Different Duos Sunday #8: Lilit Mardiyan (guitar) and Lilit Tonoyan (violin) Play ‘Night Club 1960’ from Piazzolla’s ‘Histoire du Tango’

Astor Piazzolla’s Histoire du Tango has seemingly been played by every combination of instruments imaginable, but one of the most popular is violin and guitar. This version is by a pair of fine players originally from Armenia, vilolinist Lilit Tonoyan and guitarist Lilit Mardiyan. Much of Mardiyan’s higher guitar eduication has been in the U.S. first at USC under Bill Kanengiser, and then at Yale (with Benjamin Verdery) where she obtained her master’s in 2015. I was struck by this 2010 rendering of the “Night Club 1960” movement of Piazzolla’s work because of its energy, sympathetic duo playing, and the way the video showcases the two parts equally. Wonderful! —Blair Jackson


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