Astor Piazzola was born at Mar del Plata, Argentina on 11 March 1921 and died in Buenos Aires on 5 July 1992. He wrote Le Grand Tango, originally scored for cello and piano, in the summer of 1981 while he was at his summer home, the Chalet El Caso, in Uruguay. The piece was dedicated to the great cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. The version for viola and piano, approved by the composer, was arranged by the violist Tomás Tichauer and pianist Mónica Cossachov.
After Le Grand Tango was written, it took a few years for the piece to be performed: when Rostropovich received the score from Piazzola he put it aside for several years as he had not heard of the composer at the time. It was not until April 1990 that the esteemed cellist came to Argentina to coach the piece with the composer as well as share some suggested revisions to make the piece more idiomatic for the instrument. In their biography of Piazzola, also entitled Le Grand Tango, Maria Susana Azzi and Simon Collier recount that initial session:
Rostropovich, having looked at the music, and “astounded by the great talent of Astor,” decided he would include it in a concert. He made some changes in the cello part and wanted Piazzolla to hear them before he played the piece. Accordingly, in April 1990, he rehearsed it with Argentine pianist Susana Mendelievich in a room at the Teatro Colón, and Piazzolla gently coached the maestro in tango style–“Yes, tan-go, tan-go, tan-go.” The two men took an instant liking to one another. It was, says Mendelievich, “as if Rostropovich had played tangos all his life.”
The piece is written in ternary form, with two fast outer sections and a slow middle section. It is a classic example of what some call Piazzolla’s “nuevo tango” style, exhibiting fugue, extreme chromaticism, dissonance, and elements of jazz. Piazzolla’s style was met with resistance from the old-guard, but by the 1980s his music was widely accepted both internationally and in his home country, where he was seen as the savior of the tango.
-Program notes by Dr. Daniel Doña