Astor Piazzolla in Portrait
May 2005 Reviewed by: David Cantor Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

Familiarizing yourself with the Opus Arte DVD Astor Piazzolla In Portrait could enable you to give an undergraduate lecture on the fabulous composer who, in expanding the boundaries of the tango genre, created new and astonishing music that scaled the heights. You could throw in tangents on the history of tango and the risk artists take when they break new ground. You could drop names like Yo-Yo Ma, Daniel Barenboim, and other musicians interviewed on the disc because they performed with Piazzolla. In other words, there is a heckuva lot on this DVD! And much more than music. That may make it dull or disruptive at times to viewers who want to experience the music with whatever the camera shows of its performance and not bother with commentary. It should please those who feel more comfortable with some information or erudition to grab onto -- if only to be able to articulate to others what Piazzolla is all about.

In Portrait runs 213 minutes -- you can make an entire evening of it, or much of a day off. The all-music part -- Tango Nuevo, with the "Bonus Track" rehearsal of Milonga del Angel -- plays for 54 minutes, longer than many music CDs and most LPs, and it’s easy to click right to that. That’s my favorite part. The music is instantly gripping, unlike anything you have heard before unless you’ve heard Piazzolla’s unique ensembles. They have a special mix of bandoneon (described by one authority as "an accordion on a grand scale"; Piazzolla himself was a master of it), guitar, piano, cello, and more, depending on the performance or recording.

My limited knowledge of conventional Arthur Murray-style tango doesn’t find its echo in these soulful, sometimes-lilting, sometimes-jarring, almost-always subtle and deep-reaching pieces blending jazz, flamenco, and other genres. Despite the undeniable influence of tango, it might do a disservice to use the "T" word in reference to Piazzolla -- it might dissuade some from trying these ambitious compositions, ranging from wry to majestic. The directors artfully minimize clichéd images of couples tangoing in this film. Mike Dibb creates a fast-paced string of interviews and biographical sketches that maintain continuity. Tony Staveacre makes fine use of the special set constructed for the Tango Nuevo concert.

A standard reference book can tell you that tango is "a social dance in 2/4 time, which, after originating in Spain, developed in Argentina, where it was influenced by black dance style and rhythm." In a less-academic vein, the late Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges called tango "vertical rape." Feminists described by Camille Paglia as being "in a reactionary phase of hysterical moralism and prudery" rather than those "open to art and sex in all their dark, unconsoling mysteries" might reject tango and Piazzolla out of hand. The loss would be theirs. But our personal choices and limitations cheat all of us out of some things. Maybe it matters little in a society awash in cultural material.

Either way, there is no denying the great talent that left us when Piazzolla died in 1992 or refuting his legacy as "one of South America’s greatest musical figures ever, and a major composer of the 20th century," as the liner notes nicely put it.

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