Tango cósmico

For a long time now, I have been fascinated by tango, not only by the genre’s classics, such as those interpreted by Carlos Gardel,but even more so by the ‘tango nuevo’, closely associated with the extraordinary bandoneon player and composer Astor Piazzolla.

Tango cósmico combines classic tango elements (tonal melodic borrowings, the striking emphasis on all metrical positions in the bar, impulsive upbeats to the next bar centre, melancholic interludes) with expressive, added harmonies and a turn towards free-tonal stylisation. This is combined with sections that seem improvisational in places – although precisely notated here, they are nevertheless designed to be performed in the spirit of ‘improvisation’ – which stem from a momentary profound feeling. This tango was originally part of my large-scale adaptation of Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince for percussion solo, narrator and ensemble. In it, I create a vision, a mirage of sorts, before the eyes of the pilot stranded in the desert, surrounded only by wind, sand and countless stars in the infinite vastness of the cosmos.

In my imagination, he envisions a deeply connected couple dancing the tango in one of the typical locations of Buenos Aires. After all, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry himself flew the Rio-Buenos Aires route for several years, and similar thoughts may have crossed his mind during life-threatening situations during the flight, as described in the novel Night Flight. The title Tango cósmico reflects this idea of humans being integrated into the forces of all-encompassing nature.

Peter Wittrich