| Description |
In collaboration with the BU College of Fine Arts, the Latin American Studies Program, and the University Honors College, the "Voces Hispanicas/Hispanic Voices" initiative of the Department of Romance Studies will be helping to present "Osvaldo Golijov: The Music of Tango."
One of the world's preeminent contemporary composers, Golijov will explore the music of tango in conversation with our colleague, Professor Alicia Borinsky. The event will include a performance of Golijov's "Last Round," a work which takes its title from a short story by Julio Cortazar and is inspired by the music of Astor Piazzola. Golijov describes the piece in these terms: “I composed Last Round in 1996 [...]. The piece is conceived as an idealized bandoneon. The first movement represents the act of a violent compression of the instrument and the second a final, seemingly endless opening sigh (it is actually a fantasy over the refrain of the song 'My Beloved Buenos Aires', composed by the legendary Carlos Gardel in the 1930's). But Last Round is also a sublimated tango dance. Two quartets confront each other, separated by the focal bass, with violins and violas standing up as in the traditional tango orchestras. The bows fly in the air as inverted legs in crisscrossed choreography, always attracting and repelling each other, always in danger of clashing, always avoiding it with the immutability that can only be acquired by transforming hot passion into pure pattern." |
