Piazzolla: Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, Winter

When one thinks of the music of Astor Piazzolla, images of tango dancers in the clubs of Buenos Argentina immediately come to mind. It's true that Piazzolla's tango music helped re-define Argentine tango, but Piazzolla was a musician with an eclectic palette of musical tastes. He studied briefly with the famed Nadia Boulanger in Paris before returning to his native Argentina to continue making a career as a bandoneon player and tango composer. His style mixes elements of jazz, Western classical music and Latin musical traditions all together in a spicy mix of music and rhythm. Perhaps an homage to Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Piazzolla composed a set of four pieces entitled The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires between 1964 and 1970. Even though he envisioned each of these four pieces being played as separate works, they are often performed together as a complete suite.