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So, I was listening to an old cassette tape of radio music recorded by my brother years ago. The first song on the tape is classical violin at first, but gradually evolves into an upbeat, syncopated song with very fascinating percussion.

I am very curious who composed this and where I could hear more of it. I think it was played on a classical music program years ago on the WITF radio station in Pennsylvania.

You can hear the show host begin to say the name of the composer, I believe, right at the end, but it gets cut off. I can't make out the name --it sounds a bit like "Haciendo Wallace"[??]

Can anyone identify this?

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  • Hi @Tagger, can you explain what you refer to by "WITF", "Haciendo" and "Wallace"? I'm guessing the latter two are composers: adding some Wikipedia links (if they exist) would help. – Brahadeesh Apr 19 '19 at 3:42
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    Oh, I'm sorry! WITF is a radio station in Pennsylvania. This whole time I thught it was a national radio station, but it isn't. They had a classical music program which is now online: liveonlineradio.net/usa/witf-classical.htm – Tagger Apr 21 '19 at 16:02
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    I'm just trying to make sense of what the announcer says at the ends where it cuts off. Those are just two things it sounded like to me, but I don't think that's what he actually says. The announcer would usually say the name of the composition and the composer after the music ended. If you skip farther into the song you'll hear more of the percussion part. The beginning is mostly violin and piano. – Tagger Apr 21 '19 at 16:04
  • Ah, I see, I understand now. I must say it's an interesting piece of music! I'm no help when it comes to identifying classical music, though. Hope someone else around here can help you :) – Brahadeesh Apr 21 '19 at 16:25
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    If you like this work, you might check out other work by Piazzolla or in the nuevo tango style. Yo Yo Ma's recording of Soledad is an absolutely transcendent example of the former, and the "Waking Life" soundtrack is a great example of the latter. – Chris Sunami Aug 1 '19 at 14:43
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The piece is "Concierto para Quinteto" by Astor Piazzolla. There's at least one recording on YouTube by a different ensemble. The audio at your link starts about 3 minutes into the piece. What you heard at the end as "Haciendo Wallace" is actually the announcer starting to announce the name of the piece, "Concierto para...".

Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla (March 11, 1921 – July 4, 1992) was an Argentine tango composer, bandoneon player, and arranger. His oeuvre revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music.

In 1992, American music critic Stephen Holden described Piazzolla as "the world's foremost composer of tango music"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astor_Piazzolla

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    Great work! I would have recognized Piazzolla's style, but I wouldn't have known how to identify the specific piece. I did edit your answer to add a little background on who Piazzolla, what genre he innovated, and why he's important. I know you had a link, but we encourage quoting the relevant info locally, in case the link goes dead or the content changes (always possible with Wikipedia). – Chris Sunami Aug 1 '19 at 14:39

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