 2008

un genio.

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betobarrientos wrote:
June 2008

increible... sublime... astor convirtio al tango en universal...el tango electronico es hijo directo de astor .. bajo fondo, gotan proyect, san telmo lounge... se los recomiendo

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Montella86 wrote:
May 2008

No puedo escuchar "Concierto para quinteto" sin emocionarme :_)

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Maloficio wrote:
May 2008

Just Sublime.

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Recent Activity

svere, cur_tarara2 and geschenk77 added Astor Piazzolla to their libraries. 1 hour ago
yjanet tagged Astor Piazzolla with ‘contemporary classical’. 6 hours ago
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Croix_de_Sang tagged Astor Piazzolla with ‘tango’. Thursday morning
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