Conjunto 9

Conjunto 9 (a.k.a. Noneto) was a tango ensemble set up by Ástor Piazzolla which was active between 1971 and 1972.

The short-lived ensemble was based on Piazzolla’s first Quinteto, comprising Astor Piazzolla (bandoneon), Osvaldo Manzi (later Osvaldo Tarantino (piano), Antonio Agri, (violin), Oscar López Ruiz (electric guitar) and Kicho Díaz (double bass). To this he added a quartet comprising Hugo Baralis (2nd violin), Néstor Panik (viola), José Bragato (cello) and José Corriale (percussion).

For many musicologists this was the ensemble in which Piazzolla reached the zenith of his musical career. Thanks to the presence of a string quartet within the formation, Piazzolla was able to evolve a more complex contrapuntal language, to which was added the rhythmical improvisations of the piano, guitar and percussion, providing a language close to that of cool jazz and rock, a tendency which would become more accentuated in the later European stage of Piazzolla’s career.

The Noneto recorded the albums Música popular contemporánea de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Vol. 1 y 2, published in 1971 and 1972, respectively. There are also recordings of them accompanying the singers Amelita Baltar and Mina, and of the music from Bernardo Bertolucci’s film Last Tango in Paris. Some of this music was not used in the film due to its late completion by Piazzolla, who was busy preparing for his first concert at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires in 1972. Bertolucci employed Gato Barbieri to complete the music and that part of Piazzolla’s music that was completed late was used for Francesco Rosi’s film Cadáveri eccelenti in 1976.

In 1972 Piazzolla composed the three movement Concierto de Nácar, for the Conjunto 9 and orchestra, one of his most complex compositions which incorporated various techniques of contemporary music composition, such as polyrhythm and polytonality.

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