Conjunto 9 (a.k.a. Noneto) was a tango ensemble set up by
Ástor Piazzolla
Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla (, ; March 11, 1921 – July 4, 1992) was an Argentine tango composer, bandoneon player, and arranger. His works revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed ''nuevo tango'', incorporating elements from ...
which was active between 1971 and 1972.
The short-lived ensemble was based on Piazzolla’s
first Quinteto, comprising Astor Piazzolla (bandoneon),
Osvaldo Manzi (later
Osvaldo Tarantino (piano),
Antonio Agri, (violin),
Oscar López Ruiz (electric guitar) and
Kicho Díaz
Enrique ''Kicho'' Díaz (Buenos Aires, 21 January 1918 – 5 October 1992) was an Argentine double bass tango musician who played in various ensembles including Aníbal Troilo’s orquesta típica, Astor Piazzolla’s first Quinteto and Conjunt ...
(double bass). To this he added a quartet comprising
Hugo Baralis (2nd violin),
Néstor Panik (viola),
José Bragato
José Bragato (12 October 1915 – 18 July 2017) was an Italian-born Argentine cellist, composer, conductor, arranger and musical archivist who, in his early career, was principal cellist in the Colón Theatre orchestra in Buenos Aires, Argentina. ...
(cello) and
José Corriale (percussion).
For many musicologists this was the ensemble in which Piazzolla reached the zenith of his musical career. Thanks to the presence of a string quartet within the formation, Piazzolla was able to evolve a more complex contrapuntal language, to which was added the rhythmical improvisations of the piano, guitar and percussion, providing a language close to that of
cool jazz
Cool jazz is a style of modern jazz music that arose in the United States after World War II. It is characterized by relaxed tempos and lighter tone, in contrast to the fast and complex bebop style. Cool jazz often employs formal arrangements and ...
and
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
, a tendency which would become more accentuated in the later European stage of Piazzolla’s career.
The Noneto recorded the albums ''Música popular contemporánea de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Vol. 1 y 2'', published in 1971 and 1972, respectively. There are also recordings of them accompanying the singers
Amelita Baltar
Amelita Baltar (September 24, 1940) is an Argentine singer, one of the leading voices of tango, that appeared in the 60's to be considered, along with Susana Rinaldi, as a modern counterpart of older divas such as Libertad Lamarque and Tita Merel ...
and
Mina, and of the music from
Bernardo Bertolucci
Bernardo Bertolucci (; 16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018) was an Italian film director and screenwriter with a career that spanned 50 years. Considered one of the greatest directors in Italian cinema, Bertolucci's work achieved international ...
’s film ''
Last Tango in Paris
''Last Tango in Paris'' ( it, Ultimo tango a Parigi; french: Le Dernier Tango à Paris) is a 1972 erotic drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. The film stars Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider and Jean-Pierre Léaud, and portrays a recently w ...
''. Some of this music was not used in the film due to its late completion by Piazzolla, who was busy preparing for his first concert at the
Teatro Colón
The Teatro Colón (Spanish: ''Columbus Theatre'') is the main opera house in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is considered one of the ten best opera houses in the world by National Geographic. According to a survey carried out by the acousti ...
in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
in 1972. Bertolucci employed
Gato Barbieri
Leandro "Gato" Barbieri (November 28, 1932 – April 2, 2016) was an Argentine jazz tenor saxophonist who rose to fame during the free jazz movement in the 1960s and is known for his Latin jazz recordings of the 1970s. His nickname, Gato, is Spa ...
to complete the music and that part of Piazzolla’s music that was completed late was used for
Francesco Rosi
Francesco Rosi (; 15 November 1922 – 10 January 2015) was an Italian film director. His film ''The Mattei Affair'' won the Palme d'Or at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival. Rosi's films, especially those of the 1960s and 1970s, often appeared to ha ...
’s film ''
Cadáveri eccelenti'' in 1976.
In 1972 Piazzolla composed the three movement ''Concierto de Nácar'', for the Conjunto 9 and orchestra, one of his most complex compositions which incorporated various techniques of contemporary music composition, such as
polyrhythm
Polyrhythm is the simultaneous use of two or more rhythms that are not readily perceived as deriving from one another, or as simple manifestations of the same meter. The rhythmic layers may be the basis of an entire piece of music (cross-rhyth ...
and
polytonality Polytonality (also polyharmony) is the musical use of more than one key simultaneously. Bitonality is the use of only two different keys at the same time. Polyvalence or polyvalency is the use of more than one harmonic function, from the same key, a ...
.
Within a year of its formation the Conjunto 9 had run into financial problems and was dissolved in 1972.
Piazzolla re-formed the Conjunto 9 in 1983, with some changes in its formation, for his second concert at the Teatro Colón on 11 June where they played together with the
Buenos Aires Philharmonic
The Buenos Aires Philharmonic ( es, Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires) is an Argentinian orchestra based in Buenos Aires. Founded in 1946, it is based in the renowned Teatro Colón, and is considered one of the most prestigious orchestras in it ...
, conducted by
Pedro Ignacio Calderón. The programme included his ''Concerto for bandoneon and orquestra'' and ''Concierto de Nácar''. This time the Noneto was made up of: Astor Piazzolla (bandoneon),
Pablo Ziegler
Pablo Ziegler (born September 2, 1944) is an Argentine composer, pianist, arranger based in New York City.Oteri, Frank J"Pablo Ziegler: Making the Music Dance" NewMusicBox, July 1, 2014; accessed July 9, 2014. He is currently the leading exponent ...
(piano),
Fernando Suárez Paz, (violin), Oscar López Ruiz (electric guitar) and
Héctor Console (double bass) plus Hugo Baralis (2nd violin),
Delmar Quarleri (viola), José Bragato (cello) and
Enrique Roizner
Enrique () is the Spanish variant of the given name Heinrich of Germanic origin.
Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Enric (Catalan), Enrico (Italian), Henrik (Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian), Heinrich (German), Hendrik, Henk ...
(percussion).
Discography
*''Música Popular Contemporánea de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, vol. 1'', (1971)
*''Música Popular Contemporánea de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, vol. 2'', (1972)
*''El gordo triste'', a recording of Amelita Baltar, who is accompanied by the Noneto in the tango Los paraguas de Buenos Aires, (1972)
*''Roma 1972'', recording of a concert on 10 April 1972 in the Instituto Ítalo Estadounidense in Rome (1994).
*''Signori...: Mina!'', recording of a concert in April 1972 in the Teatro 10 in Rome where
Mina sang ''Balada para mi muerte'' accompanied by Conjunto 9 (1972).
*''Astor Piazzolla y su Conjunto 9'', recording which contains the compositions Jeanne et Paul and El penúltimo for the film Last tango in Paris (1972).
*''Astor Piazzolla en el Teatro Colón'', recording of a concert on 11 June 1983.
References
*Natalio Gorin, Piazzolla: A Memoir, Amadeus Press 2001.
*Azzi and Collier, Le Grand Tango: The Life and Music of Ástor Piazzolla, Oxford University Press, 2000.
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Tango music groups