It s not hyperbole to say that Astor Piazzolla is the single most important figure in the history of tango, a towering giant whose shadow looms large over everything that preceded and followed him. Piazzolla s place in Argentina s greatest cultural export is roughly equivalent to that of Duke Ellington in jazz - the genius composer who took an earthy, sensual, even disreputable folk music and elevated it into a sophisticated form of high art. But even more than Ellington, Piazzolla was also a virtuosic performer with a near-unparalleled mastery of his chosen instrument, the bandoneon, a large button accordion noted for its unwieldy size and difficult fingering system. In Piazzolla s hands, tango was no longer strictly a dance music; his compositions borrowed from jazz and classical forms, creating a whole new harmonic and rhythmic vocabulary made for the concert hall more than the ballroom (which was dubbed nuevo tango ). Some of his devices could be downright experimental - he wasn t afraid of dissonance or abrupt shifts in tempo and meter, and he often composed segmented pieces with hugely contrasting moods that interrupted the normal flow and demanded the audience s concentration. The complexity and ambition of Piazzolla s oeuvre brought him enormous international acclaim, particularly in Europe and Latin America, but it also earned him the lasting enmity of many tango purists, who attacked him mercilessly for his supposed abandonment of tradition (and even helped drive him out of the country for several years). But Piazzolla always stuck to his guns, and remained tango s foremost emissary to the world at large up until his death in 1992

Tracklist:

CD1:
1. Adios Nonino
2. Biyuya
3. Lunfardo
4. Escualo
5. Inverno Porteno
6. Caliente
7. Revirado
8. Decarismo
9. Fracanapa
10. Milonga del Angel
11. Muerte del Angel
12. Resurreccion del Angel

CD2:
1. El Recodo
2. El Desbande
3. La Rayuela
4. Orgullo Criollo
5. Inspiracion
6. El Rapido
7. Ahi Va el Dulce
8. El Milagro
9. El Pillete
10. Se Armo
11. Quejas de Bandoneon
12. Todo Corazon
13. Taconeando
14. Chiclana
15. De Mi Bandoneon
16. Tierra Querida
17. Villeguita
18. Tiernamente
19. Tu Palido Final
20. Tapera

CD3:
1. Como Abrazado a un Rencor
2. Che Bartolo
3. Solo Se Quiere una Vez
4. Haragan
5. Cargamento
6. Se Fue Sin Decirme Adios
7. Ojos Tristes
8. Pigmalion
9. Adios Marienero
10. Cafetin de Buenos Aires
11. Republica Argentina
12. Marron y Azul
13. Los Mareados
14. Neotango
15. El Marne
16. El Entrerriano
17. Tangology
18. Arrabal
19. A Fuego Lento
20. Libertango

CD4:
1. La Cumparsita
2. La Yumba
3. Tomo y Obligo
4. La Tablada
5. La Rayuela
6. El Apache Argentino
7. El Entrerriano
8. El Choclo
9. Volver
10. Recuerdo
11. El Pial
12. Boedo
13. El Portenito
14. Chique
15. Tango Argentino
16. Milonga de Mis Amores
17. El Rodeo
18. El Monito
19. La Punalada
20. Cachirulo
21. Sans Souci
22. Bandoneon Arrabalero
23. La Morocha
24. Flor de Tango
25. Tierra Querida

CD5:
1. Milonga Sentimental
2. A La Gran Muneca
3. Milongueando en el 40
4. Derecho Viejo
5. El Remate
6. Saludos
7. Mi Buenos Aires Querido
8. Di Pura Cepa
9. Vengan Muchachos
10. El Arranque
11. Por una Cabeza
12. Guapeando
13. El Taita
14. Amurado
15. Bahia Blanca
16. Mi Noche Triste
17. Parlo
18. Mal de Amores
19. Adios Bardi
20. La Cancion de Buenos Aires
21. La Maleva
22. El Baqueano
23. El Tabano
24. Secreto
25. Cordon de Oro