Libertango – Chamber Ensemble and Drumline

Another drumline project in the this isn’t how it’s supposed to go category. Libertango by Astor Piazzolla who, until this work, was involved in classical tango. In the tango nuevo style, this work represents his break from the classical. This came about after pressure from his European agent to create something more air-play friendly. You should never cave to peer pressure, but maybe it was a worthwhile effort in this case.

While Piazzolla was only leaving his own conventions behind for this work here’s something to add an extra layer of unconventional to Libertango – the drumline. The arrangement was originally for strings and winds, but to add to the tension and pulse of tango nuevo a marching percussion section of snare drums, multi-tenors (quads), and tonal bass drums were added. The original arrangement is intact except, perhaps, for the now over-the-top driving nature of it. The addition of percussion is meant to support the original. For drumline and percussion enthusiasts, this might be better appreciated as a drum solo with a chamber ensemble as their accompaniment.

SHEET MUSIC – Percussion Score and Individual Parts