Greatness

[polkabeast]

[Chris Drinkwater]

Yes, I guess as far as bandoneon players goes, he Astor be the best! Scary.

 

Chris

[ceemonster]

i adore him as well....but mario rivero is great as well, and hey, stuart levy ain't chopped liver.....

[Ray]

I make that 17 folds in the bellows. Surely there must be a point where bellows become impossible to control?

 

Ray

[polkabeast]

i adore him as well....but mario rivero is great as well, and hey, stuart levy ain't chopped liver.....

 

I will check out these musicians.

[Leo]

I make that 17 folds in the bellows. Surely there must be a point where bellows become impossible to control?

 

Ray

Oh I don't know about that!

 

 

 

From some old posts

 

Thanks

Leo

[ceemonster]

well, i must correct my appalling memory errors so as not to lead anyone on a goose chase.....

 

it's Rene Marino Rivero (not "Mario Rivero" per my post)....and this Uruguayan virtuoso did the classic cd of solo bando music titled,

"Bandoneon Pure: Dances of Uruguay." this is traditional tango as opposed to modernist Piazzolla tango, and just as soulful and wonderful as heck....sound samples available on this amazon page:

http://www.amazon.com/Bandoneon-Pure-Dance...n/dp/B000001DLF

 

i also own a couple of, and highly recommend, the duo or solo or trio (i hate big-orchestra tango, want to hear that bandoneon!) records of Hugo Diaz, who records both modernist and traditional tango...here is a trio recording

http://www.amazon.com/Classical-Tango-Arge...0559&sr=1-4

 

and yet another self-correction: BERTRAM levy, (NOT stuart levy), is a concertina virtuoso and all-around brainiac who at about retirement age, discovered, fell for, and set out to master, tango bandoneon. having done so on a journey that included residences in both argentina and paris, he is now a wonderful bandoneonista who performs with orchestra. you can see video/audio of him and get all kinds of wonderful tango stuff on his website:

http://www.tangoheart.com/

 

finally, i recently purchased and am very much enjoying, a gorgeous bandoneon cd of the music of the one and only thelonius monk, played by french artist olivier manoury. just about all the tracks on this unique and soulful gem can be heard on cdbaby here:

http://cdbaby.com/found?allsearch=bando+monk

[Boney]

Here's a jazzy, modern sounding album. Click on it to hear several long samples.

 

 

Edit: Ah, apparently picture can't be linked. This should fix it.

Edited February 21, 2008 by Boney

[Christian Husmann]

I make that 17 folds in the bellows. Surely there must be a point where bellows become impossible to control?

 

Ray

 

Well, I think it´s far better to control than you´d expect it to be

I recently recorded one of his life performances on tv and he used to play a lot on the pull and not that much on the push.

When you listen closely to some of his recordings you can hear the ffffft-sound when he pushes the bellows together holding the air button.

 

Greetings

Christian

[polkabeast]

Thanks for the posts and info, Ceemonster.

[BertramLevy]

well, i must correct my appalling memory errors so as not to lead anyone on a goose chase.....

 

it's Rene Marino Rivero (not "Mario Rivero" per my post)....and this Uruguayan virtuoso did the classic cd of solo bando music titled,

"Bandoneon Pure: Dances of Uruguay." this is traditional tango as opposed to modernist Piazzolla tango, and just as soulful and wonderful as heck....sound samples available on this amazon page:

http://www.amazon.com/Bandoneon-Pure-Dance...n/dp/B000001DLF

 

i also own a couple of, and highly recommend, the duo or solo or trio (i hate big-orchestra tango, want to hear that bandoneon!) records of Hugo Diaz, who records both modernist and traditional tango...here is a trio recording

http://www.amazon.com/Classical-Tango-Arge...0559&sr=1-4

 

and yet another self-correction: BERTRAM levy, (NOT stuart levy), is a concertina virtuoso and all-around brainiac who at about retirement age, discovered, fell for, and set out to master, tango bandoneon. having done so on a journey that included residences in both argentina and paris, he is now a wonderful bandoneonista who performs with orchestra. you can see video/audio of him and get all kinds of wonderful tango stuff on his website:

http://www.tangoheart.com/

 

finally, i recently purchased and am very much enjoying, a gorgeous bandoneon cd of the music of the one and only thelonius monk, played by french artist olivier manoury. just about all the tracks on this unique and soulful gem can be heard on cdbaby here:

http://cdbaby.com/found?allsearch=bando+monk

[m3838]

Is that Bertram Levy, by whose book I was learning to play Anglo Concertina?

So anything in D I was transposing to C, since I had 20 button Lachenal?

Is that the Guy who picked up Bandoneon and mastered it to the point of dropping safe haven of medical career and diving into the waters full of sharks?

O boy, aren't we going to ask you questions!

Yes, I have your tape, where you play those Kolomeykes - best ever Anglo Concertina playing "I" heard.

Edited February 22, 2008 by m3838

[BertramLevy]

I never cease to be amazed that I can figure out all those buttons and not know which button to hit on my computer. Fortunately my wife can help me navigate. I wrote a reply to the greatness comments yesterday but it ended up in cyberspace and my name found its way on another's comments.

 

Please excuse my ineptiude here. I will try again.

 

Firstly I was commenting on Astor Piazzolla and his genius. I had the great honor of meeting him twice and he actually spent 20 minutes discussing finger execution. But that is another story. 20 years later I m playing an all Piazzolla show - it is a dream come true for me but in reality it took a total dedication to the bandoneon. Piazzolla was a giant of a bandoneonista but his greatness really lies in his compositions. They say he has Bach in his left hand tango in his right and Stravinski in his brain. He had giant hands made out of rubber. Nevertheless he is not considered in bandoneon circles as the greatest. There are many and it really depends on taste. In Buenos Aires the most loved bandoneonista remains Anibal Troilo. No one has achieved the lyrical quality of his phrasing. The most highly developed are from the thirties - Pedro Laurenz and Pedro Maffia - their craftsmanship is unsurpassed (one can get a glimmer of this from the the film Fueye Querida). The most dextrous is the second bandoneon in Piazzolla's 1948 orquestra typica - Di Fellipo - he left the tango world after that orchestra and was principle oboeist for the Teatro Colon for the rest of his career. Today, the greatest classical player is Rodolfo Daluisio (and most innovative), followed by Miguel Varvello. For tango Leopolodo Federico still is the giant even in his later years. He is helped out on stage but when he has that instrument in his hands, it is unbelievable for power phrasing and musicality. In Europe Juan Mosalini and Cesar Strocio both natives of buenos aires but who now live in Paris are unsurpassed. Oliver Manuory that was mentioned is a great jazz player specializing in Thelonius Monk - he is a great guy and plays well but he is playing a chromatic instrument which is a bit of a different animal. There are a number of younger players who are noteworthy but not in the league of the above- yet! My head is filled with more names as I type. Suffice it to say that the bandoneonistas are conservatory trained musicians and their playing reflects their training. That is the main reason that I left my medical practice and enrolled in the conservatory in Buenos Aires. For the bandoneon there is a process which one must pass through to attain mastery. I can attest that it works but requires the 6 plus hours aday that I have been practicing every day for 3 years.

 

 

The second thing I wanted to respond to was the bellows. The bellows are the art of instrument. They are designed to maintain a column of air that is always under tension. In this way the reeds can respond immediately and fully without the distortion of acceleration. It is an important aspect of the purity of the tone. (The technique is applicable to the concertina as well, though it violates the cardinal rule of pulling the bellows without pressing a button.) The air in the bandoneon bellows feels like a gelatin capsule and can be accelerated or stopped on a dime. The bellows are divided into 3 sections. The outer 2 are like the skeletal system and the center one is the heart. The heart must always be parallel to the floor. The outer 2 provide support so that the center one remains stable and parallel. The outer 2 change position to maintain the proper ergonomic position of the hands at various states of extension. Execution of the phrases relies on the outer sections. There is no need for more folds but less would not work. Some of the taller players now play the same number of bellows but with deeper folds to extend further.

 

Well, this is my first attempt at communicating in this format. I hope it works and that this information is of some use. Thanks.

 

Bertram

[Jody Kruskal]

Hi Bertram,

 

Nice to hear your voice on these forums. Welcome.

[m3838]

They are designed to maintain a column of air that is always under tension. In this way the reeds can respond immediately and fully without the distortion of acceleration. It is an important aspect of the purity of the tone. (The technique is applicable to the concertina as well, though it violates the cardinal rule of pulling the bellows without pressing a button.)

 

This is seconded in Bayan players' tradition. There must alway be pressure in the bellows. And in a concertina air tightness is very important, because the bellows is small.

But let me ask you. What do you think of Gabla system, Gabla's playing and this particular instrument as opposed to much discussed Hayden system? Thanks.

[polkabeast]

Here's a jazzy, modern sounding album. Click on it to hear several long samples.

 

 

Edit: Ah, apparently picture can't be linked. This should fix it.

 

Good Lord. I can't tell which of those beauties drives me more mad.

[m3838]

Here's a jazzy, modern sounding album. Click on it to hear several long samples.

 

 

Edit: Ah, apparently picture can't be linked. This should fix it.

 

Good Lord. I can't tell which of those beauties drives me more mad.

 

 

Right.

Never could understand why people want to beautify their belongings with the images of prostitutes.

[ceemonster]

thank you for your wonderful post, mr. levy! ah, so olivier manoury is playing a unisonoric bando? i must peruse my "bando monk" liner notes more carefully, don't recall registering that. odile lavault, the wonderful chromatic button accordionist of the northern california paris musette ensemble Baguette Quartet, has played bandoneon on a tango cd titled "tango no. 9," and i do recall hearing or reading that she was playing a unisonoric bandoneon.

 

i also have a lovely recording titled "Tangled Lies," featuring the late Dale Meyers of northern Cal on bandoneon, that one was with his Parlando project (he seems to have had a couple of ensembles going there).....it is hard to find but copies pop up on ebay every now and again...

Edited February 22, 2008 by ceemonster