The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires

My last post featured two contrasting performances of the Winter and Spring concertos from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.  Now, here is music written around 1965 by the great Argentinian tango composer Astor Piazzolla.

The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires was originally written for Piazzolla’s quintet (bandoneon, piano, violin, electric guitar and electric base).  Violinist Gidon Kremer commissioned the Russian composer Leonid Desyatnikov to create this version for solo violin and string orchestra.

You might hear echoes of Vivaldi, as well as moments where the strings sound more like percussion instruments.  These effects are created by tapping the instruments, hitting the strings with the wood of the bow and creating scratchy sounds by playing on the wrong side of the bridge.

The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires…Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) /arr. Desyatnikov

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Violinist Gidon Kremer performs Winter and Spring with Kremerata Baltica:

 

About Timothy Judd

A native of Upstate New York, Timothy Judd has been a member of the Richmond Symphony violin section since 2001. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music where he earned the degrees Bachelor of Music and Master of Music, studying with world renowned Ukrainian-American violinist Oleh Krysa.

The son of public school music educators, Timothy Judd began violin lessons at the age of four through Eastman’s Community Education Division. He was a student of Anastasia Jempelis, one of the earliest champions of the Suzuki method in the United States.

A passionate teacher, Mr. Judd has maintained a private violin studio in the Richmond area since 2002 and has been active coaching chamber music and numerous youth orchestra sectionals.

In his free time, Timothy Judd enjoys working out with Richmond’s popular SEAL Team Physical Training program.

4 thoughts on “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires”

  1. Very interesting, thank you. Do you know where I can find the sheet music for the violin solo in ‘Winter’? I have always wanted to play it, but have struggled to figure it out by ear.

    Regards
    Kate.

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