Piazzolla's Estaciones Porteñas (The Four Seasons) undoubtedly pair nicely with Vivaldi's famous concerto set. Beyond the general similarity of program, Piazzolla's pieces feature intermittent soloistic passages that make them somehwat more concerto-like than most of his output. Nevertheless, they were not written as an homage to Vivaldi. Composed at various times between 1964 and 1970, they were not even intended as a single suite, although Piazzolla performed them together from time to time. They offer an ideal introduction to the unique tango-classical fusion created by this Argentine master. Written for his favored quintet of violin, piano, electric guitar, bass, and bandoneon (a large, resonant Argentine accordion), they include such characteristic devices as a tango fugue (in "Primavera") and furious unisonal rhythmic passages that contrast with stretches of moody quiet.

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1.Otoño Porteño

The second item to be composed in Piazzolla's "Four Seasons" series, Otoño porteño exists, as usual, in multiple versions, including as it does opportunities for improvisation and elaboration by a small group. Its orchestral version is more strictly set, and occupies six to seven minutes, while one of the composer's own recordings, from 1973, runs to ten minutes with an extended piano solo.

Autumn in music often calls forth hunting horns and harvest-inspired bacchanals; Piazzolla's autumn launches with stern, driving, sharply accented material, which soon disintegrates into a lonely, more contemplative section (usually featuring Piazzolla's own bandoneón). Sounding free and improvisatory from the beginning, this eventually gives way to a repeat of the opening section, often with a different balance of instruments, and then an opportunity for another member of the ensemble (often the violin) to comment at length on a weepy theme close to the first solo. Depending on the performance, Piazzolla may end things with a recap of the fast section, or continue the fast-slow pattern, with the fast sections possessing an increasing potential for violent expression. (The piano solo on that 1973 recording, by the way, revolves around the fast material, not the slow.) In the orchestral version, the A section features the piano, while the B section is a long solo for cello. The reappearance of A spreads the work more evenly through the orchestra, followed by another extensive string solo, and a substantial, dark recap of the fast theme.

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2.Invierno Porteño

Like its companion pieces, the winter element of Piazzolla's Porteña Seasons (4) (porteña or porteño refers to the inhabitants of the poor port area of Buenos Aires, where the tango was born) exists in versions for everything from small tango ensemble to symphony orchestra. It has not achieved the popularity of the earliest pieces in the sequence, particularly Verano Porteño; Piazzolla did not perform or record it especially often.

It begins with an intensely sad, languid passage that soon picks up with a fast tango, but this disintegrates into a little piano cadenza. (Details differ among recordings because of the fluid nature of Piazzolla's compositions; this description follows the orchestral version, which is the most set in stone.) The dejected opening melody comes back, but again is interrupted by faster, incisive material. Rondo style, the melancholy main theme returns, now at greater length and complete with a counterstatement/elaboration (a self-contained ABA song format). From the bass, the ensemble begins marking a sharper, increasingly fast tango rhythm, and the pointed second subject from the beginning of the piece makes another brief appearance, again ceding within a few measures to the main theme, now presented with the combination of stateliness and sentimentality at which Piazzolla was expert. The orchestral version presents a slow, Baroque-style dance variant that leads to a quiet conclusion, now simply nostalgic rather than melancholy.

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3.Primavera Porteño

The "spring" installment of Astor Piazzolla's cycle devoted to the four seasons in the port area of Buenos Aires, Primavera porteña is a rather spiky way to begin the year, and it was one of the last works in the series to be written. As with its companion pieces, several arrangements exist. The tango launches boldly, without introduction, with an angular melody in the lead instrument (often bandoneón or piano), leaping sideways up and down the staff. Meanwhile, over the tango counterpart to a walking bass, whatever bowed instrument is at hand produces Piazzolla's trademark "chicharra" effect, a raspy, cricket-like sound generated when the bow is scraped over the wrapping of the third string. This accounts for the first 15 seconds of the six-minute piece. From here, the main theme passes among the instruments with tiny variations, the texture thickening, the intensity growing. A contrasting motif makes a brief appearance; it's really just an inversion of the main tune. At last, a true second section emerges after a pause. This is a slow melody, either bittersweet or mournful depending on the instrument that plays it; on bandoneón or violin it has a sad nostalgia reminiscent of Poulenc, whereas on cello it takes on even deeper, darker expression. Variants of the opening motif then regain control of the piece. Just as it seems to be reaching a rough, forceful climax, everything stops short for a quiet, tentative solo (often on piano), which builds with the rest of the ensemble into an assertive and curt coda.

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4.Verano Porteño

This is one of Astor Piazzolla's best-known tango nuevo (new tango) compositions. It derives from one of his most fertile and creative periods, during which he advanced the venerable Argentine dance/popular music form into new territory.

By the time he wrote this work, Piazzolla must have realized that he was in the position of the proverbial prophet without honor in his own country. He had returned to Buenos Aires in July 1960 after a disappointing attempt in the United States to create what he then called "tango-jazz." His spirit was, however, far from broken, but he was personally disappointed that just the type of revolution he was seeking in tango had been accepted in Brazil when that country's national dance, the samba, evolved into a new form called either jazz-samba or "bossa nova," ("new thing").

At home, however, Piazzolla's efforts ran into walls of controversy. He and a leading exponent of classic tango, the dancer Jorge Vidal (whose style Piazzolla detested and called "archaic"), actually came to blows in the studios of Argentina's Channel 7. Sometimes taxi drivers would refuse to transport him, accusing him of having "destroyed the tango." He enjoyed some success among certain segments of the public and was encouraged when RCA Victor, CBS, and Philips Records all issued LPs or 45 rpm EPs of his music. This raised interest abroad in Piazzolla's music. Argentine president Arturo Illia responded to requests to include Piazzolla on cultural exchanges by backing a tour to Brazil and the United States.

Before Piazzolla left on the trip, he had a commitment on the table: a set of four compositions for a play called Melenita de Oro, by Alberto Rodriguez Muñoz. One of the pieces was Verano porteño. The word "Porteño" is an adjectival nickname pertaining to Buenos Aires, so the title is an informal way to say "Buenos Aires Summer." Newspapers found the music "original and agreeable." Piazzolla over time wrote three other pieces with similar titles for spring, winter, and autumn, and later assembled the four into a suite called "Buenos Aires Seasons." As a sort of exotic modern counterpart to the Four Seasons violin concertos of Vivaldi, these have enjoyed particular popularity among Piazzolla's large corpus of tangos, even though they were not initially conceived as a set. Either separately or as part of this suite, the very pretty, lightly swaying tango Verano porteño became one of Piazzolla's most beloved works. Often heard in a version for guitar solo, it has also been arranged for the small instrumental combinations in which the composer's music is typically heard.

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